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Al camera question
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by SCatheris on May 15, 2008
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Wehn you took the pics of your squams gaping what setting were you using? I try to get shots of the cottonmouth doing that at work and it doesn't work out. It's probably because he only does it for a moment, but I was just curious.
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RE: Al camera question
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by Phobos on May 15, 2008
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Yikes! If you tell me which picture you're talking about I might be able to come up with something.
Al
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RE: Al camera question
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by 23bms on May 16, 2008
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That's a rather slow shutter speed, and the F makes for minimal depth of focus. Were you using a flash? If not, a tripod? Manual or auto focus? Lastly, was it a lucky click or a cooperative animal?
I usually shoot ambient light with a tripod, a very low shutter speed and a high F. My (by now 'antique') Nikon DSLR won't go lower than ASA 200 and the autofocus, to put it ... mildly, stinks [I almost always have to resort to manual focus]. Rapidly moving subjects are a real problem if I want anything but blurry grain in the picture. It's always fun to try though.
jrb
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RE: Al camera question
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by Phobos on May 16, 2008
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The proof in in the picture....not bad for those setting.
http://deadlybeautiful.smugmug.com/gallery/685716_GzpCF#254592218_EZA3j
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RE: Al camera question
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by Cro on May 17, 2008
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Justin, as far as getting great photos, the camera settings are just one of many variables that come into play. For instance, you are probably using a different camera, different lens, different lighting, and different animal in your photos than AL is.
23bms makes some great observations about the depth of focus, and that is a very valid point.
Shallow depth of focus can ruin a photo. However, the reason that AL's photos work so well, it that they are well lighted, and that he "Focused on the Eye and Face" of the animal.
If you look closely, you will see that although the eye and face of the snakes are extremely sharp, that the rest of the snake's body gets blurry very quickly. Focusing on the Eye of animal it the key ! If the eye is blurry, the rest of the photo does not work and becomes trash.
Cameras are not smart enough to know to focus on the eye of an animal. If you use auto-focus, the camera will focus at an average place in the middle of the snakes body, and this will often leave the head and tail regions blurry and not sharp.
The best thing you can do is set the focus to manual, and focus on the eye and face of the animal. That way, even if you are shooting with a wide open lens and very shallow depth of field, you still can get very excellent photos like AL did.
If you want more of the body of the snake to also be more in focus and sharper, you will have to increase the depth of field by closing the lens aperature down to a smaller opening (larger F stop number). This is very similar to "squinting" to see something sharper. The human eye works very much the same way.
However, if you close the lens down to a smaller opening, you will be decreasing how much light reaches the "film", and have to compensate with a longer shutter speed that lets more light in.
The main thing you can do however, is shoot tons of photos. With the new digital cameras it is possible to shoot hundreds of photos of one snake. And in doing that, you are bound to get a few good shots.
But more than anything else, turn the durn auto-focus off, and use your own eyesight to focus on the eye and face of the animal you are taking a photo of. If you do this, you will get a lot more usable photos. Also, use as much lighting as possible. The flash that is part of the camera can work fairly well, however, outside lighting can make a huge difference.
Hope this helps.
Best Regards JohnZ
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RE: Al camera question
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by SCatheris on May 19, 2008
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no actually I'm using the same camera model and all. He might have an extra lens or something but other than that it's a sony DSC-H9. Thanks Al that generally what I keep my aperature on so I guess it's just that Agkistrodon...
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