Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I can't seem to get the right colors for pastels. What could I do to fix this. I used a gray card under the light the snkae was being taken under and ect..

I would try a white card to set the WB point. If that doesn't help, take it out in bright sunlight and see if the colors come out. It's possible (not probable) that your camera just cannot resolve the proper colors; photography and real life have very little in common, especially colors. That said, keep playing until it looks right... try with the flash, without, under different light sources, try digital manipulation; photoshop may seem like cheating, but this isn't film anymore, I haven't seen too many digital images that wouldn't benefit from a bit of photoshoping. good luck.

Erik.
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Erik Williams

fattailed geckos, western hognoses, and a bunch of postage stamps.
Contact me
www.chicagoherp.org
Chicago Herpetological Society

This is a tough one, since we can't see the snake and determine what it really looks like.

The sensor on your 30D is very capable of capturing that snake accurately. While a 18% gray card will give you the correct white balance and exposure for that lighting, it can't correct for the saturation of the image and the contrast due to the dynamic range.

I suspect the white background is increasing the contrast and saturation of the image. Since a pastel snake is, by definition, less contrasty and saturated it could be that this is giving you the unsatisfactory results.

Check to make sure your camera isn't set to record the contrast/saturation at a higher level (there should be a saturation and contrast scale that can be set to plus 1, plus 2, etc - make sure it is zeroed). You could also shoot a RAW file and do the tweaking yourself.

Try putting something with a wide range of bright colors next to the snake in the photo for a test. This can help you determine where the problem lies (too much yellow, too little blue, etc.). I like using a color chart or even an old box of ektachrome slide film if you have any lying around.

Maybe try a black background or some other color to decrease the overall contrast of the scene and see if that allows you to pull out more color detail within the snake.

I don't know what the snake really looks like, but here is your shot -

and here is the same shot with about 10 seconds worth of photoshoping -

Probably not right still, but it is starting to look more "pastelish".

This is why I never trust photos of BPs in the classifieds - you can make anything into anything with a few photoshop tweaks.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas