Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't think I've posted on this forum before, but I have a few questions and I was hoping someone on here could help me.
I'd like to build a "blackbox" or "whitebox" (I'm not sure if that's actually what they're called) for taking pictures of my reptiles, but I am not sure how best to go about doing it. I tried to make a "blackbox" out of foam board, but, as I expected, the flash of my camera reflected off of the surface of the foam board and washed out the shot.
I suppose it should be noted that I don't have a sophisticated DSLR camera (though I wish I did), and use a Canon S2IS for my photography.

Can anyone provide some advice on how best to make a "blackbox" or "whitebox"?
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Roy Blodgett
Green Man Herpetoculture
royreptile@yahoo.com

1.1 Spilotes pullatus
2.2 Pseustes sulphureus
1.1 Pseustes poecilonotus poecilonotus
1.1 Lystrophis pulcher
1.1 Boiga dendrophila dendrophila
1.2 Crotaphytus collaris
1.3 Crotaphytus bicinctores
2.3 Pogona vitticeps (snow and red/gold)
1.0 Iguana iguana

I assume you are trying to make a setup for solid black/white backgrounds. If so, here's a few suggestions....

You can try finding a very flat black paint and painting a board or something similar. However, it will show flash reflections to some degree and anything that falls on it (musk, litter, etc.). You can cut down on the reflections by carefully orienting your flash. And after the shot, with some careful cloning and exposure tweaking, you can make it pretty black.

Here's a rubber boa on a shiny black table. By carefully orienting the flash (staying low) and a little cloning, I was able to make a non-distracting background -

However, I find black cloth more useful. I use a cheap piece of black "velveteen" cloth I bought at walmart. As long as I get it pretty flat and orient the fibers so they point towards the camera (so flash doesn't reflect) I get decent shots. I can clone out any minor debris with ease and you can adjust the contrast/levels to blacken it if it shows up too light. Remember the camera will probably overexpose a mostly black background, so you may have to do some exposure compensation.

You could certainly drape a piece like this over a box to get a larger background.

For animals that are sitting on something (a branch) any black object held far enough behind them does the job.

This chondro was on a branch in front of a black collapsible photography reflector (held about 2 feet behind it) -

and this treefrog was simply shot while being held by a guy wearing a black teeshirt -

Here'a another guy getting the shot -

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Thanks for the thorough reply, Chris. I'll get some black cloth and see if I can improve my results.
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Roy Blodgett
Green Man Herpetoculture
royreptile@yahoo.com

1.1 Spilotes pullatus
2.2 Pseustes sulphureus
1.1 Pseustes poecilonotus poecilonotus
1.1 Lystrophis pulcher
1.1 Boiga dendrophila dendrophila
1.2 Crotaphytus collaris
1.3 Crotaphytus bicinctores
2.3 Pogona vitticeps (snow and red/gold)
1.0 Iguana iguana

This was shot outside in natural sunlight. A black sheet draped over a picnic table with a mirror laying on the bench (don't need a box).

"THE BURN TOOL" in Photoshop!! -- Works wonders for black.

(Sorry so pixely -- this is really low-res. Best I could do to make it small enough for Kingsnake)

Sorry I don't have better help for the box, but what I was implying was maybe you could put in a black sheet or cloth into the box and pin it up. Cloth is totally matte and won't pick up flash, and the folds can easily be edited out (ie. the Burn Tool reference).

Another idea is to experiment with not using flash at all. Set up synthetic light, whether it be a lamp or spot light. Or use the outdoor sun like in the photo above. Hope this helps!!
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)