Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well after i took the picture and was wondering why it didnt come out better i realize its probably cause of the lighting. So do you think if i had better lighting it would of came out better?

Yes the lighting could be better, but I'm not expert. That's not a bad pic, nice and clear. I notice that the flash of digital cameras tends to blur my kingsnake up close, especially because of her shiny scales. That's a great lookin' Eastern, btw.
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Matt from Minnesota
Cornsnake, Eastern Kingsnake, IL Bullsnake - all girls.
0.1 Crested Gecko "Camey"; 1.0 Crested Gecko "Spots" RIP

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Matt from Minnesota
Cornsnake, Eastern Kingsnake, IL Bullsnake - all girls.
0.1 Crested Gecko "Camey"; 1.0 Crested Gecko "Spots" RIP

both problems--focus & lighting--have to do with a similar thing, which you can probably figure out by reading your camera's manual.

focus: it looks like the camera focused on the towel in the background, which threw the focus off on the snake which was closer to the camera. Notice where your camera's pointed--much of the area of the picture is the towel background. So if your camera is focusing using points spread across the image area, it's likely to conclude that you want the focus on the towel; even if you've got the camera's auto focus set to focus on a narrow point in the center of the image, the snake's head is still a little off to the side and center-focus might still have focused on the towel.

solutions:
1) figure out how to set your camera on center-focus
2) make sure the part of the snake you want to be in focus is in that center point of the viewfinder when the camera focuses

lighting: similarly, if your camera's autoexposure is reading from the entire image area, it's gonna set itself to get the white backgrouind properly exposed, which it did, which leaves your snake underexposed.

solutions:
1) figure out how to set your camera's auto exposure to read a center point and
2) make sure the center of the image area is poitned at the object you want properly exposed
3) try not to use backgrounds dramatically different in lightness/darkness from the object you're photographing, at least until you figure out how to pinpoint your exposure reading. If the towel in the background had been green for example, a dark green, the meter would have read the background and set an exposure for that relatively dark lighting, which would have resulted in better exposure on the snake.

terry

sure it could be little more in focus and the lighting could be better but it will just take a little time to get to know your camera. Terry made some very good points below. I am handicapped with a little 2.1 MP digital but over time I learned several trick to make it work. For decent close-ups I usually have to get within four inches of my subject which is fun cause I take mostly rattlesnake pics. I also had focus problems when other objects were near the snake. I found I could pick a rock or something that was the same distance from my camera as the snake, focus on that, then while holding the shutter button halfway down swing back to the snake and take the pic. I had to do that in the pic below of a gravid female grand canyon rattlesnake. My camera would have focused on all of the branches making the snake a blur. I focused on a rock to my right, held the button down and swung back to the snake.

As for lighting, it will take lots of experimentation. And every situation will require a different technique. One option is to make a professional lighting box. The other is to just wing it,lol. I found that the best lighting for me is outdoors on a very overcast day. For posed pictures of my snakes at home I usually take the pics outdoors on the shady side of my house and use a flash. I always take some without flash also just in case that works better. Same with in-situ shots in the field. I will usually take at least four pics of each subject changing the focus and taking a couple with flash and a couple without, even in sunlight. The Az. Blacks below were shot on a very bright sunny day (the rock temp at the edge of the shadow was 122F!) but I still had to use my flash as the snakes themselves were actually in very deep shade. In fact I thought I was only taking a pic of the little girl sound asleep in the front. I didn't know my flash had illuminated the larger snake back in the rocks till I got home and downloaded the pic,lol. Just keep practicing and it will happen for ya. The nice thing about digitals is you can practice all you want and not lose money like you would with film.

is in the pic of the Az. Blacks above. The little females head is out of focus and the coils of her body in the foreground are better. I made the mistake of just centering her in the camera and taking the shot. My camera focused on the forground as it was the closest point. I should have focused on her head, held the button down and then swung the camera back to get the whole frame.