Photographing Snakes

[Fooble]

After reading through a bit there's always going to be conflicting views on the "perfect settings" or the best type of shot ect ect.

One of the most important things when taking photographs of reptiles is take into account the background this is essential.
You can have one of the rarest or most beautiful snakes out there but if you put it on a manicured grass lawn or around plastic plants or worse exotic plants ( if the snake is indigenous) it just detracts from the image.

I see many people suggest a shallow depth of field( as you used in the latest series of photo's) which are nice with a few adjustments you can make them great photo's.
You have a good DSLR camera so USE it!

I recommend you learn to shoot in M or manual shooting in anything else in regard to snake or reptile photography is simply limiting yourself and DONT USE Autofocus as you may as well just use a point and shoot.
I used the standard kit Lens 18-55mm with great results it's a great little lens.
The lens is the sharpest at around F16.

Next time you're out try out these basic settings
F16
ISO 200
Shutter Speed 1/200
Remember when you're shooting in M always use the flash and shoot in area's of full light as that will get you far, lighting is everything!

But the most important thing is have fun whilst you do it!

[Smeegle]

Damn piece of grass!

Well done though, seems like you are on the right track, keep it up:)

[Cronje Rademan]

Hi Corn snake
Great attempt!!! It looks like that you understand the basics. Just some constructive criticism.
Nice composition on all of them you made good use of the rule of thirds. The first three pics it seems that the focus point is on the stone just under the snakes head. The last three you managed to get the head nice in focus, just a pity about the piece of grass in the foreground, it's a bit distracting. You got some sparkle in the eyes nicely and some good tongue action.
You managed to get some good depth of field (DOF) the amount of DOF can be adjusted with the f-stops. The higher the f-stop the more will be in focus and vice versa. Just a tip, the smaller the DOF the more difficult it is to get the focus spot on while free handling the camera. This could have be the reason you had difficulty getting the focus spot on.

Just a tip about focusing on your subject. This is what it do always when taking photos. I set my focus point (little red dots or squares in the viewfinder) to be in the permanently in the middle. Then when you are busy shooting you press the shutter halfway to focus with the middle square on the eye of the subject and while holding the shutter halfway to keep the focus point in focus you can move the camera around to compose your photo and when you are happy with what you see than you can just press the shutter further to take the picture. The place that you have focused on with a half pressed shutter button will stay in focus no matter how closer or farther you move from that focus point as long as you keep the shutter button pressed halfway. The minute you let go of the shutter button and press the button half way again it will focus again.

Other than that you managed very well. It takes lots of practice so keep on trying.
Regards
Cronje

[corn snake]

Hi guys
Thanks for all the advice.

I will try again this week or next week, and post the results.

If that out of focus piece of grass was not in the shot it would have been a damn good photo! Good effort...

Damn piece of grass!

Well done though, seems like you are on the right track, keep it up:)

Thanks guys

I removed that piece of grass after I finished shooting, but it was too late. Next Time I’ll pay more attention to things like that.

[Smeegle]

Keep it up, I think your photography is going to get better and better:)

[corn snake]

Thanks Smeegle here are the new photos, I managed to find time sooner than I thought I would be able to.

I tried again, this time with the settings fooble suggested, and I used the shade WB for all the photos.
In this first picture I used -1 stop flash compensation, and the snake was further away so I had to crop to get in close.



The rest of the photos were much closer at 0 flash compensation, I also had to crop some of them but very little.





This one had no cropping:



All these photos were taken in manual with manual focus.

[Mitton]

Very very nice!
Well done, really impressive.

[Fooble]

Lovely!

Much nicer with a greater DOF!

I'm honestly impressed!

Shooting in M is a challenge but much more rewarding!

Now another trick shoot all your images in RAW instead of JPEG gives you much better editing options.

[Smeegle]

Oh dear, seems like Master Fooble is gaining a little competition here:)

Well done Corn Snake, you've got it goin' on!

[Cronje Rademan]

Hi Corn snake
What a big improvement!!!! Well done mate, keep them coming.

[DooMShortS]

Hi Corn Snake

Quick question, do you want the photo to be a complete still, or the tongue to be a bit blurred.

It's the same as taking a snap @ a race car in a corner with the wheels a bit blurred, gives it a slightly more realistic feel.

Your previous pics with the 'grassie' looked epic!

Again, VERY nice pictures your taking!

[corn snake]

Hi guys
Sorry for the long wait again. Thanks for all the advice, I will take some photos of my corn snake after she has shed.

@DooMShortS
I didn’t think about how sharp the tongue should be, all I wanted was to get a shot with the tongue out. But it’s a thing that I will think about in the future.

Thanks again

Regards
Leonard

[MrG]

Fooble wrote:
Now another trick shoot all your images in RAW instead of JPEG gives you much better editing options.

Why this advice Fooble?

I think Raw is designed for people who has a lot of time trying to correct mistakes they made when photographing a subject. In the few images I took I have never used Raw. Jpeg is fast and the files are big enough for my use and I am not a pro. Raw takes up a lot of space and needs extra software.

But it is up to the individual what he wants to shoot in. I have yet to see a huge difference from Jpeg to Raw.

Advice to a beginner should be to start knowing your camera first (read the manual), then starts using the adjustable manual settings (apeture, Ss, exposure, white balance, Iso, etc).

With all this the photographer must understand exposure and LIGHT! If you dont have LIGHT, you don't have a photo.

Play around until you find what works for you.

[corn snake]

Hi guys

Sorry for being so quiet.
Here are a few photos of my corn snake Cornelia.

I put her on the porch on an area that the sun had been shining on during the day.
The area was warm but not too hot. She enjoyed sitting on the warm pavement so much that she didn't flicker her tongue a lot at first, but as I was taking photos she started to become fidgety, moving more and flickering her tongue frequently.

Photo 1


Photo 2


Photo 3


Photo 4


Photo 5


Photo 6


Photo 7


Please tell me what you think.

[Sfourie]

The picture quality is good, the first picture is my favorite. Picture 3 is very well composed. But you should try to get shots from different angles. Try a low angle shot.

MrG - RAW photographs capture much more detail than JPEG, I think it’s something like 6 bits of extra color. You do not have to be a pro to use RAW, its just simply the best.