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Just trying (once again) to get an honest photograph of my bairdi. They seem to be one of the hardest snakes to get a realistic representation (either digital or film).

My digital tends to oversaturate the colors (as do most others I have seen). It is particularly true in the red range. So I thought I would give myself a color standard by which to compare.

I used a lid from a box of slide film as my standard and adjusted the pics in photoshop so that (at least on my monitor) the colors looked about how they do when I hold the film box next to the monitor.

So here is my color corrected girl (all fattened up and ready for spring!) -

and here is her prospective suitor.

They are both WC locality matched snakes (NE Edwards county, TX) from near the very NE edge of the species range.

Considering how hard it is for me to adequately represent them (and these pictures are close, but not quite right), I always wonder about bairdi pics on the web.
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Chris Harrison

It's difficult at best to ever actually get all the colors at any one time Chris. Texas bairds have a complex array of scale edge colors. I don't think all the oranges, reds, yellows, whites, lavenders, greens, etc are seen all at once at any one given time. You can see them as they move though. Beautiful baitds by the way Chris. I always loved that pair if they are the ones I saw pics of before from Shannon Hiatt. It's a mystery to me they have this complex assortment of colors for a snake that lives around rock crevices and eat lizards, etc. Maybe its to blend in with all that array of colors that can be seen in a desert sunrise or sunset. I don't know. I love to see Texas Bairds in sunlight. It can almost look like a different snake. Good luck this year Chris.

Terry Parks

>>Just trying (once again) to get an honest photograph of my bairdi. They seem to be one of the hardest snakes to get a realistic representation (either digital or film).
>>
>>My digital tends to oversaturate the colors (as do most others I have seen). It is particularly true in the red range. So I thought I would give myself a color standard by which to compare.
>>
>>I used a lid from a box of slide film as my standard and adjusted the pics in photoshop so that (at least on my monitor) the colors looked about how they do when I hold the film box next to the monitor.
>>
>>So here is my color corrected girl (all fattened up and ready for spring!) -
>>
>>
>>
>>and here is her prospective suitor.
>>
>>
>>
>>They are both WC locality matched snakes (NE Edwards county, TX) from near the very NE edge of the species range.
>>
>>Considering how hard it is for me to adequately represent them (and these pictures are close, but not quite right), I always wonder about bairdi pics on the web.
>>-----
>>Chris Harrison

My dad's a photographer, and in the years I've spent in his shop, I've picked up a few things(not much, but a little bit).

Lighting is the first thing. The closer your lighting is to natural sunlight, the better. I like to shine my bearded dragons' UV light on whatever I'm taking pics of. Be careful not to get it too bright, or parts of the pic will be washed out.

And, when adjusting the color, you're making it so the colors match the film thing the best.. it's better to ignore the background completely, and only pay attention to the snake.
If you notice, most of the time your snake will look normal, and the wood chips will be off-color, or the wood chips will be normal, and the snake will be off. The way you're doing it, the colors wont be far off, but it can be sometimes.

And the biggest thing is you should adjust the levels before touching the colors at all. Most people fix the colors, and ignore the levels of the pic. I've found that adjusting the levels does the trick 90% of the time, and you dont have to change anything else.
Try to get rid of the "empty" space. This makes a BIG difference in how dark your picture is.
Since most people have no clue what that means, here's an example-
when you find how to adjust the levels(normally under the "Adjust" tab), there'll be a chart that probably looks something like the first pic. You want to drag the bar on the right to the left, so it looks more like the second one.

Good luck,
Ron Nocera

Those are a couple of absolutely gorgeous snakes. I can't wait to see the color changes in my babies. I think that these snakes are just AWESOME!!!! GREAT PICS!!!!!!
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SpardaWolf
10 Corns, 5 Ratsnakes, 1 Ball Python
North American Ratsnake Addict
"Always Learning"