Photographing Reptiles

As exotic animal keepers, we all like to show off our reptiles, be it social media, blogging or to friends and family. Some people jump straight in and start snapping like crazy, and this is okay for some quick photos, but if you want more detail and photographs that REALLY show off your reptiles, keep reading.

This post will focus on camera settings and the environment in which you photograph your reptiles. Most cameras have settings for aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I use a Nikon DSLR with a flashgun to photograph my reptiles as this provides better quality. Just to explain a bit more about what these settings mean;

Aperture means the area that will be in focus. It will usually range from f2.8 (small area of focus) to f32 (wide area of focus). The lower the number, the higher the shutter speed will need to be (usually).

Shutter Speed is how fast your camera takes a photo. Do not photograph any lower than 1/60 of a second as it will not be sharp due to your hands shaking or the reptile moving too fast. It's better to photograph around the 1/125 of a second mark. This will most likely effect your aperture settings. As a bench mark, on a sunny day the settings for outside would be f8 and 1/125 of a second. So if you are photographing at 1/125 indoors, you will need a flash on your camera to compensate for the low light conditions. 

ISO is how grainy your photos will be. I always set mine to 100 as this means there will be very little if any grain visible. I would push to ISO 200 but no further.

If in doubt, play about with the settings a bit and take a few practice shots to get the settings correct. Low aperture settings are great if you want to focus on your animal's face and want the background blurred out while higher aperture settings are better if you want the whole reptile in focus. 

Environment is important for photographing. I personally like to use either white or black backgrounds as these provide a cleaner look and allows the viewer to focus on the animal, not the distracting items in the background. Some reptiles look better on dark backgrounds and some look better on lighter backgrounds. 

Mojave royal python. Mid aperture settings (f8)

Pinstripe on a white background. Low aperture (f4)

Same pinstripe on a black background. Low aperture (f4)

Ensure that your reptiles are not going through their shedding process when you decide to photograph them as this will not help to bring out their vivid and natural colours. The best time to photograph them is after a shed as this is when they are at their brightest.

Amel corn snake after shed.

Amel corn snake in shed.

Sometimes you might not have the time to set up the background or just want a quick snap to share on social media sites. This is the first photo I took of my butter royal python. Ensure it is well lit and is in focus.

Butter royal python. Quick snap.

Close ups can be stunning and can sometimes look almost human. Below is a photo of my snow corn snake which looks just that.

Snow corn snake. Close up.

Timing is also very important. This can make a difference between a good photograph and a great photograph.

Normal leopard gecko.

One second after the previous photo.

Try to get quality photographs over quantity. Anyone can take lots of photographs but a few really good photos will always trump hundreds of mediocre photos. Remember to take your time and if needs be, have someone else in the room to help you control the reptile so they don't run off while you fix your camera's settings.