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Some extreme closeups during feeding (232Kb in 3 images)

P

PhilD

New member
Here are a few pictures of my 6 month old normal "Aitch" having a quick snack. These are much better than my previous photo attempts - plenty of light seems to be the key to getting a good focus from a digital cam (as suggested by someone on these forums, thanks whoever it was). Enjoy!

From the rear, pretending to be a cobra:
IMG_0473.JPG


Anything larger would be a struggle, I think. The stretchiness of the skin is remarkable, even up to the top of the head.
IMG_0506.JPG


This is why I call him "Aitch":
IMG_0497.JPG


I didn't notice this in the pet shop, it was after I'd had him at home for a few days. When I saw this I thought it must be unique, but I've seen very similar markings on a couple of other pics here. There must be an H gene in the cornsnake gene pool! All his other saddles are discrete. The colour is a little dark here, the top 2 photos are a better representation of his "real" chestnut colour.
 
AWESOME PHOTOS!!!!


What kind of camera did you use? How did you light the snake? Again great photos and great name for your snake,

Ripper
 
I've noticed that most snakes, when they have that broken/reconnected saddle pattern there, usually express the "H" pattern right where their stomachs end and their GI tract begins.

Interesting ...
 
Thanks ripper. It's a standard compact digicam, a Canon Ixus 400. Nothing special at all, but fairly good in its class. Sold as the Powershot S400 in some markets. This link to Canon cameras at dpreview.com has a review and user comments area. It's what I used to review cameras before I bought this (it's my first digicam).

The pictures were taken on my sofa (the blue object) with a white towel laid on it. That's mainly to stop him disappearing down the cushions, not for any particular photographic effect. When I kneel on the floor everything is at a good height for photos.

I have a 60W desktop lamp with a standard tungsten bulb sitting on the sofa's arm and pointing downwards. It's about 18 inches from the snake. You need lots of light, otherwise the camera won't focus properly and the images will come out dark. With this setup I don't need to use a flash (that would probably startle the animal, too).


This is what I did on the camera. Most of this will be generally applicable, I think. But you should read your manual and check out the forums at the site above.


Set it to manual mode. Auto mode just can't hack it for this type of work.

Set focus mode to "center", so it locks on the object you are pointing at and doesn't try to do any fancy interpolation of the entire frame

Set the white balance to "tungsten", otherwise everything comes out looking yellow

Set the ISO speed to 200, otherwise things will come out blurred if he moves. As far as I can tell, a higher number corresponds to a faster shutter speed, so you can use it to "freeze" the action.

Then adjust the "exposure compensation" so that the results are not too bright or too dark (just play with it)

Turn on macro mode, of course

Get in close! - I was about 5-10cm away from his head with the lens when I took these photos.

Don't use digital zoom, it's useless, it just spreads the image out across more pixels. You can do that later on the PC if you want. I shoot the largest image size I can - 2272 x 1704 pixels - then crop in an image editing program afterwards.

On my IXUS to get the best macro shots I actually have to use the "wideangle" focal length setting.
 
Darin Chappell said:
I've noticed that most snakes, when they have that broken/reconnected saddle pattern there, usually express the "H" pattern right where their stomachs end and their GI tract begins.

Interesting ...
Click to expand...
Yes, that seems to be the case. The mouse settles just under the H :)
 
I won't post the images here 'cos it's a cornsnake forum, but on my web site I have a few full-size images that I took at London zoo. I was still learning to use the camera then, I must have shot 250 photos and got about 5 I was happy with :awcrap:

Warning, these files are about 2MB each.

Black Mamba (this is my current desktop wallpaper):
http://www.aonq09.dsl.pipex.com/Snakes/PicsLondonZoo-2004-01/OriginalImages/black_mamba_IMG_0120.jpg

Green Mamba:
http://www.aonq09.dsl.pipex.com/Snakes/PicsLondonZoo-2004-01/OriginalImages/green_mamba_IMG_0211.jpg

http://www.aonq09.dsl.pipex.com/Snakes/PicsLondonZoo-2004-01/OriginalImages/green_mamba_IMG_0236.jpg

The mambas were my favourite snakes, they were constantly prowling around their cages. These suckers are fast.
 
Thanks for the photo Info. I am going to try this the next time I take pictures.

Ripper
 
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