Where to shoot?

[Dean Wil]

Firstly im not sure if this is in the right place, if not, sorry guys!

Basically, i wanna take some photos of my royal python, but i cant do it with him in his vivarium, as he is viv defensive. And i cant do it in my reptile room, becuse there is no working light in there.

I cant really think of anwhere in the house i can shoot, without getting somthing unightly like a kitchen cupboard in the background....Any suggestions please?

Thanks,
Dean

P.S. Im not really sure what suggestions im expecting, just a shot in the dark really!

 

[RJL2005]

How big is he? Prehaps use the bathroom

 

[Nickibee]

You could set up a little corner of a room with some cardboard boxes and stick a camo net to the wall (you can get them in camping shops and army surplus shops, even maybe fishing shops?) so you have some background and drape it over the boxes, maybe put a dead tree branch from outside in the mix, and let him get comfy then snap away, im assuming he's ok being let out?

If you use a fast lens or a macro the bokeh will blur the background enough to make it look natural, id suggest some constant lighting rather than flash as this could spook him, get creative! If you have a fast lens (f2.8-1.8/1.4?) you may get away with available indoor light? Any set-up like this will be ok.

If you only have a kit lens stop it right down to f4.5 at about 18mm and get really close in (I think the Kit allows you to get a 1/3 of a metre in), you'll be wide enough to get his head and some body in frame and the aperture should be wide enough to give you a shallow depth of field so again you won't see your make shift background? The Nikon kit lens for D3000 has excellent macro capabilities and it's almost perfect for reptile photography without spending £500+ on a macro lens! If you have a Kit Lens and your struggling with light bump the ISO up to no-more than 800, be warned that if you plan to print your images large you may lose quality due to the noise at higher ISO. Hope this helps!

Let us see the pics, when done!!

 

[Dean Wil]

You could set up a little corner of a room with some cardboard boxes and stick a camo net to the wall (you can get them in camping shops and army surplus shops, even maybe fishing shops?) so you have some background and drape it over the boxes, maybe put a dead tree branch from outside in the mix, and let him get comfy then snap away, im assuming he's ok being let out?

If you use a fast lens or a macro the bokeh will blur the background enough to make it look natural, id suggest some constant lighting rather than flash as this could spook him, get creative! If you have a fast lens (f2.8-1.8/1.4?) you may get away with available indoor light? Any set-up like this will be ok.

If you only have a kit lens stop it right down to f4.5 at about 18mm and get really close in (I think the Kit allows you to get a 1/3 of a metre in), you'll be wide enough to get his head and some body in frame and the aperture should be wide enough to give you a shallow depth of field so again you won't see your make shift background? The Nikon kit lens for D3000 has excellent macro capabilities and it's almost perfect for reptile photography without spending £500+ on a macro lens! If you have a Kit Lens and your struggling with light bump the ISO up to no-more than 800, be warned that if you plan to print your images large you may lose quality due to the noise at higher ISO. Hope this helps!

Let us see the pics, when done!!

Thanks very much!! Ill see if i can get hold of a camo net tomorrow, and have a go with that idea.