Photography Secrets? Leon 18 weeks

[Julirs]

What is the secret to good Cham pics? I turned off my flash, and that seemed to work better with all of the cage lights, but I still cannot capture a good clear pic...

 

[Dave Weldon]

What is the secret to good Cham pics? I turned off my flash, and that seemed to work better with all of the cage lights, but I still cannot capture a good clear pic...

Howdy,
If you want to try to work without the flash then you will most likely need a tripod to mount and stabilize your camera. No flash may force your camera to slow-down the shutter speed to the point where any slight movements will blur the image, as can be seen in your posted photo .


You can also play around with the depth of field by experimenting with shutter speed and the F-stop exposure. By increasing the F-stop you will trade-off loss of light for getting a deeper range of what will be in focus. Where you might have the chameleon's eye in perfect focus you may not even have the face in focus because the depth of field (DOP) is so shallow. That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what your photo is trying to emphasize - that's the artistic side of photography which I leave to the artists . Here are two shots. The panther tongue-shot needed a lot of DOP because the chameleon was sitting at an angle to the camera that needed several inches to keep the tongue and the body in focus (along with the flash to stop the action.) The F-stop was set fairly high. The baby veiled needed less DOP to draw the viewer's attention to the eye and not the body, thus the F-stop was on the low side.

There are lots of websites to read-up on all of the aspects of photography techniques. Have fun!

 

[Julirs]

Thanks Dave! I think I need a new camera! I could tell without the flash the shutter speed was slower. Is that a baby Veiled?

 

[Vegas Chad]

Also, not sure what type of camera you have, but most ‘cheap’ >1000 dollar cameras, no not really cheap; but less than the 1000+ ones, anyway… Most have a close up setting usually marked my a little flower, scroll through the settings until you find that and give it a shot. Also, try not to get the subject right next to the lens while you have the flash on because it will white out the shot. Pull back and use the zoom to compensate for the distance. That is what I do and usually works like a charm. However I do believe that the best way to do it is as talked above, take your cham outside in some good sun and take your pictures with no flash. You will need a little tripod for the best results, but in the end you will be happy!

 

[Dave Weldon]

...Is that a baby Veiled?

HOwdy,

I hatched a batch of veileds a year or two ago for friends while they were out of town on a 2 week trip. They got to hatch 2 before they left and one after they got back. I got to hatch the other 54-55 babies in the middle . That photo was taken at about 2-3 days old, I'd guess.

Here's another:

 

[flyingpanther]

These are all great tips. If your camera has the flower symbol or macro capability this is the best way to get close up shots. It will allow your camera to focus at a shorter range. If you must use a flash stay back a ways so you don't white out the subject. If your camera shoots at a fairly high resolution and you have the capability to crop your image you can afford to take a wider angle shot and resize later. The beauty of digital is that you can keep taking pictures until you get the right one...just keep practicing.

 

[Marc10edora]

My secret is to dress up in a bunch of leaves from head to toe. Then slowly sneak up to the cham and snap pictures like a paparazi ninja...lol
Just kidding. I don't even own a camera I'm jealous of all you camera owners. I spend all my money on cham supplies.

 

[lonomac]

I tried using flash for the first time yesterday and my cham opened his mouth and jumped back. I'm assuming then that I just freaked him out and that it doesn't hurt their eyes any?

 

[westcoastchameleons]

Im with flying panther.

Jake

 

[FL Chams]

Buy a Nikon D40 or D50 Julie. They're great little SLR's not real expensive and probably will do more than you'll ever use. I recommend them to anyone just wanting to do some good photography. Cloudy days are great for photography nice level lighting. I also love to shoot early in the mornings. The sun isn't so overpowering. Some of my best pictures are taken then. I love photography and really want to take some courses. Nikon actually has like Nikon Photography seminars. I'm considering going. Also Ritz Camera has some DVD's for Nikon's Cameras that are AWESOME!

 

[Julirs]

Sounds like a good Christmas present! However by Christmas I may be broke if you keep selling me Chameleons Mike!

 

[royden]

Remember that on all camera's - especially point and shoots - if you hold the button down half way, it'll focus on something automatically. If it grabs the wrong subject, move the camera a bit until it regrabs what you want.

 

[Vegas Chad]

Sheesh… Do we need to invent something like Cham-aholics anonymous? What’s next; meeting Mike in a dark parking lot to exchange chameleons for money? And then get your family involved in it so they can sneak them back for you on the plane? I mean, common; who would do that!!! OH NO! MEEEE Awwwwwwwww. What is that # to Cham-aholics anonymous again?