Thanks wayne_MO for the info. Yes, it is very tiny. I went yesterday to PETCO and another Pets store in my area, and I showed them that snake, in one store the guy was really knowledgable and in the other store they were just saying, "just set it free". The guy in PETCO told me that I can feed it eggs. So, I went home and cracked an egg, put some yolk in the container the snake was in, and I watched. The snake thought it was water or something, so it just swam through it. It didn't drink it. Anyway, I thought I'm keeping it from its mother. So, I let it free. In the picture, you can see a dried mango pit that I used provided for the snake to maybe shed it skin. Well, it got used to the pit after a while. But when I let it free, I introduced it to an avocado dead leaf. It crawled right into it, without hesitation. So, I said to myself, the guys from the other pets store were right, "just set it free", and let the nature take its cycle. FDRamsiss

Yes, I often stop down to 1 1/2 stopss too, depending on if I'm seeing a lot of light areas in the image. In fact, I don't have a whole lot of time and a big garden, so I have to be efficient. Not knowing what mood I'll be in re depth of field when I look at them later on, I'll take multiple pictures in multiple f stops and in each of those f stops, I'll usually take multiple bracketed exposures, if I explained that right. It's not unusual for me to take 200-300 pictures on a 30 minutes walk around the garden being really efficient! The problem I'm having now is that my lens is too slow and I'm getting lots of slightly blurred images. I need a faster lens, which is too expensive for the moment. Re the reds, if you use the magnetic lasso in photoshop you can isolate areas that you want to have a separate exposure. Also, there is now very exciting new technology by Nik software where you can just click on any area and change that area. I'll definitely be getting that at some point. In the meantime, if it's really a problem, I'll isolate the part of the image I need to change with the magnetic lasso or just manipulate the exposure with levels, but I don't like super saturated reds, so I'll underexpose the reds by a variety of settings to be sure that there is detail in the bloom later on. Working with the exposure should help with the color. If not, you can always manipulate the individual color tones.

Steve, that is more than likely "over-efffecting"or not knowing when to stop. There is an effect on Kodak "EasyShare" that brings out red in faded feeders and sharpens and softens stuff, but sometimes it barkens up white, if you do it more than once especially. My more recent images over on that other site are more anatomicially (like some of the later "Barbies and Kens/ LOL!)correct. I'm so new to this stuff an know little about photography, My methods are to take as many shots as I can and pray for a couple astonishing ones and throw the rest out. And the take some more, many many more! Blessed,

I'm here and I know how to do this :) Results will be approximate of course, but close enough for our needs as plant growers. You need a piece of white paper or card. You need to set your camera to point-metering mode so that it is only measuring the light at the centre of the view. You also need to use a shooting mode that shows you the ISO speed, F-stop and exposure, or allows you to fix some settings and shows you the rest. So, put the paper/card at the spot to be measured and point your camera at it with the metering spot on the card. You will probably need to press the button down halfway to get the camera to measure. Read off the ISO speed (I), the F-stop (F), and the exposure in seconds (E). Focus doesn't matter. Telephoto, zoom, or macro modes don't make any difference, but may reduce the availabe settings the camera can pick. Just make sure the metering spot is completely filled with the white card. The light intensity in foot-candles is given by: 6*F^2/(I*E) As an example, if the speed is ISO 50, the F-stop F/2.8, and the exposure 1/500 sec, then the intensity in foot-candles is: 6 * 2.8 * 2.8 / (50 * 1/500) = 470 foot-candles Try it and feel free to come back with any questions or comments.