Which Backgrounds Colors Are Best For Which Morph?

I did a search, but really didn't find anything. So, I was wondering, which background colors are best for which morphs?

For example, would Snows/Snow variants be best put on light blue to show their true colors? Or would dark, like forest green or black?

With Ghost, Aneries, and their variants, would blue work or should they be on white?

Amels/Amel variants would show their true colors best on black? Or would that brighten colors too much?

What about Ambers, Butters, Gold Dusts, and related? I would think light blue would be okay for them.

What about normals?

And any other morph I forgot? How do you decide what is best?

Let's assume that you are photographing each snake outside in overcast. Then which colors would you pick?

Just use a blue bowl for everything.

Something I've always heard of doing to bring out the best color of something is going by the Color Wheel. Basically, you see what color your snake is, and go to the opposite end of the spectrum for the background. (That's why blue works so well for red and orange colored snakes, by the way.)

Here's an example of the Color Wheel:


It's something that I will definitely be experimenting with when I have a better camera to work with.

I think Susan's photos on tree branches are a master class in naturalistic settings, BenniHC shows wonderful studio sets with leaves and moss, but you'll really have to search through the photo galleries to find which looks appeal most to you. Snows seem to be the most difficult morph to show the real colour of.

This is not an easy question to answer as there are so many variables that can affect each photo (lighting, background, color of snake, camera, photographer, etc). I get the best photos outside on overcast days, or sunny days but out of direct sunlight. Indoor photos work well as long as there is enough ambient light for my camera to work properly. Having one of those setups with spotlights would be great, but if you are like me, you simply don't have the space or resources to try to set one up.

I get photos showing the most accurate colors of all the morphs when I use my earth tone and leaf background. Yes, reds and oranges are more vibrant when seen on blue, but my camera, which does all the "stuff" automatically, tends to falsely alter the color too much in these circumstances, forcing me to make adjustments in my photo software to regain the true color. Even snows are easier to get true colors on that background. That is also probably why my better photos are those taken outside in natural settings. And even when I use real flowers, the various contrasting colors will often produce photos with the colors being "off".

I can't really think of anything that looks bad on white. Take Toyah's amel cinder, for example. You'd think that snake would be too light for white, but she looks great. I think sky blue works well for nearly everyone, too.

Unfortunately, I don't trust most of my snakes enough to take pictures of them outside on a tree or something. The one or two I do trust, would probably make me lose faith by crawling up the tree or knowing they're long enough to reach the ground from the branch.

I did take them out on the last overcast day and took some pictures. I haven't downloaded them from my camera yet but I don't think most of them came out with true colors. It's very frustrating. Maybe I just need a different camera. I have a Sony Digital Still Camera DSC-F505V if that means anything to anyone. It was given as a gift and is old.

pridecity said:

Unfortunately, I don't trust most of my snakes enough to take pictures of them outside on a tree or something. The one or two I do trust, would probably make me lose faith by crawling up the tree or knowing they're long enough to reach the ground from the branch.

I did take them out on the last overcast day and took some pictures. I haven't downloaded them from my camera yet but I don't think most of them came out with true colors. It's very frustrating. Maybe I just need a different camera. I have a Sony Digital Still Camera DSC-F505V if that means anything to anyone. It was given as a gift and is old.

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Check out Walmart's scrap cloth piles for something that has earth tones and use it indoors as your background. I got mine for all of about $1.50.