best shots of my corals so far with my new 550D

[tntneon]

Hi reefers ,

-These are my first presentable (i think so ) pics of my tank , with my new camera (canon 550D).
And after Dino gave some info regarding posting pic's on the new forum format.
I thought i give it a shot and post some here .
The 3 years i'm registered on RC , i never deared to post pics here as they where very bad...and you guys really take very beautifull pictures !!!

greetingzz tntneon

 

[tntneon]

I forgot to mention that the pictures where taking with the standard kit lens 18-55mm , i'm saving for the 100 mm macro.

greetingzz tntneon

 

[ogre1231]

1st shot is great! Absolutely fantastic. I am doing the same for the 100 2.8. Sweeeeet glass

 

[tntneon]

thx ogre1231 ,

The first shot is also my favorit , the other pictures are some what less focus and coloration could also be better .

I 've bought the camera just 1 month ago , so there's still alot to learn
The first thing that i wanna buy from my wish list is a tri pod that will increase stability while shooting .

greetingzz tntneon

 

[Reef Bass]

Nice job. You're off to a good start!

The focal plane in the 1st could be more forward, as only the top is in focus. If you cropped out the bottom half, it would look better from that standpoint.

Are you shooting in RAW? White balance looks off.

I suggest turning off your pumps and letting the water motion settle before shooting. Also remove the marine snow floating around while post processing.

 

[tntneon]

Nice job. You're off to a good start!

The focal plane in the 1st could be more forward, as only the top is in focus. If you cropped out the bottom half, it would look better from that standpoint.

Are you shooting in RAW? White balance looks off.

I suggest turning off your pumps and letting the water motion settle before shooting. Also remove the marine snow floating around while post processing.

thx Reef Bass ,

These pictures are shot in jpeg , a friend of me also suggested to shoot them in RAW.
but my old PC (5 years s) is slow while proccesing RAW .
But next time i'll shoot them in RAW .

The white balance is set on custom and this setting i've done with a white paper under my lighting and shooting a pic of this paper.
Then also i shifted the WB a bit in the setting menu if i don't do this , the pictures look to red in the custom setting (in auto WB it looks to bleu) .

Thx again for the additional tips :thumbsup:


greetingzz tntneon

 

[Genetics]

Looking good! Have you thought about getting a look down box to take some images from that vantage point?

 

[tntneon]

Thx genetics ,

-The thought has crossed my mind .

But i have a few doubts about it :

-I have a small tank , leaving me with not much place to move around with the box .
-corals are in some reagions (see monti digitata) hitting the surface making it even harder to move around.
-Then how do you guys make sure that the the box/camera doens't fall or sink in the display :eek2: ?

If somebody has a good link to make an look down box dont hasitate to post it , then i can see if it's possible to make one , dimension wise .

greetingzz tntneon

 

[Genetics]

Some boxes float in the water and others have a mount to attach to cameras. I don't know where you would buy one in Europe but I'm sure they're available.

 

[tntneon]

-I'm rather thinking of making one myself ,
will do a search on the DIY forum for the plans.

What to do with the display lighting while shooting with an look down box ?
Or shades created (box or me ) ?

I have a beautifull euphillia i'm eager to shoot with such a box .

greetingzz tntneon

 

[jefathome]

550D.... that is the same as the T2i, right?

 

[jefathome]

Thx genetics ,

-The thought has crossed my mind .

But i have a few doubts about it :

-I have a small tank , leaving me with not much place to move around with the box .
-corals are in some reagions (see monti digitata) hitting the surface making it even harder to move around.
-Then how do you guys make sure that the the box/camera doens't fall or sink in the display :eek2: ?

If somebody has a good link to make an look down box dont hasitate to post it , then i can see if it's possible to make one , dimension wise .

greetingzz tntneon

I made one myself and it was easy as heck.
Just cut up some acrylic with a table saw or miter saw, use some Weld-on 16 (the thicker stuff since the cuts might not be the smoothest) and put it together.

Some "tricks" that I would offer is that you should make sure that the sides of the "box" do not let in much light. Either by using black acrylic, painting it, or (as I did) just line it on the inside with some duct tape.

The other is that you should make the box not much more than a few cm lrager than the lenses you will use. Don't want a lot of light to come in from the sides as that will cause a reflection/glare.

Mine (again, a Canon T2i with stock lens) has a bottom pane that is about 4in square (12-15cm) and the sides go up about 4-5in as well.

These boxes WILL float as long as there are no leaks. Just make sure that you keep the strap around your neck and it won't fall in.

:beer:

 

[MCary]

Disclaimer: First of all, I apologize, I am using your images without your permission. If you say, I will edit and remove them immediately.

Now that you have a wonderful camera, I am a canon person myself, 5D and a 40D, You would benefit greatly from a good post processing application.

I took your original photo and applied unsharp mask and some color, contrast and white balance adjustments. Just a touch, a 1 minute job. And this is what I got.

Before

After

What, do you think, better or worse?



Mike

 

[jefathome]

Oh... and if interested, I bought a Sony Diopter lens to add onto my stock lens. It works kind of like a Macro in that is lets you get much closer in to your shots.

In actuallity what is does is changes the minimum focal distance to something like a foot and a half. (half meter)
I believe this is the one I got...
and a sample pic (This clam is only about an inch and a half from end to end... long ways)

 

[jefathome]

What, do you think, better or worse?



Mike

BETTER

So what "program" did you use.
I have the basic Canon utilities that came with my T2i... was it one of those? Or can those do similar things?

 

[MCary]

I used photoshop CS2, its what I have at work, at home I use CS3 and lightroom. However, this is just a basic adjustment. A lot of programs can do this. Canon includes Digital Photo Pro with its cameras and its a very powerful program. On most programs if you don't want to labor over a bunch of photos, you can often see a marked improvement just by using their auto-fix and a little sharpening.

Don't be fooled by some of the great photos you see. Often you may be just as good with your camera as they are. However, now in the digital age, a good photographer is as good with a software editing program as they are with their photo equipment.

Mike

 

[tntneon]

I made one myself and it was easy as heck.
Just cut up some acrylic with a table saw or miter saw, use some Weld-on 16 (the thicker stuff since the cuts might not be the smoothest) and put it together.

Some "tricks" that I would offer is that you should make sure that the sides of the "box" do not let in much light. Either by using black acrylic, painting it, or (as I did) just line it on the inside with some duct tape.

The other is that you should make the box not much more than a few cm lrager than the lenses you will use. Don't want a lot of light to come in from the sides as that will cause a reflection/glare.

Mine (again, a Canon T2i with stock lens) has a bottom pane that is about 4in square (12-15cm) and the sides go up about 4-5in as well.

These boxes WILL float as long as there are no leaks. Just make sure that you keep the strap around your neck and it won't fall in.

:beer:

Hi Jefathome ,

thx for the real cool tips you given me , i think i will go for a box just around the lens .
Will make the sides black (your tip i didn't thought of )
If you mount it with duck tape on the inside , does the box turns around when you focus ?
I was thinking of using some sort of bracket that is fixed on the box and mounted on camera with ballhead srew.

Disclaimer: First of all, I apologize, I am using your images without your permission. If you say, I will edit and remove them immediately.

Now that you have a wonderful camera, I am a canon person myself, 5D and a 40D, You would benefit greatly from a good post processing application.

I took your original photo and applied unsharp mask and some color, contrast and white balance adjustments. Just a touch, a 1 minute job. And this is what I got.

Before

After

What, do you think, better or worse?



Mike

I don't mind if you edit my pictures i'm just a beginner so by listing and seeying what other people telling and showing me i will hopefully learn more , and that's a good thing
-It looks better , more colorfull and sharper but less realistic if you compaire it with the colors of my display .
- I use mainly the included software from canon , althoug i'm taking my first steps in the lightroom 2.7 world

.... Canon includes Digital Photo Pro with its cameras and its a very powerful program. On most programs if you don't want to labor over a bunch of photos, you can often see a marked improvement just by using their auto-fix and a little sharpening.

Don't be fooled by some of the great photos you see. Often you may be just as good with your camera as they are. However, now in the digital age, a good photographer is as good with a software editing program as they are with their photo equipment.

Mike

Hi Mike ,

-Thats the program i use the most so far .
-I'm trying to do as less as possible post editing and i try to keep the colors of my pictures as realistic as possible compaired to my display.
Not that i don't use it , but if somebody see my pictures and asks me what kind of lighting i use over my tank , i don't want to make him/her sad if he/she buy's my t5 combo and it doen't looks the same (coloration) as on myy pics .

greetingzz tntneon

 

[MCary]

tntneon,

You have the right attitude in my opinion. Photos should not be altered to look different than the orginal subject, (unless you are going for some abstract art look). Post processing is used to make the photo look as close to the subject as possible. The camera does have issues that you cannot control that can only be fixed in post.

Digital photos are naturally soft. In jpeg mode there is some in camera sharpening, but it may or may not be enough. In RAW mode, sharpening is always required. When you look at your photos and they seem just a tiny bit out of focus, they might just be soft. In your case, most of the photos you posted were. A little sharpening will clean them up.

As far as color goes, one thing to think of, most computer monitors have a slight blue hue to reduce eye strain. They are not made for dedicated photo editing. That is one reason why a printed photo may not resemble what you see on the screen. It can be frustrating. I use a calibrated monitor that shows true color. If this becomes a serious hobby, you may want to get a calibrator and calibrate your monitor.

Mike

 

[tntneon]

thx Mcary ,
For the explenation about RAW and softer pictures this too did not know
The photo you edited my clown is looking sharper / better then original no doubt !
A friend of me who is a passionated photographer also uses a special monitor (expensive) with calibrating feedback to edit his pictures , i don't know the difficult brandname anymore but i saw the difference with him too .
On the other side of the room he had an normal pc/monitor to compaire with .

-Here some new pictures of my favia while expanding tentacles where i cropped the original , and have increassed exposure time in lightroom , the sharpening thing i didn't knew then

greetingzz tntneon

 

[tntneon]

Hi reefers ,
-Here's a shot i took from above my tank , with the canopy of my nano at an angle of 45° .
It's definitly time to build an bigger tank ... , have almost no space anymore left to take pictures with an lookdown box (witch i still do not have or made ) , but hey the monti is already at the surface so you can see it almost as good

greetingzz tntneon