taking photos of BPs

[Gurgie]

I have been trying all evening to take some acceptable photos of Nag, and let me tell you, he is So not cooperating. either the light causes flushing in the background, or he moves before I can snap the picture. Using the flash makes it too hard to be able to see the color of Nag, and I cant figure out how to taks the pics up close so you can see his patterns.

If I recall correctly, someone on here takes really good photos of her BPs and maybe she can help me out a little. I would love to be able to share Nag with everyone, as well as with members of my family (since they all live somewhere else than minnesota).

please, I beg of you, help me LOL

[JLC]

Hehe...I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll at least try to offer a bit of encouragement.


One of the greatest inventions in all of photography (especially for us with no skill for it) is the digital camera. LOL I can pretty much use up an entire memory card for one photo session with either of my snakes...and end up with about five pictures that I think are worth sharing.

So...when you see someone post 3 or 4 beautiful shots of their snakes...they probably have about 20 or 30 more sitting on the computer waiting to be deleted. (And I may have 100 or so!) Don't be afraid to snap picture after picture. I'm still trying to overcome that feeling of "wasting" a shot and find myself waiting for that "perfect moment" that never really comes. LOL

[Gurgie]

I do have a digital camera, so I guess the trick is just to keep on trying till you get something you like. I wish I had some good shots though. my cats always seem to be in the pictures, even though when I WANT to take pictures of them, they are not cooperative.

Question on the lighting though. what do you find easiest to acheive a decent picture with...auto flash, no flash, light vs dark bacgrounds, etc...

any advice would be most apreciated.

[recycling goddess]

i always use a flash plus as much lighting as possible. of course i don't use flash outside during the day.

i take a whole bunch of pics and delete the ones that don't turn out.

also, i find the shots where i'm holding my snake and taking the pic turn out real nice.

[ddbjdealer]

I have a Canon EOS Digital Rebel, and I have a few different lenses... but I use mostly natural lighting... (meaning no flash) and set the shutter speed accordingly to allow for the correct amount of light. The problem with this.. is with the shutter speed so slow, with a moving snake, you're going to get blurry pics... Flashes work okay, but like you said in your orriginal post, it sometimes washes the true colors out of the snake.

The best possible option is a lighting tent of some sort. You can pick them up on eBay for about 150-300 bucks. But, that's kinda extreme.

As far as backgrounds go... the best snake pics I have seen have been on a matte black background, a glossy black background, or a matte white background. They all show the BP's quite well... of course depending on the morph, some of them you wouldn't want to take on a black or white background.... The lighting tents that I mentioned usually come with a white, black and silver/grey background.

Hope this helps...

[JLC]

Seems to me, if a person were a bit handy and creative, and just felt like doing it....that they could make their own "lighting tent" relatively inexpensively. Sounds like a fun project......hmmmmmm......