Ceratophora macros

I was playing with the macro lens when I was feeding and cleaning this past weekend. I did not use a tripod and my hand was kind of jittery, so the DOF is very shallow. But I still like the results.

Ceratophora macros IMG_1189

This one is totally out of focus, but I still really like it for some reason:
Ceratophora macros IMG_1183

Hi Derek

very nice Pictures,

Really nice Ceratophoras.

Regards

Henning

Hi

Very nice shots, maybe you should try to take a little higher diaphragm number (especially at the first pic, the nose would be sharp too )

Greetings,
Markus

Amazing animals , nice to see them close up !! Thanks D

Great approach. Always difficult to get a reasonable depth of field here.
What I usually do: take 2-3 shots with different focal point (eyes, nose, beween) and compose it together in photoshop. Lot of work but pays off ;-)
Cheers,
Guenter

Thanks guys! I tried a few shots with a larger aperture, Markus, but they were all blurry due to me not using a tripod. So I just had to settle for the short DOF.

Jeez Guenter, if I was smart enough to know how to crop photos that well in photoshop I'd be cropping pics of my favorite breasts onto pics of my favorite....Um, uh never mind. Laughing

But thanks for the tip and for not making me feel like such an amateur! Wink

It is not THAT difficult.

1. Just copy the shots together, each one will get its own layer.
2. Move and resize elements until they fit somehow.
3. Add an layer mask to each layer and soften the edges by painting grey into it

Maybe I'll do a brief HowTo someday if there is interest here ...

I would be interested Guenter. I have PS 6.0 and PS Elements 6.0, but all I really do is crop, resize, and try to get my exposure close to right. I did start taking an 8-week digital photography class this week, so maybe my photos will get a little better soon.

Hmm, You should at least get comfortable with "Levels" and "Curves". Little effort, much improvement to most of the pictures. As soon as I've a bit more time, I'll do a brief Tutorial.

Very nice shoots Derek. Macros always amaze me. I need to save up and get a good camera and lense rather than use my point and shoot.

Thanks Guenter, if you do in fact find the time.

Thanks Curtis. It's hard to find the funds for a good camera when you're busy building up your collection, I know. I didn't get a good camera until I was done buying animals for some time. Or get one for Christmas! Family are much more receptive to gifting photo equipment than they are Bothriechis! Laughing

Derek,

A Rebel XTi and a 105mm Macro is a fine and well chosen equipment for such snake shots.
Just a hint what could easily been done (5min quick and dirty edit out from two of Your shots):

Ceratophora macros Img_1110

Of course much better results could be achieved based on the original full resolution RAW files.

Another hint: always try to get a couple of shots from the same specimen with focus on the eyes, the mouth/nose and between. IF You someday want to compose this, You've all You need.

Cheers,
Guenter

Wow, that is pretty amazing Guenter!!! No, I have no clue how to even begin to do something like that. I imagine that you use the smart cut-out option, but I have never done it and wouldn't know how to resize the cut-out and otherwise manipulate it to make it match. Your work intrigues me to find out though!

In brief:

I opened the two shots in PS (Your 1st and Your last from the original post).
Then I used a rather crude selection with the lasso to cut out the mouth from the last.
I copied and inserted it into the first. You get a new layer doing this and the layer is already selected.
I then flipped the copied-in and scaled it to quite the right size (all in the edit menu) and moved it to the right place.
Now it's time for the tricky part: add a layer mask to this layer (add layer mask - the third icon in the layer area).
Then use a black brush with soft edge (important) and about 20% opacity to wipe out the not needed parts of the copied-in picture. When You paint black in a mask this part of the layer becomes invisible. When You paint black with reduced opacity (like 20%), the layer becomes partly invisible there. Painting over and over again gives smooth edges to the underlying layer ;-)

Now reduce the layers to one background layer again and do "Levels" and "Curves" to get more contrast into it (again You can use layer masks to do this selectively on parts of the pic).

I did some reduction on the saturation for the background this way, but that was just a fine adjust.

Well - that's what I did. As said, just 5min if You get some experience, maybe a bit longer when You try it the first time.

BTW: Save Your original picture before ;-)

So you recommend that I take all of my photos in RAW? That's assuming that eventually I'll figure out how to manipulate them the way that you do (a HUGE assumption, knowing me Laughing

). Right now I always shoot in JPEG format. Thanks for the tips! I'll have to tinker with it when I have time to figure out the steps that you mention. I've never worked with layers.

On a side note, photography class was excellent last night! We learned about the relationship between ISO, aperture, and shutter speed and how they affect each other. It was oversimplified, but very clear and easy to understand. Next week we will learn about light values and how that aspect will muddle up everything that we learned this week. Great fun!

I'd suggest to once try a few shots in RAW. Then try to convert it into jpeg with PS or Adobe Lightroom. If You manage to do this then I highly suggest to always work in RAW.
But if You've troubles with the conversion then jpeg is a much more easy way to start with.

RAW is mightier (more tolerance for exposition, much more quality reserve for postprocess) but also more difficult to deal with.

Thanks for all the free advice Guenter! Now let's see if I can put it to use. Very Happy

No problem, You are welcome!
I have so many questions about snakes and always appreciate some help there (and always get it). On the contrary I of course will always share my little knowledge about photography to everybody.

Hi Derek ,
very nice Ceratophoras.. :-) I we planned keeping too, in the future.

Hi Radek, you will have a lot of fun with this species! They are typically very nippy and full of spunk and attitude!

Hi Derek,
of course Ceratophoras are very cool animals, but a little more difficult to breed ?
Says more snakebreeders in my country, the same as A.nitschei... ?

Hi Radek,

Yes, they are typically very hard to get to breed in captivity, just as nitschei is. I've seen several people who have had their animals lock up, but I have seen very few true captive born and bred babies. Many females are imported gravid, so I know they have success in the wild, but it's hard to get it right in captivity. Still, they make great captives if you meet their needs and they are some of my favorite Atheris. Good luck and have fun with them.

Derek

Guest

Derek, So when are we going to see some cerat. babies? I need a male for my ladies. They are old enough to date now. And I upgrated them to the 90 gal. penthouse suite for extra room to roam.

very nice pics.

Thanks Petr. I should get some new photos now that I have a lot more practice with my macro lens.

I don't know, TJ. I wish I did. I paired up the cerats this past spring and one of them is looking a little chubby, but I'm not sure she's gravid. I'll pair them up again this week and try to watch them better, but it's tough with two kids running around demanding so much of my time. I can't live in my snake room like I did before I had kids.

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