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Posted 12/19/2024.
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I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?
So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.
But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.
Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.
I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.
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Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.
And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
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Responding to email notices you receive.
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In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.
Nikon D7000
- Thread starter KelliH
- Start date
Nickrows
New member
Those are some good shots. Would you mind sharing your EXIF data?
Actually, those turned out really well. Using a white or black background makes it tough, sometimes, to get a good exposure on the subject, but that worked out really nicely in these shots. 
When I first read this line, my brain somehow interpreted it to say "geckos pasted on white cardstock"...
Well, I guess that's one way to keep them in the camera frame.
Sorry, no hints for making those better...they're gorgeous pictures!! Excellent work with the invisible paste!
deborahbroadus
HARD CANDY
I wondered how the last two animals would look on a black background, they seem a bit washed out with the white...ummm.. but on the whole the current frame is visually pleasing.
Those are some smoking leos!
I'd love to know "how" you're shooting, auto or manual, and if manual, what the settings for these shots were.
I'd love to know "how" you're shooting, auto or manual, and if manual, what the settings for these shots were.
Thanks. I think when I save the photos in Photoshop it erases the Exif data. I shoot in the Aperture-Priority mode. My ISO was set at 1000; white balance was set on Auto-2. The next set I shoot I will leave the exif data and post them in this forum.
Actually, those turned out really well. Using a white or black background makes it tough, sometimes, to get a good exposure on the subject, but that worked out really nicely in these shots.
Thanks. I have found that bouncing the flash off the ceiling and using a higher ISO setting makes a difference, with my camera at least. Sometimes I still have to brighten the exposure in Photoshop but for the most part the images come out like I want them to.
I wondered how the last two animals would look on a black background, they seem a bit washed out with the white...ummm.. but on the whole the current frame is visually pleasing.
Yes, I haven't quite gotten the exposure thing figured out yet. I think that's the hardest thing for me, getting the image to have perfect exposure. Any suggestions anyone?
Here's some really close up eye shots I took awhile back. I love photographing my geckos. None of my leo breeder close friends enjoy this; they always bitch about having to take pictures for their websites and available pages. I have leopard gecko photo sessions all the time, just because it's fun.
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Nickrows
New member
I cant get my geckos to stay still long enough for pictures haha. I would try using more light in your pictures so you can lower your ISO. Lower ISO's normally yield sharper images. I'm not familiar with any of the SB flashes, but if you can increase the power, I think that would help a little.
Those eye shots are AMAZING. The first one is my favorite, the colors and textures are just fantastic. (And yeah, I do the same thing with my cresties and balls, I'll go do photo shoots just for fun!)
Lightroom (also by Adobe), which I strongly prefer to Photoshop, does preserve the EXIF data (as well as RAW data if you shoot in RAW).
Thanks for the suggestions! My Flash is at maximum power, but I like the effect of less shadowing when I bounce the light off the ceiling, so I compromise with the higher ISO setting. The D7000 performs really well at higher ISO settings, which is good for my images.
Thanks! Yes I can amuse myself for hours in my gecko room with my camera.
I've never heard of Lightroom, but I will check it out, thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks! Yes I can amuse myself for hours in my gecko room with my camera.
I've never heard of Lightroom, but I will check it out, thanks for the suggestion.
It usually runs about $200 (on amazon), $300 directly from Adobe. They have a 30 day free trial from Adobe's site. Info on it (and a link to the trial download button) is HERE
It's basically, as I had it described to me, Photoshop re-imagined for actual photographers. You can't really do image "editing" or creation like Photoshop lets you do, but it lets you do all the image tweaking very, very easily -- white balance adjustment, color curves, cropping, noise reduction, clarity, etc, etc.
A friend of mine who's a professional photographer (and who I continually bother with inane beginner questions, poor guy!) pointed me at Lightroom, and I love it.
That sounds perfect for me! Thank you for the additional info. I'll let you know if I end up getting it.
Well, I always gauged exposure based on the 18 percent gray rule of thumb. What that means is that typically cameras expect the entire frame of a photo to average at to being 18 percent gray. Which means a PERFECT exposure will meet that requirement. So the more background you use that is as close to 18 percent gray as possible (and bear in mind that COLOR can also resolve to that 18 percent gray if converted to gray scale) the more likely that your total exposure will be dead on.
That is why light subjects on black backgrounds get over exposed, and dark subjects on light backgrounds get underexposed. The camera is trying to adjust the ENTIRE photo to that 18 percent averaging. In other words, it is trying to make that background into gray instead of black or white. And that correspondingly shifts the exposure on the subject. Once you understand what the camera is trying to DO, you can compensate for it either by under or overexposing at the camera, or if you are using a chosen background medium, by choosing carefully the gray scale of the background to match the exposure you are trying to get.
Bear in mind that with colored backgrounds, they can also affect the color BALANCE of the subject as well, so you can get quite a bit of leeway by not only choosing the exposure balance, but the color balance as well. White balancing is the technique that many people use to try to adjust color balance, but I honestly never used that technique much.
Hope that helps, but it might be more "old school" than is relevant these days. A lot of exposure problems can be fixed quickly and easily simply by using spot metering, if your camera has that capability.
But if there is one notable advantage that digital media has over film, that is that you can take as many practice shots as you want, and it doesn't cost you the development costs just to learn your camera. So PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!
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I actually prefer to learn the old school techniques when it comes to photography. I'm still stuck on shooting in the Programmed modes. I haven't ventured into full manual mode yet!
Here is a shot I just took of a couple of my beardies, Lucy and Ethel. The composition is crap, really just a snapshot, but I wanted to share the exif data. These are the same settings I used when I took the above leo pics.
Here is a shot I just took of a couple of my beardies, Lucy and Ethel. The composition is crap, really just a snapshot, but I wanted to share the exif data. These are the same settings I used when I took the above leo pics.
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BTW, I spend a lot of time on this website-
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech.htm
I've learned a lot just from that.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech.htm
I've learned a lot just from that.