I will be doing a portrait of a girl and her pet boa soon. I'm thinking of her in profile with the snake up to her nose or lips in an S pattern. I'd like to side light this but don't want the shadow of the snake to mess up her profile. Any suggestions on good ways to light this?

I don't kow what a Garden of Eden, Eve with the snake theme just popped into my head as an idea.

Have you ever shot a snake before? They're just about impossible to control as far as what their bodies do, and they seldom go toward people's faces, so my advice is to be very flexible with the snake's "pose." Just don't get your heart too set on a very particular shot when working with a snake. They usually like to go wherever they detect open space. But you may luck out! It might like sitting around the girl's shoulders so it may see her as a good "hiding spot" and go there.

Depending on what kind of boa it is, it may have really cool, sparkly, reflective scales. Rainbow boas have iridescent scales, for example. But most snakes will have at least some sheen to them, unless they're about to shed. Anyway, my point here is that you can probably light the portrait fairly dimly and from the side to prevent snake-shadows on the girl's face, and still have the snake's body show up quite well, due to the sheen on the scales reflecting all the light. I hope this helps! Now I need to go feed my own snakes - thanks for reminding me! That's the trouble with pets who only need to be fed once a week. You always forget.

I actually had a great picture taken of myself when I was about 4 years old with a snake. It was one of my mother's favorites and I think it actually wound up in the local newspaper. I believe the snake hung around and neck and I was holding it in my hands. I think I made a scan of it a while back, I'll see if I can locate it.

Do you know how big the snake is and how old the girl is? I think it would be cool to do a shot with it rapped around her arm or something. This might be impossible if the snake is huge, or it might not look great if the snake is super tiny.

That would be really cool! Boas can get pretty darn huge, though (up to 20 feet, depending on the species!) so I guess it really is crucial to find out how large he is.

Woffles, can you tell us what species of snake this is and how large it is? That could help us come up with some ideas for you. Some species "like" to do different things that will be interesting photographically, such as coil up into balls, climb vertically, or wrap themselves around branches (or arms, as GETanEDGE suggested)! A lot depends on the snake. If you know what its species' behavioral patterns are, it will be so much easier to "pose" the snake for the kind of portraits you're thinking of.

My husband and I breed a few snakes, so I may be able to give you a "personality profile" on your snake subject that might help you out.

One is a ball python about 3 1/2 ft and the other is a red tail boa only about 2ft. Both just shed recently so they should have good skin for the shot. The "girl" is an adult just young to me. She's a little petite thing. We are going to shoot them separately so there isn't any problems between them. She said she has a lot of plants around the house so I might be able to layer them behind her stacked somehow and put a black backdrop behind the plants. Thinking maybe sitting about 45 to the camera on her behind with here legs together pulled up to her in front of her. Snake around her shoulder and see if she can lift the snakes face up to hers. Thanks for the suggestions and for any other ideas you may have.

get someone to crouch behind the girl while holding a mouse in one hand as close to the back of her head or shoulder...the snake will probably coil up and head up in that direction.

I'm joking of course, but would be interesting to see how that played out.

She used to be in the Army. She might come after you if she gets bit!

Heh heh - actually, if they are fed pre-killed prey, you might get them to come investigate by wafting the smell of a thawed mouse or rat in the general direction you want them to move toward. I wouldn't let them see it, because they might strike and snakes don't have great visual judgement - they could very well get her in the face! These guys don't have fangs, but their bites will still draw blood and they're no fun.

The ball python will be more likely to coil up, and you could get some cool shots of her holding him in "ball form" in her hands. It sounds like he's the peftect size to fit in her hands when he's all curled around himself. Ball pythons tend to stick to the ground more than climb, so he may not be a shoulder snake - or he could be, if she's gotten him used to riding around on her.

The red-tailed boa should be no problem with the kind of shots you want to do. I used to have one - they're wonderful snakes. They have really gorgeous patterns, too. They look like living granite sculptures, flecked with grey, silver, black, and pink. It's small for a red-tail (they can get up to about 18 feet!) but she might be the right snake for your S-curve shot you're thinking of. They are good climbers and have a tendency to try to get up high to feel secure, especially as juveniles. So she can probably be coaxed into climbing slowly up toward her owner's face by doing "the hand ladder," where the owner will keep moving one hand in front of the snake for her to climb onto. If she raises her hands by an inch or two each time she alternates them, the snake should start stretching upward.

Good luck! I hope you'll show us the results when you're done! I love snakes.

In my youth, I used the barrel flash of a 12 gauge shotgun to light snakes.

For a snake I think I would use a large strip light or large softbox up close to get a long smooth highlight. Ask if there is something you can put on the snake to give some more sheen like a snake oil, lotion, or water/glycerine mix.

Cheers,
Zack

"Snakes...why did it have to be snakes..."