Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a Minolta Dimage Z1 and when I take pictures of my herps for my web page, they have a yellowish hue to them. For example, my red tail boa is gray, brown and of course red. But in the pics his gray it yellowish. If you can't picture what I'm saying heres the link to my site.

http://www.geocities.com/multiplemorphherpetoculture

Pleas if you have any lighting or photography tips let me know. I took these pics in my basement with a florescent light on on the cealing.
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3.0 Hypo Tang Leos, 1.0 Blizzard Leo, 0.1 het Blizzard Leo, 2.1 Tremper Tang/Albino Leos, 1.0 Knight Anole, 0.1 Mali Uromastyx, 1.1 Green Iguana, 1.1 Ball Pythons, 1.0 Green Anole, a Common Snapping Turt, 1 Dark Fire/1 Normal Crested Geckos, 0.1 Columbian Red-Tail Boa
www.geocities.com/multiplemorphherpetoculture

Try using other light sources like desk lamps or something similar and when shooting do it without the internal flash. Also I noticed that the pic was a bit blurry... try using a tripod or at the very least a monopod. Once I started using the tripod with my animals I try and use it all the time unless there is a shot I may miss then I shoot by hand.

The following shot was taken with a Sony CD1000 with 2 desk lamps on each side of her with out the flash.

I have since put that Sony up for sale and picked up the new Digital Rebel by Canon... I am VEY happy about that purchase... pics I have taken recently with that camera are at the following link... http://www.e-visivo.com/zoopics/

Hope this helps.

Matthew J Giandonato

Do you do any post-processing on a PC with something like Photoshop Elements? You can easily correct things like that after the shoot with these programs.

If not, many digital cameras have some way to adjust white balance for various lighting. Normally flourescent light will give the photos a bluish hue and incandescent light will give them a yellowish hue. Electronic flash is balanced to simulate daylight. Try using the flash on the camera and see if it gives you better results. If you can't get the flash to cover what you want to eliminate shadows, etc., you can use a piece of white poster board to bounce (reflect) the flash in the direction you want.

My guess would be a white balance problem. I haven't read much on the Auto white balance on the Minolta but I would assume it was OK. If your camera is set to Auto White Balance and you are still getting the problems, manually set it to your given environment (outdoor, Floresent, etc.) My guess is that you have it inadvertantly set to outdoor and shooting under indoor lighting. That would give a yellow problem.
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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

that you have (blurry pics and color balance problems) by simply using the pop up flash. That will increase the shutter speed (solving the blur problem) and the camera will know how to white balance its own flash.

Also, resize you images before posting them. You really shouldn't post any image larger than 800x600 on the web or most people won't be able to see the whole thing.
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Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

Hello;
I have a Minolta Dimage 5, which the Z-1 is an upgraded version. I reccomend turning the multifunction dial to "WB", and turning the knurled dial under the shutter, until the florescent symbol shows on the display. This should color balance the camera. You can also use the pop up flash, which should produce a better looking picture. I have bought the external Minolta flash, HSD 3600, and like it a lot.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~