Herps on White

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qaz
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Joined: December 27th, 2012, 9:09 am

Herps on White

Post by qaz »

I was looking around on Flickr a bit today and saw some pretty cool pictures of frogs and salamanders and such on completely white backdrops. I know the basic principles of doing this sort of thing (white background, take picture, photoshop to make picture look even whiter, etc.) but what are the other aspects of taking these kinds of photos? For example, what type of material is used as the background? Are there any other camera accessories that make these pics look better? Are these taken in a "studio" of sorts, or can they be done in the field? Any advice is appreciated!

If this is a repost or the topic has already been addressed please let me know
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Owen
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Re: Herps on White

Post by Owen »

MonarchzMan
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Re: Herps on White

Post by MonarchzMan »

Here is what I use, which works great for the smaller animals (I have been able to do a 7-8" Leptodactylus savagei on it, however). It breaks down and I can fit it all into my camera backpack. This is what I used in the tropics. I have a larger one, but it's cumbersome to take into the field (specifically on a plane), that I use for larger animals.

Image
Field Studio by monarchzman, on Flickr

I do it as part of the Meet Your Neighbours project (meetyourneighbours.net). Don is also part of the project. The website has a lot of useful blogs/videos for how to take those photos. Generally, I don't edit too much other than adjusting the whites to 255 in Lightroom.

Here are a few examples of what I've taken with this set up:

Image
Striped Basilisk by monarchzman, on Flickr

Image
Incredibly Fat Green and Black Poison Frog by monarchzman, on Flickr

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Central American Bullfrog by monarchzman, on Flickr

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Unknown Trapjaw Ant by monarchzman, on Flickr
qaz
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Re: Herps on White

Post by qaz »

Owen, that's a very funny video.

MonarchzMan, thanks for the tip and pictures! How much would you say all those materials costs?
MonarchzMan
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Re: Herps on White

Post by MonarchzMan »

I think you could do the set up for less than $20 depending on the size you want your table to be. The acrylic was something like $6 for a 12"x12" sheet (estreetplastics.com; you want the 2447 white) and a couple bucks for the PVC and connectors. I make a diffuser for my twin flash to copy what Alex Wild did (http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/com ... cro-flash/). It might not be the prettiest thing on my camera, but I'm happy with how it works.

The big cost will be the camera equipment (having the remote flash is a must). Maybe Don will post his set up (his is far more elaborate).
qaz
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Re: Herps on White

Post by qaz »

Ok thanks, Ill look into that stuff.
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chrish
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Re: Herps on White

Post by chrish »

MonarchzMan wrote:The big cost will be the camera equipment (having the remote flash is a must).
I suspect you could do this pretty well with a bright LED light to light your white plastic substrate. White balancing it would be easy since you know exactly what color you wanted it.

I have to say though, I'm not a big fan of this type of photography. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

There is a lot of this type of photography on Amphibiaweb Ecuador (http://zoologia.puce.edu.ec/vertebrados ... fault.aspx) and Reptiliaweb Ecuador (http://zoologia.puce.edu.ec/vertebrados ... fault.aspx) as well.
MonarchzMan
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Re: Herps on White

Post by MonarchzMan »

chrish wrote:
MonarchzMan wrote:The big cost will be the camera equipment (having the remote flash is a must).
I suspect you could do this pretty well with a bright LED light to light your white plastic substrate. White balancing it would be easy since you know exactly what color you wanted it.

I have to say though, I'm not a big fan of this type of photography. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

There is a lot of this type of photography on Amphibiaweb Ecuador (http://zoologia.puce.edu.ec/vertebrados ... fault.aspx) and Reptiliaweb Ecuador (http://zoologia.puce.edu.ec/vertebrados ... fault.aspx) as well.
Good point with the LEDs, and probably true (could probably use one of the adjustable video lights).

I like using a mix of natural and white photoraphy. This type of photography removes all "distraction" from image so that the only focus of the image is the animal. These sort of photos work really well for presentations, magazine articles, etc...
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justinm
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Re: Herps on White

Post by justinm »

I bought this one and it came with 4 different colors. I prefer white or black. I have some examples of the shots on my flickr page.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmichels/
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chris_mcmartin
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Re: Herps on White

Post by chris_mcmartin »

justinm wrote:I bought this one and it came with 4 different colors. I prefer white or black. I have some examples of the shots on my flickr page.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmichels/
I have the same setup, but haven't used it much--mostly because I simply haven't taken the time to fiddle around with it. I haven't been happy with the few pictures I've taken to date; I was hoping to get a uniform white background but the texture of the fabric is very noticeable, given the small size of my subjects (couple of inches long). I'm not sure if playing around with overexposing would help; I think the white acrylic might be the way to go.

Then again, there's always the "naturalistic" background I will eventually get around to setting up...I have a 5-gallon bucket of West Texas awaiting my orders.
reptileexperts
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Re: Herps on White

Post by reptileexperts »

Image
This is roughly straight from the camera. Using flash bounces appropriately, and playing around with angles from remote triggers, all you really need is two sheets of white styofoam board (2.98 USD at walmart per sheet) and this will work for many reptiles up to 2m pythons (thats the max I've done with this set up). You can do the same on black for some species and it works out quite well, or mix the two sheets to get different results. Of course - using a "blank" background just makes the selection tool work wonders in photoshop and allow you to then copy and paste your subject (even shadows) onto a pure white, black, blue, pink, whatever (trasnparent even for PNG files) with little to no trouble.

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Black on black

Image
White on Black

I have also found that using just a single white board shot at a 45 degree angle to your subject or greater (or less even depending on size of board and subject) you can simply lay the sheet in direct sunlight, and use your favorite body / macro lens without need of flash. It's best on a slightly cloudy day where the sun is at high noon.

Image
Shot outdoors in overcast weather, no flash, ambient light only on a single white styroboard.

Cheers
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chris_mcmartin
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Re: Herps on White

Post by chris_mcmartin »

reptileexperts wrote:all you really need is two sheets of white styofoam board (2.98 USD at walmart per sheet)
I assume you mean the foam board that is essentially a piece of styrofoam sandwiched between two posterboards?
reptileexperts
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Re: Herps on White

Post by reptileexperts »

Yes.
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