Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I wonder if anyone can help me? I have a Canon 10D and I am having difficulty getting my complete snake in focus. If I put it in the Appeture mode (AV) I have very low light although I am using flash pods and the camera flash turned way up.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mark
-----

Depth of field as you probably already know depends on your aperture. The smaller your aperture (bigger numbers: f/11, f/16, f/22, etc.) the greater your depth of field. The larger your aperture (smaller numbers: F/5.6, F/4, F/2.8, etc.) the shallower your depth of field.

Like you said however, the limitation on smaller apertures is available light. This is where a tripod comes in handy. When you shut your aperture down to get your desired depth of field, you also shut out much of the available light causing you to have to use slower shutter speeds. Slower shutter speeds mean problems with camera shake, hence the need for a tripod. Tripods are great BUT if you have a squirmy snake then slower shutter speeds might also translate into blurred images due to subject movement. If this is the problem, a flash my become necessary. A flash will stop movement very well and will negate the need for a tripod. If you are using a TRUE macro lens, they, by their very nature have shallower depth of fields as well so smaller apertures are a must. Another thing that might help your depth of field if the above still doesn't work is to create some distance between your and your snake, shoot at full res. and crop to your desired output.
Hope this helps.

Jason
-----
Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas