What am I doing wrong

[r.spitz09]

One of the major things I would like to do with my camera is product shots of my reptiles. I tried forever today to do it while one of them were eating and there just not what I would like, but am not sure what I am doing wrong any help would be apreciated.

[LightBright]

When doing commercial type photography you will usually need some strobe equipment or bring the snakes to better natural sun light and use some large white reflectors as a fill light. With either of these tools you can become very creative.

[Singletracklovr]

Nice Boa,
What don't you like about the photos? DOF to narrow?
Pict 1 the DOF is just behind the snakes head. Other than that the exposure looks good.
Pict 2 much better IMO again what don't you like?

[r.spitz09]

I would have like the first photo to have more of a DOF. And I feel the colours just arnt coming out the way I would like. The guy I used to have do my photos used to really be able to pull out the luminescence of the snake, unfortunately he past away just before christmas thats part of the reason I decided to start, glad I did though cause I am really enjoying shooting, besides my product shots lol.

[Singletracklovr]

You can't fix DOF in PP.
You will have to shoot again. Use the DOF calculator I posted in your other post to determine how much you need in focus.
Set that f-stop in the camera then adjust shutter speed, and ISO
until your exposure meter(in the viewfinder) is centered. If you can't center the exposure meter you will have to add more light.

You can bring up the color saturation in PP.

[r.spitz09]

You can't fix DOF in PP.
You will have to shoot again. Use the DOF calculator I posted in your other post to determine how much you need in focus.
Set that f-stop in the camera then adjust shutter speed, and ISO
until your exposure meter(in the viewfinder) is centered. If you can't center the exposure meter you will have to add more light.

You can bring up the color saturation in PP.

Thank you very much for those two links, I think I am starting to get it now. I really appreciate all the help you have given me.

[Singletracklovr]

Thank you very much for those two links, I think I am starting to get it now. I really appreciate all the help you have given me.

You are welcome.
Everything I know about digital photography and PP I learned from members on the site.
I am no expert. But it feels good to share what little I know.

Oh,
I played around with your @nd Boa shot. Is this the color pop you are looking for?
PP was quick and dirty.

[r.spitz09]

Theres the colour I was looking for! I don't use PS but I'm guessing there is probably something similar in Aperture 3 that could do that?

[Singletracklovr]

I used the free nikon ViewNX software.
sharp... 1
shadow protection... 25
d-lighting HS... medium
color boost.... 10
save

[Medley]

Theres the colour I was looking for! I don't use PS but I'm guessing there is probably something similar in Aperture 3 that could do that?

I use Aperture2, and I don't normally do my editing in Aperture. Still:



Under the Adjustment tab, In the Enhance sub-menu:

Contrast: .15
Saturation 1.5

Check Sharpen:

Intensity .71
Radius 1.26

- Joe U.

[Franglais]

I would have like the first photo to have more of a DOF. And I feel the colours just arnt coming out the way I would like. The guy I used to have do my photos used to really be able to pull out the luminescence of the snake, unfortunately he past away just before christmas thats part of the reason I decided to start, glad I did though cause I am really enjoying shooting, besides my product shots lol.

If you want to have more depth of field then you must set a smaller aperture or use a wider focal length or both. If you want to change the luminescence of the snake then you need to change the lighting.

For the first image you have used a 55mm lens at 1/60 f5.6, 400 ISO and what looks like the built-in camera flash. The effect is as though you shone a flashlight in the subject's face - the main subject is lit but behind the light falls off into darkness.

I don't know what sort of lighting you need to get the luminescence of the snake, but I would try something more versatile than the built-in flash on your camera. I would use a cobra flash (SB800 or SB600).

- If you need a flat frontal light then try the cobra flash head-on. The reflector is bigger than the camera flash and it gives better light. Otherwise you can add a diffuser thing to the flash to make the light source bigger
- If you need a fairly soft light coming from above or from the sode (like for a human being) then use bounce flash to get a more even lighting on the subject. Start off by pointing the flash at the ceiling then try different walls to see if the light reflected back is right for the subject.
- If you need light coming from slightly behind the subject to make the scales shine then you can use two flashes (built-in and cobra). Remove the cobra flash from the camera and set it up at a distance, piloted by the camera. (Note that the D3000 can't pilot flashes at a distance but the D90 can).

I would use at least 800 ISO and use Aperture priority mode with the lens aperture set to f11 or f16 to make sure I had enough depth of field

[Lou Frasier]

I really like the first one,it makes me miss my redtail,:thumbsup: