Well I needed to get some updated photos of my baby snakes from last year so I knocked up this blue peter style light tent.



The photos turned out alot better than I expected considering all I used was an old cardboard box, 6 peices of A3 printer paper and 3 lamps(borrowed from work). The camera is only an old sony compact but I still don't think I am even getting the best out that yet. Anyway enough woffle.













I have got some more in my folder CaptiveBred Reptile Forums, Reptile Classified, Forum - James's Album: 2011 - Pied's & Poss Hets. and if anybody has any constructive critism then feel free to post it up. I don't have photoshop and I havent croped the photos, just resized them for the forum.

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If im totally honest they are too dark i hate being critical but also pose them so they are facing forward,head towards the camera. I find with royals especially for sales pics poses staring sidewards or backwards look naff. The last pic is near enough cock on for my personal taste id just raise the camera a touch more and come slightly more from above the snake these are just my personal thoughts

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www.jamieswordsreptiles.com

I agree I also think they are too dark and the white looks more blue Not sure if I can change something on the camera to alter that.

How about this angle?

If you could crop it to sqaure it up a touch and bring the snake forward id defo lile it !! Does your camera allow you to 'get in' a bit more or is that about as close as itll focus mate?

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www.jamieswordsreptiles.com

Not sure, do you mean so the head is more in focus?

Yep too dark, I like side on photos, not heads coming straight at you, unless looking down at them a little (last pic is great).

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good start but as Jamie says they are too dark. the reason the whites look blue is because the white balance is off on your camera. if its on auto try changing it to shady or try using daylight bulbs in the lamps.

the poses are personal preference, God knows i pose my snakes with some weird and whacky props in all sorts of positions,

the focus should always be on the eyes, no exception.

you can download Gimp which is a free photo editing package , you can sort out your whites there by using colour balance with the blue slider. ( im assuming it has this option) you may also be able to brighten them slightly without wrecking the image.

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Im a photographer at heart
www.fionabrimsphotography.co.uk

hope you dont mind i had a little play,
i brought the blue down by adding yellow, pushed the white levels up and brightened.

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Im a photographer at heart
www.fionabrimsphotography.co.uk

Nice edit and agree with the too dark thing. There could be an underlying problem why they are dark though - i.e. you're monitor should be set up as best as you possibly can. Most photographers will use a monitor calibration to make sure they have good gamma, brightness, contract and colour balance.

There are various tests you can do online as well.

LCD monitor test images

Try this one to start with. I often reference it myself just to make sure my monitor calibrator hasn't gone completely wild.

GIMP is free and definitely worth the learning curve. I did put a short tutorial on here with basic levels adjustments to help improve pictures, and this was using a compact camera. I'll dig up the link

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Jonny

Jonny Peace Photography

Ok, cant find the original tutorial, but it's cool.

For the editing side of it, here's a rough example for you.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18995321/tutorial%20P1.jpg

This was straight out of the camera... and ok, this edit aint the greatest, nor is the picture, but you'll get an idea of what a histogram is, and use one to suit your tastes :)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18995321/tutorial%20P2.jpg

This is a simple cheap natural light set up.

Natural Light set up Part 2

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Jonny

Jonny Peace Photography