how can i pick pick out a good quality pastel?

Going to an expo saturday and i want to know how i can pick out a good quality pastel ball python that most likely won't bronze out as it ages.
what are some morphs i can get with $170?
thank you,

Patrick.

look at the sire and dam to see how bright they are, then pick a bright baby and hope that all goes well, even a nice looking baby can brown out though.

as for morphs you can get it depends on how bad the seller wants to sell the snake
you would be looking at pastels, yellow bellies, maybe spider. Not sure if your interested in hets but those are a posibility too

Go for a brighter yellow baby, the orange ones seem to brown out more.

The first step is to figure out what YOU like in a pastel. Lots of blushing? Bright yellow color? Crazy busy pattern?

Once you know that, you can know what to look for in a baby. The pattern won't change at all, so get one you like. Blushing may become more obvious as the snake gets bigger, but it won't appear out of nowhere.

The hardest part to predict is how much the pastel will brown out, but generally cleaner brighter yellows stay that way, and oranges and anything that looks muddy will brown out.

Orange = brown as an adult in a pastel.

Go for the least amount of orange as possible, and the MOST faded head that you can.

Be prepared to pay more for a quality pastel than your average pastel (maybe $100 more at a show at most).

Get one from Albey

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Originally Posted by dreese88

Get one from Albey

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HA, best advice yet... :gj:

Get one that looks like mine :) HAHA

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d.../FSPastel1.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DBD

Get one that looks like mine :) HAHA

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d.../FSPastel1.jpg

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I cant believe the colors are true here as the yellows are even in the shadows. Still a nice looker!

OP, you have got some good advise from others on here so no need for me to repeat them.

I forgot that I also wanted to say that part of being able to get a good quality snake is being willing/able to pay more than $170. Not that there aren't bargains to be found, but if you have a little more to spend, you'll be much more likely to be able to bring home that beautiful pastel when you find it.

Any pastels we have hatched, always end up nicer if they are bright yellow at birth.
As said above, the orange looks lovely when they are babies but when they age and start to fade they dont look nearly as good.

I was hurried in my last post, as I had to be at work, but here I will elaborate.

I bought this guy from Albey on 10/4/08. These are pictures from 10/24, 12/18 and 5/18/09 respectively...I think he's actually getting better as he gets older. No brown whatsoever. In the last picture he is right at 800 G.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...e/DSC00133.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...e/100_0222.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...9/100_0280.jpg

Thats a beautiful looking guy Dylan! :gj:

I would look for a brighter yellow baby like already stated in other replies. But I really don't think you can go wrong with any pastel. I think they are one of the nicest affordable morphs out there. Even as they bronze out with age i think they are good looking snakes.:gj: if you want a really yellow snake, get a pair of pastels and make some supers!
here's a pic of my pastel just for fun.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h...Alive021-1.jpg

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Originally Posted by DBD

Get one that looks like mine :) HAHA

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d.../FSPastel1.jpg

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Sorry, I do not collect B.P.s, is this picture real? If so that has to be one of the brightest snakes I ever saw.

With all the morphs out there, Pastels are still my favorites. Here are two examples of a couple of my Pastel girls. Ella, the more yellow of the 2 I got from Albey ironically enough :) She was produced by him on 08 using a sterling male to a pastel female. I my opinion, I think he produces some amazing animals. i believe he uses high quality Graziani lines, which exemplify great contrast and some killer blushing. I've posted pics of Ella at 260 grams and 500, which is where she is now.
Next is Betty, who I believe would be classified as a vanilla pastel. She's actually very pale yellow, almost white with dark black contrast and a really light head. She is a pretty girl herself, but a great example of the variations you might see in pastels. I don't have any dark examples, but there are plenty out there. be advised, that for the price range you're looking at, you can get a high quality pastel baby male. You might be able to get a decent 08 or larger male as well. High quality pastel females will still be in the $300 range.

Good luck!

Jim

Ella at 260 grams
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...la260grams.jpg

Ella at 500 grams
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...la500Grams.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...lla500body.jpg


Betty at 700 grams
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...man/Betty2.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u.../BettyHead.jpg

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Originally Posted by Jsh

I cant believe the colors are true here as the yellows are even in the shadows. Still a nice looker!

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Not entirely true. I'm not saying the photo's contrast isn't tampered with, I can't say for sure, but yellow in the shadow doesn't mean anything. If a bright light is shown on a yellow snake and the background is white, then the shadow SHOULD have yellow in it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tikall

Not entirely true. I'm not saying the photo's contrast isn't tampered with, I can't say for sure, but yellow in the shadow doesn't mean anything. If a bright light is shown on a yellow snake and the background is white, then the shadow SHOULD have yellow in it.

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1) A little color is possible but not probable, Look @ AaronP's photos how much color are in the shadows on his wonderful photo's of BP's. There's not much if any in most of his photo's.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=87227

Look @ Robins bright yellow pastel, it's very bright but not much color in the shadows.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=90736

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=85382

There is to be a **slight amount** of color in the shadows but not like the photo in question. Most of the time the shadows will have either a slight blue cast or slight red cast depending on WB accuracy.

2) When I take the photo in question into photoshop the numbers dont lie!! The whole image reads high yellow, even the black markings have yellow in them? Anyone who has had any color correction classes knows you correct color by #'s not looks. Even the white background reads yellow.? I've had to correct color in plenty of exercises and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know this photo is edited. Prolly using GIMP or something like that and the user had no Idea what they were doing. THE NUMBERS DONT LIE!!!

