Reptile Photography Techniques

Please try include your camera settings with your photos where possible.

Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby Mongoose » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:29 pm

Reptile photography in general takes a lot of patience, and being a good photographer in general does not make you a good reptile photographer.

In this topic we can share and explain technique to improve our reptile photography. Getting the composition right is one of the most crucial factors when photographing reptiles for book standard which I and only a few other members aim at.

In this thread, people who photograph reptiles may place there photos here - Which have to be on a natural backround, and remember things like a corner of a building sticking out, or photographing the reptile on lawn grass spoil a picture. When you post your picture, others are welcome to criticise it, and say what they think would of improved your photo.

Lets get this thread going.
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby dendroaspis » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:47 pm

Black Mamba

Image
Image
Image
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby Mongoose » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:57 pm

My feeling on the 3 photos is that they are not well composed, the mamba head shots do not fill the frame, and the snake is looking in the wrong direction. It is also noticeable that the snakes have been photographed in the garden - This wouldn't of been a problem if the head was fullframe.

The last photo is taken from the wrong angle and the snake is looking away. It is also not what I would class as a natural backround.
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby BushSnake » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:12 pm

Starting a photographic category...mmm...it sounds familiar!

Dendroaspis, those are great photos but try and refrain from having the head dead centre. Rather have it in one of the 1/3 corners. The last photo works better because there is more body in the photo. Also, you are allowed in MOST competitions to sharpen the photos slightly. Digital cameras have a natural unsharpness and you are allowed to compensate for it, even in the strictest competitions.

My photo (Mfezi):Criticism VERY welcome! My view is biased so I would like you input. My own personal crits are:

The twigs on the horizon bothers me a bit.
The termite mound is nice to have but should be somewhere else on the photo as it distracts from the head outline.
And someone else commented (on ODP) on the flash reflection, which doesn't bother me too much but I can see that it will bother some people.
The "large" grasses in front looks out of proportion.

Image

Fire away....

Just a little tip when photographing in a room where you have very unnatural background. You can either use a very shallow DOF (Aperture = F5.6 to about F11) which will blur the background, or a very deep one (F22 - F32) which will limit the light and cause the BG to become dark or black. Bear in mind that these values are are not really applicable to cameras with really small sensors (small compact mik-en-druk cameras). They are specifically for DSLR cameras. The principles stay the same but the range differs a bit for small cameras.

Eg.
I personally don't like this for diurnal snakes, but it is still better that a wall. (1/250 + flash; F20)
Image

It is not ideal as it still looks unnatural, but better than having a wall for a BG. (1/250 + flash; F5.6; same room as the green mamba)
Image
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby dendroaspis » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:18 pm

Okay, I am no expert and in no means want to offend.

Your Mfezi pic looks like two pics gelled into one. I am not sure why that is, but I imagine its because you over edited on the "brightness/contrast" due to the lighting (I am still learning so I may be wrong)

The second pic is pretty good.
The third pics looks like your subject is about to shed, so it wasn't an ideal subject yet.
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby BushSnake » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:29 pm

This thread is not suppose to offend. Purely to learn from. Every photographer is biased towards his own work and it helps to have a second and third opinion. Read it and decide whether you agree with the comments or not (you don't have to agree)

The saturation wasn't really boosted in the Mfezi pic (at least not manually), but because it was overcast and my white balance is set on shadow (automatic saturation correction), it came out like this. Will have a look at the RAWs to see if they look better. The mamba wasn't ideal but it was the only pic I could find to show the shallow DOF.
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: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby dendroaspis » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:36 pm

oooo I forgot, thanks for the critique :)
I am really a neonate when it comes to photography, so every little helps
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Mist and shadow
Cloud and shade
All shall fade
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby Mongoose » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:42 pm

Andre, the color with the mfezi just doesn't look natural too me. It could of alse been a bit more full frame I think. It is well composed though - The situation was also difficult as we didn't photograph it in natural habitat.

I like your Atheris photo.

The green mamba shot doesn't do it for me - but if it were a natural backround and there was more DOF, there would have to be more of the snakes body in the photo on the frontside of the log. Also not to be offensive, but the aim of this thread is to photograph snakes in a natural environment etc and not in a cage(the wall in the backround is the problem when photographing in the cage)

To all people submitting photos - do note take offense to the critism if it sounds harsh. After all, this is for us all to learn and benefit from.
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby BushSnake » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:57 pm

You have broken my spirit... ;) The objective of the last two shots was not really for crits, but simply to show the methods of "faking" unnatural BG. Mongoose, remember that many of the members will practice on their captive things, so knowing how to take shots when you don't even have a garden available is still good.
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: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby Mongoose » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:12 pm

Sure, this photo was taken in our garden, but I still class it as a very good photo. Crit is welcome.

Image
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby BushSnake » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:19 pm

Haha, my turn to get you back!

I like it a lot, but the front left corner is distracting (and so is the text...:) ). The reflections are a bit bright (diffuser might help) and I would have liked a tighter crop, but still well done...as you already know.
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: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby Sico » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:56 pm

I took this one of Pyxicephalus adspersus at night, down in my wetland. i'm still trying to work with the whole depth of field effort to get slightly more of the subject in focus.
Image
it's a bit difficult with terrestrial/aquatic amphibians to get down to their level and prevent birds eye view shots, at least the "Pyxies" are a little higher off the ground than most
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby Mongoose » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:08 pm

When photographing for indetification purposes(book standard) the subject to be photoraphed at such an angle that you can see the top nicely and the side. It should fill the frame from one of the bottom corners to the opposite upper corner if you know what I mean.

This shot shown here is a nice potrait shot or a "cute" shot.

PS - Don't be scared to lie in muddy water and between all the dirt, that's the fun part.
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby drummer » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:15 pm

Mongoose, your shot.

I feel subject is too centered, is a little bit wide. It also seems a slightly over exposed and also the colours of you "habitat" wash out the subject, too many oranges etc. The reflection on the wet soil is also too much. Have a nice day :)
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Re: Reptile Photography Techniques

Postby Icarus » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:06 pm

Just a quick question. Maybe you guys can number the pics, so that those of us that do not know all herps can still comment on the correct pic. Well, I know nothing of neither herps nor photography, but my friend composed a field guide to the amphibians of the Vredefort dome for his masters degree, maybe I can get him to give some input
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