Just thought I would post 2 pictures of my 2,400 gram female Pastel to show what I was describing about using a WhiBal card to correct color to what the eye really sees. This photograph was originally taken in my house at night. I had 3 lights on the light box, 1 on each side and 1 on top. The bulbs I used were 120 Watt equivalent Soft White (2700K) Compact Florescent Lights. As you can see in the original picture, there is a real strong yellow/orange cast because of the temperature of the lights. But the WhiBal card has white, back and neutral (grey) on it. This allows me to use Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 to correct the colors to something much closer to what the eye really sees in just a few minutes time. I feel that the corrected photograph is more accurate than the original. Just wanted to share this so that people can think about how photographs can be honestly corrected. I have left the WhiBal card in both versions of the picture so you can do your own investigation. I think that every one who wants to accurately photograph their snakes (or other subjects) should strongly consider getting a WhiBal card (they only cost about $20 for the one I bought, and it is about the size of a credit card). Again, the first one is the original picture and the second has a layer applied to it to correct the white balance of the picture.

Original

Color Corrected


As soon as I can, I plan on doing a whole thread on the effect that the color temperature of the light has on the pictures and other such factors, but bear with me, I'm really just beginning to get into photography and still have a lot to learn myself.