A few pics of young Black Mamba

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A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby Nivea » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:31 pm

She is about 7 months old. bought as captive bred. They are super snakes, so different to my others that i bought as adults.

Image

Image

Image

Image

I would really like some constructive crit on my photo's as i am really trying to get better.

Thanks.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby froot » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:40 pm

Can't really criticise those pics, they're pretty good. Good exposure for high shutter speeds, maybe a better background?
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby Mitton » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:43 pm

Amazing, great pics (that 1st one - again) and beautiful snake.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby Nivea » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:50 pm

Thanks!

sorry about the background. did not really want to take her outside as she is SO quick, so i took the safe route and put her on a blanket in the lounge. maybe one day when i have spare time i'll build a set and take some more pics.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby BushSnake » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:37 pm

Great pics. Nice and sharp, good composition and the only crit would be the very unnatural background :)

The sharp shadow can sometimes be a bit distracting, but if you are photographing in a "studio-like" setup (i.e. indoors), you might want to try putting up a white reflector such as a piece of glossy white cardboard behind the animal, to reflect some light from another angle and eliminate or at least soften the shadow. But that said, the shadows in these images don't bother me as much. Hope this counts as constructive...
We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium - Ansel Adams
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby froot » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:42 pm

What I find useful with closeups like those is to have 'no' background, ie. background way out of focus which when using a flash will tend to be very dark.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby Nivea » Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:21 pm

Thank you for the comments. I fully agree about the background, it is no good.

Gives me a reason to take her out again and take some more pics. Would a white sheet work well as a background. I saw that with some pics that Dendroaspis posted, it looked quite nice.

Maybe I'll take her out to the grass when we get some sun again. that should come out nice.

Once again thanks for the comments, really appreciate.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby Mongoose » Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:32 pm

I would go and pick a LOT of branchs etc and stick them in a vars or in a beer bottle and put the snake in that. With head shots like that I'd try 1/125 and F. 8 (1/125 is shutter speed and F.8 is the apperture number) with a flash. The snakes head should be nicely exposed and the backround would be very dark.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby BushSnake » Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:04 pm

I tend to agree with Froot about the BG, but if the snake is on the ground then it becomes really hard to blur out the background. Try placing it on a branch which is in a beer bottle (and not directly in a beer bottle as Mongoose suggested :D ), and then try to blur out the BG. Here are some theoretical values for the depth of field using a 300mm lens (like I see you have been using) at 1.5m and also at 3m
1.5m:
F5.6 - 8.4mm
F8 - 12mm
F16 - 24mm
F20 - 30mm
F25 - 37mm

3m:
F5.6 - 33.6mm
F8 - 48mm
F16 - 96mm
F20 - 120mm
F25 - 150mm

So if you only want the head in focus and you are 1.5m away, you need about 30mm or maybe a bit more of acceptable focus, and thus F20 will work well (like you used). If using a 50mm lens, then you have to be 6 times closer but your depth of field stays the same. This can obviously be experimented with as well but it is more fun being a geek and working it out mathematically :) . Maybe try getting a black background by using F25 or F32, a flash and make sure the actual background is relatively far away. I've said enough now...
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby armata » Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:17 pm

I think Nicky just likes showing off her carpet. Hope all is well in that direction.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby Loslappie » Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:16 am

Very nice! thanks for posting, how bout some full body shots?
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby Mongoose » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:03 am

And don't drink the beer before photographing it please!
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby Nivea » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:34 am

Thank you for the comments and tips. I will give them a try next time i take someone out for some photo's.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby MrG » Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:34 pm

I like the second and last pics. This snake is a beauty and you did really well here. Its is not easy keeping your eye on a BM and still take very good shots like this.
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Re: A few pics of young Black Mamba

Postby snake-5 » Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:41 pm

Awesome snake, how docile is it compared to w/c ones.
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