Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've now officially wasted way too much money on film and development for ZERO good shots of my beautiful yearling albino-whitesided bullsnake Ka. She seems to truly take after the spiritual aspect of her name and always appear somewhat amorphis and blurred. Could someone PLEASE tell me the proper techniques to photograph her type.
-----
Amor et Lux,
Ron

"The gods tolerate the human race for no other reason than our talent for bullsh1t. It's the only thing about us that doesn't bore them to tears" Tom Robbins "Villa Incognito"

Could you tell us a little bit about the setup you're using? What camera body, lens, flash/flashes, etc?

I was just taking some photos of my Creamsicle corns & Blizzard Corn this evening with my Nikon D100 (digital SLR), but aside from the white-balance (which is pretty much just a digital thing), it should be similar...

I was using the Sigma 50mm f/2.8 MF Macro lens, D100's built-in flash and Nikon SB-50DX as a wireless slave. I had the lens set at f/8, with a shutter speed of 1/180th of a second.

Things turned out really good except for the eyes. They didn't show up anywhere near as red on the photo as they do in real life.

This is the Blizzard..

This is my male creamsicle...

And this is one of my female creamsicles...

-----
Axe
The Reptile Rooms

My wife is the photographer in the family so she knows the technical setup of her camera. Basically though we've been using a standard cheap 35mm camera and tried everything from 200 speed to 400 speed as well as black and white and color. We've also tried her camera which is a manual that I don't really know much about but even though she does we still can't seem to get the blur down on any close up shots. No digital yet but with the money I've thrown away on film and developing I could have paid for about half of a good used one by now... Any thoughts on getting this to work would be welcome because she is quickly outgrowing the Hathor Temple space we got for her terrarium and we would love to get some good shots.
-----
Amor et Lux,
Ron

"The gods tolerate the human race for no other reason than our talent for bullsh1t. It's the only thing about us that doesn't bore them to tears" Tom Robbins "Villa Incognito"

Hmm.. well, it's difficult get the kind of shot you're after with a point-n-shoot 35mm... It's a fixed focus, and doesn't have a lens that moves in & out to focus at different distances from the camera. This focus is going to be set at the "infinity" focus range, which means you're probably going to need to be at least 4-6ft away from the subject to get any kind of relatively sharp image.

Obviously though, this is going to make your subject (in this case a snake) pretty small. With the cheap 35mm cameras set at infinity, when you try to bring the camera too close, it's simply incapable of producing a sharp focus on something so close. These cameras are designed mostly for days out with the kids in the park, or parties, etc. Not for close-up work.

What I would suggest, if you are looking to maybe invest in a digital, or even get a half-decent 35mm camera, is to go to your local Ritz, or Wolf camera, or some other camera store, and see if you can rent some equipment for a weekend to have a good play with.

With many cameras & lenses having price tags of well over a grand these days, renting is the only way many people can get access to this hardware, so the bigger camera chains & stores will satisfy the need for this demand.

Or, just have a play with various cameras in the store, and see what you like the feel of, for what you can afford. Tell them how much you're looking to spend in total, and what kind of work you're looking to be doing with the camera.
-----
Axe
The Reptile Rooms

Thanks for the advice... I was hoping lighting or some film trick might work but I guess there is a reason for the equipment that runs in the thousands of dollars... Oh well, I guess I'll have to look more into the Digital bit once I can convince my wife :~
-----
Amor et Lux,
Ron

"The gods tolerate the human race for no other reason than our talent for bullsh1t. It's the only thing about us that doesn't bore them to tears" Tom Robbins "Villa Incognito"

If you're looking to go high-end amateur, or low-end professional, I'd have a look at the Nikon D100, and the Fuji S1 Pro and S2 Pro.

The S1 Pro you can pick up used these days for around $750 or a little more, the D100 for a tad over a grand, and the S2 Pro is also around about a grand or so, maybe a little more.

You might also want to consider the D70, and while these are not out yet, when they hit the market (in just a couple of weeks from what I've heard), they'll have a street price of around $1,000 brand new with full warranty. However, there's also a whole new range of lenses & flashes out for them that are slightly more expensive than those already out for existing Nikon-based SLR cameras. Also, if you decide to get more serious in the future, the D70 doesn't have the expandability of something like the D100, where you can buy a vertical grip & battery pack. The S2 Pro has a built-in vertical grip, and I think the S1 Pro does too.

Of course, you'd still have to invest in some lenses (but you can get a nice pair of AF Nikons for as low as $200 new for both of them - the 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 AF-G, and the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 AF-G). All three of those cameras, as far as I'm aware, have a built-in flash. I know the D100 does, I'm 99% sure the S2 Pro does, and I THINK the S1 Pro does too. But I would still invest in a separate dedicated flash. You can pick up an SB-50DX for around $100-150 bucks used.

I'd pick up some UV filters just to keep your lenses protected if not for optical improvement. It's much cheaper to replace a $10 filter, if it gets scratched, than it is to replace a $150 or more lens.

Then, just get a good solid tripod and you're good to go! Also, if you're thinking about buying online, if nothing else, the tripod is the one thing I would actually want to go down to the store and play with. Even with different tripods that are the same make & model, there are variances, and a cheap low-end tripod (like the freebies they give away with $300 camcorders) are no good for serious photography. A light breeze makes them judder, losing much sharpness on those shots where you need to keep the shutter open more than about 1/60th of a second.
-----
Axe
The Reptile Rooms

That is all very good advice. However I think you might be happy with a digital point & shoot style camera. Digital SLR cameras are really where it's at...but they make it more complicated for taking close-up shots. If you can afford a nice DSLR with macro lens, then by all means go for it.

I think that the best feature of most P&S digital cameras, is that they have a macro mode and will focus while very close to the subject...which is perfect for herp photography...not to mention that they can be quite a lot smaller & cheaper than DSLR cameras.

have fun
-----
Oilfan94 - Big Mike