Purple Snake?

Thanks for all the replies. Nanci is right, that tongue is too red. This picture was Photoshopped or a some sort of tint was added. I saw this picture and feel in love
After doing some research Lavender Mixes seem to be the most "purple".

Originally Posted by Jafar

If you ajust the colors of the complete picture to a normal color of the backgroud, you get the real color of the snake

I fixed a lot of these pictures a long time ago when people had 'special' color chihuahua's... the grass was as blue as the chihuahua, and when i ajust it to the right color green, the chihuahua was suddenly not lavender-blue, but normal reddish-brown...

Don't let you get fooled!!

Yes, I totally agree. I'm sure that is a nice looking snake, but there's not much question about the saturation being "enhanced" in that particular photo. As you are also very aware, even when not done on purpose, different camera settings along with different lighting situations will give a TOTALLY different photo perspective of a given animal. I take photos all the time of colorful snakes, and inevitably they can all look like an entirely different animal in different types of lighting situations. I guarantee the photo is more like the one you depicted after toning down the saturation.

The old phrase "a photo doesn't lie" is completly bogus. The subject matter itself won't change unless it's been artifically manipulated, but the hues and colors often give very false impressions. I've seen snake photos on people's sites depicting the snakes for sale that were so incredibly saturated that the color actually glows off of the snake's body like a surrounding colored "halo"...


~Doug

I saw that the tongque was still to red.. so i did another try.. the snake is becoming even more 'plain' now...

Before:


after:

Haha.. sorry i'm bored..

Originally Posted by Jafar

Haha.. sorry i'm bored..

HAHAA!!,......gosh!, that really IS an awesome snake!,...it can mutate into a a stunning butter, or strawberry/redcoat at will!

Reminds me of the "horse of a different color" on the Wizard of Oz!


~Doug

lol You have some Photoshop skills!

Just for the fun of it I thought I would add that different backgrounds can make a snake appear different colors!

Here is my hypo (possibly ultramel) guy on a blue background:



Looks like a lava or something lol! He's not nearly so red!

Visually perceived color is caused by the wavelength of light reflected off of the object (such as a snake). Sometimes on an overcast day in the early morning or late afternoon, pictures will come out looking different from how the subject truly looks. Or in the middle of Summer on a sunny day, the color is washed out entirely. With snakes, add to this : reflection of flash, reflection due to glossy scales, and reflection of nearby colors off of the shiny scales.

Bill likes to answer such questions with "There is no true color - only what your eye sees on a particular day with particular lighting on a particular subject." Pretty much what Dave said.

That photo was taken a few years ago at Chuck and Connie's (Pritzel) house, of their best hypo lav. It was one of their most photogenic snakes and was as nice of a lavender as I have seen. Certainly all lavs don't look like that. However, males, especially hypos, usually show more of the pinks that enhance the lav look, as compared to females and regular (not hypo) lavs. It was taken in an outdoor setup behind their house, in the shade, with fill flash. Bill did not enhance the color in Photoshop, but the color was fully saturated because of shooting in shade or on an overcast day, using fill flash.

So in full sunshine, the snake's colors might have looked more washed out as in one of the photos in this thread. But in the conditions we shot in (shade, with flash), it looked much as in the photo. Of course, if you put that same snake in a typical living room, the incandescent lights will give it a yellowish tinge. But put those purple plant lights over the cage, and any snake with pink, red or orange will just GLOW! So don't always expect the same snake to look the same way in different conditions, especially with some of the more delicate pink colors. I have seen this to be even more true when photographing pink snow corns. It is really difficult to capture the pink without either washing it out, or turning it neon, depending on the lighting.

In summary, if you want a nice lavender, buy a male hypo lav and ask to see the parents, especially the dad. The pink color develops more as they age, so dad might be a good indicator of what to expect.

Hope that helps!