>>It seems to me that the hardest thing to photograph is an all black snake! Most times, everything in the photo shows up ok - except the snake is too dark. Its kind of frustrating. But I think I'm starting to figure this out. Its just a matter of being at the right angle from the light.
Mark,
try putting a black or near-black object just outside the frame of the picture you're going to take, but the same distance from you as the snake--aim your camera at that black object and depress the shutter half way. Most cameras will then focus and adjust the exposure based on what you're pointing at. Then swing back to the snake and take your picture. That should give you a good exposure (though exposure in the pic you posted here is excellent too).
If your camera allows you, you might also want to set the exposure "meter" reading to "spot" exposure...that would mean (excuse me if you already know this) that it takes its reading from the very center of where you're pointing, rather than averaging exposure from multiple points around the image to get an overall balanced exposure. this is a common photog method--point the center of the camera at the person you're eventually going to frame off to one side; get the focus & exposure right, and then while holding the shutter halfway down swing back to the way you want the picture composed and press the shutter the rest of the way.
With that spot-setting you could also just aim at the black snake in the picture you presented, and after getting the reading with a half-depressed shutter, swing to the way you want the pic framed and complete the shutter press. Most badly exposed snake pix come from putting a dark snake on a light background or vice versa and not using the spot reading--the camera "reads" the light background, for example, so IT is exposed correctly but that leaves the snake underexposed. The spot-focus is always important too becauseae it allows you to focus on the snake's head or eyes, usually the most important part to be IN focus, rather than picking up focus on a coil if that happens to be in the center of the image.
most inexpensive pocket digital cameras today have the capacity to function this way, i think. I know my little canon sd's do, and several nikon coolpix i've owned.
hope that helps.
terry
