Lighting question

I wanna know what the secret to you all getting such good pics is....please! When we took pics the other day of the '05s I tryed all different spots in the house, even tryed outside, and couldn't get the right lighting. They kept coming out either too dark or too light. Finally got shots that I was ok with but many of them don't show the snakes true color or the intensity of the color which is a bummer.
Thanks for any and all help on this.
Penny
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