A Complete Reptile Photography Guide

Photography is my favorite thing after geckos. This is how I photograph mine: the camera, the settings and the lighting.

Cameras

The biggest step up is shooting in manual, so you choose the picture instead of accepting what auto mode gives you. Most point-and-shoots and phones now allow that too.

• Phone: everybody has one, so you need not buy anything.
• Point-and-shoot: a good one costs about $300 to $500, and some around $150 do well.
• Interchangeable-lens (mirrorless or DSLR): the best results. I use a Sony a7 with the Sony 90 mm macro. Canon and Nikon have good options too. I prefer a macro lens.

Shutter speed

A faster shutter lets in less light but freezes movement. A slow one blurs a gecko that moves. I shoot at 1/200 s, enough light while still freezing a foot, a tongue or a moving eye.

Aperture

A smaller f-number is a wider opening that gathers more light but gives a shallow depth of field, so only part of the gecko is sharp. People need to see the whole gecko, not just the head or an eye. I shoot at f/5.6 at minimum, ideally f/8 or f/11.

ISO

A low ISO gathers less light but gives a clean image. A high ISO brightens the picture but adds noise, the grainy look of a phone photo taken at night.

My order: shutter at 1/200 s, aperture at f/8, then ISO up or down until the exposure is right. With geckos I am usually at ISO 200 to 400, and I try not to go above 800.

Lighting

Lighting is the biggest factor of all. Some people say outdoor light is best. I disagree: you depend on the time of day and the weather, and you have to take your geckos outside, which I do not like doing. Artificial light is far more consistent.

Constant lights. With a phone or point-and-shoot, you must use constant lights, not flashes. A budget kit of two 95 W lights with soft boxes and stands works well. I used something very similar for six or seven years. The soft boxes diffuse the light, so there are no harsh bright spots, and do much the same job as a photo tent.

Flashes. These need an interchangeable-lens camera with a hot shoe. Never use a built-in camera or phone flash: it gives harsh light with blown-out spots. A good kit is two 300 W monolights with built-in soft boxes, fired by a radio transmitter on the hot shoe, so there are no cords. I use a setup very similar to that.

The shoot

My setup is a light tent, one strobe on each side, a display log for the gecko, and the camera with the transmitter attached.

Before a shoot, I pack each gecko as if it were being shipped: a damp deli cup inside a styrofoam box for about half an hour. That usually fires them up, so their colors look their best. Then I set the gecko on the log, pose it if needed, check focus and take the photo. Learning the settings takes practice. After that it is simple.