3) I mentioned the color in the shadows because its the most identifiable in the photo but the WHOLE image has a yellow tint to it except for the vignetting.

I actually do see yellow in all those pictures. It's actually pretty strong in some of them, but the lighting is better and the white is pure white. It's obvious the bulb was on the yellow side in DBD's photo, hence why everything looks yellow. Regular tungsten lighting will give that effect in a photo, even if we don't perceive it so noticeably in real life. This doesn't mean he edited his photos.

I've seen the same look in many indoor photos I've taken, and I have to correct the color balance and contrast to make it look normal (it's much easier just to take photos in noonday sun for this reason). Granted I've never taken a class for it, but a yellow tint isn't unusual when the light is yellow.

Besides, I was simply stating that the fact that there was yellow in the shadow doesn't mean a photo has been tampered because light reflects. I actually said I don't know if the photo is edited, just that there should be yellow in the shadow of a yellow snake. I'm not trying to argue that the photo isn't edited. I just didn't want people to see yellow tint in ANY picture of a pastel and think it's edited even when it's not.

To the original poster sorry that I hijacked your thread! Thats not what I was trying to accomplish.

I agree that if there is a little yellow in the photo that people shouldn't think its edited. Saying that, editing is a good thing! We can correct these things simply using our computers. Editing can also be a deceitful tool used by some to make something they don't have. Sometimes it's just user error that causes bad editing in photo's which I believe to be the case here.

Anyway I did a bit of correction to his photo and I'm willing to give him the photo if he wants it(PSD too). I believe this to be a better representation of the snake in question. I still believe it to be a great looking pastel!

Original
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d.../FSPastel1.jpg[/QUOTE]

Slight color tweak
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...correction.jpg

It's not perfect by any means but I think it looks much better.

agreed. Nice work

I completely agree with that post! :) And although this was a bit of a tangent from the original topic, it can still be useful for someone trying to buy a pastel online! Some photos can be deceiving, even if it wasn't intentional.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jsh

I cant believe the colors are true here as the yellows are even in the shadows. Still a nice looker!

OP, you have got some good advise from others on here so no need for me to repeat them.

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Yea, he literally glows onto the flooring in my phototent... And i even did the auto>white balance thing and his shadows were still yellow haha!
Thanks,
Brandon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jsh

To the original poster sorry that I hijacked your thread! Thats not what I was trying to accomplish.

I agree that if there is a little yellow in the photo that people shouldn't think its edited. Saying that, editing is a good thing! We can correct these things simply using our computers. Editing can also be a deceitful tool used by some to make something they don't have. Sometimes it's just user error that causes bad editing in photo's which I believe to be the case here.

Anyway I did a bit of correction to his photo and I'm willing to give him the photo if he wants it(PSD too). I believe this to be a better representation of the snake in question. I still believe it to be a great looking pastel!

Original
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d.../FSPastel1.jpg

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Slight color tweak
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...correction.jpg

It's not perfect by any means but I think it looks much better.[/QUOTE]

DUDE! What did you do to my poor pastel!!! LOL you made him age like 10 years man, thats not cool.. And to everyone who thinks i tampered with the picture i didnt.. Whenever i try to tamper with pictures they come out looking like cartoons.. That picture of my pastel is real, the picture was taken in super macro, in a light tent with a bulb shining on him... Then in gimp (i used instructions, from i think littleindiansgirls thread...), all i did was go to color>auto>and white balance so most of the yellow shadow went away and the paper he was on became whiter... Here are a few other pics so you guys believe me... So no tweaking, no mistakes, no bad editing, just auto white balance so you see how the snake really looks.. I love seeing all these replies saying that it looks tampered, its a great compliment considering all i had to do was take the picture lol...
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d.../FSPastel4.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d.../FSPastel3.jpg

Here are a few more pics (sorry i could attach it to my last reply..)

Here is the pastel on a 20 dollar bill, so you know i couldnt tamper with it or else the dollars color wouldve changed....

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...e/DSC07211.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ottampered.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ttampered2.jpg

The photos you just posted look far better than your original post on here. As I said before thats a great looking pastel you have there, I just felt the colors were too off in the first photo and according to PS they were. I could have intensified the yellows in the photo I edited but I basically just corrected the white balance in PS not mush else. I wasn't trying to imply that you were trying to make something you dont have, I was implying that the way you edited(Auto WB in GIMP) made the photo look overly saturated and tinted. Sorry about making the snake look so old but I didn't try too.
Thats a great looking pastel you have there and I wouldn't hesitate for a second about taking it off your hands. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jsh

The photos you just posted look far better than your original post on here. As I said before thats a great looking pastel you have there, I just felt the colors were too off in the first photo and according to PS they were. I could have intensified the yellows in the photo I edited but I basically just corrected the white balance in PS not mush else. I wasn't trying to imply that you were trying to make something you dont have, I was implying that the way you edited(Auto WB in GIMP) made the photo look overly saturated and tinted. Sorry about making the snake look so old but I didn't try too.
Thats a great looking pastel you have there and I wouldn't hesitate for a second about taking it off your hands. :)

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thankyou.... aslo, the first pic was about 15 minutes after he shed.. so he looks unreal, but a few days after his color starts to settle back in haha
Thanks,
Brandon