Photographing Herps
	Amphibians and reptiles make great photo subjects and are the reason I began persueing photography in the first place.  They are still one of my favourite subjects.  Here are some things that I think make them so much fun to shoot: A) Their colour and form.  These animals lend themselves perfectly to photography.  When composed and exposed correctly the results can be stunning and are always interesting, allowing people to examine details not often noticed on a live animal. B) Unlike most wildlife subjects, herps can be manually placed into natural situations (such as putting a snake on some attractive moss or a nice looking log).  This is often referred to as making a set (see photo of set below), it is a technique I use regularly for shooting herps.  With a some gentle persuation and  a little patience snakes, frogs and many other herps will often sit motionless for a minute or more providing great oportunities for photography. C) They don't require thousands of dollars in equipment like birds do for instance.  An SLR camera with a simple macro lens and onboard flash is perfectly suitable for shooting herps, in fact that is what I used for almost all of the shots on this site.  I have also seen amazing results from people using digital point and shoot cameras as well since focus speed isn't as important for these kinds of shoots. D) Most regions have their share of unique herps so it always allows for something challenging to shoot on any trips you might take.
	The large white object attached to my camera is called a diffuser.  It simply spreads the light source around more resulting in less glare/highlights, increased saturation and also takes the harshness out of the shadows created from using just a straight flash.  It is a very simple tool to make (I used a milkjug) and is quite effective in the right situations.
						This is a photo from the shoot pictured to the left.  As you can see, the flash was toned down nicely by the diffuser.
			Sometimes a snake or whatever other herp you are photographing will not sit still long enough to take a decent photo.  If this is the case I will sometimes place a cup or other suitable container over the animal.  The cover tends to calm the subject down and if the cover is slowly removed it will often sit perfectly still for a moment.  It is very important that these animals be treated with the utmost care, they are very delicate and easily stressed.  If I feel that I am being too stressful I will simply let the subject go.  No photo is worth jeopardizing an animals health.
	This is an example of a set.  I found some nice attractive fall leaves and soaked them for a bit.  I spread them out on my patio table and placed a gorgeous little blue-spotted salamander on them.  Notice the cup, this is full of water so that the salamander stays moist and cool as well as adding a nice damp look to the photo.					Here is one of several photos from the blue-spotted salamander set on the left.  After a short time the animal was returned to where it was found no worse for the wear.  Sets are convenient, they provide a comfortable setting for the photographer (ie. no kneeling or laying down on a wet forest floor and no irritating mosquitoes/ chiggars/ ticks etc...) and make for an efficent and rewarding shoot.
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Photo By Tom Preney