A Help for a 35 mm Camera...

[MidnightIris]

I've been seeing so many beautiful pictures from people out there! I want to get in on the action, but I don't have a digi camera...only an average 35mm camera with a flash. Whenever I try to get a good picture of my snakes (three corns and a BP), they either come out blurry, or looking like pieces of colored string. Any advice on how to get some half decent photos? (Film type, distance, backgrounds, etc.) Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Lisa]

what kind of lens do you have? to be able to get any decent photos you're going to have to get close up.

[MidnightIris]

It's just a regular lens as far as I can tell...nothing teloscopic or zoomish...eeks. Maybe I should look into something a bit more high tech?

[Lisa]

Mainly you're interested in macro functions, if your camera has the ability for interchangable lenses you can get one with a macro feature

[vanderkm]

You can also consider a set of closeup filters. They screw on the front of the lens you have now and offer specific magnification values, so allow you to do some closeups with less cost than a whole new lens or camera. Without a flash you need to use quite a fast film to help you capture movement, but if you are using a flash, you might want to go with the slower film speeds for the detail and less grain since you will lose some quality in scanning the photos in after.

The biggest challenge I have found is getting the snake to hold still long enough to get everything focused. That and the fact that the flash tends to over-expose things when you use the macro setting. It might actually under expose with a close-up lens. I have tried to photograph in the cages but with glass fronts and difficulty focusing, I didn't get good shots. I converted a dog grooming table with a couple towels for background and have been putting the snakes under a pot, letting them settle down and then taking the pot off and snapping a couple shots until they get moving around too much. I suppose it helps if you have someone willing to hold them for you.

We have been trying different background colors - seems to make quite a bit of difference in how the snake's colors look - whether they are done on green, blue, black or tan background - still sorting out what is most accurate to real life color. A lot seems to change when photos are posted too - they look different on different monitors - some of mine that are bright on one computer are very dark on another, so lots to experiment with. Good luck with getting some photos - would love to see you caramel corn and the new hypo if you get it.

Mary v.

[MidnightIris]

thanks everyone for the advice! I'll have to see what I can do. Or I can just kidnap my friend with the digi cam...lol.