camera help

[Fireworm]

I have an older panasonic that is 5 mpx. I see all these wonderful shots on the forums and wonder how they do it. I know that my camera is pretty cheap so I am limited to what it will be able to do. But I have to be able to do better than what I am doing now.

 

[dendronepthya]

I would venture to guess that half the problem is proper setup and the other half is post processing. For setup you want to use a tripod whenever possible and be shooting at a 90 degree angle to the glass to avoid distortion. In terms of post processing, the files that come right out of my camera are not very good. I have to do some touchup especially with white balance and contrast.

 

[Fireworm]

I have been using the tripod, which has helped out alot. What program do you use to do the post processing?

 

[Fireworm]

bump...

 

[tyoberg]

Post an example of what you get.

 

[Fireworm]

Ok. I will post some newer ones tonight and see what you guys think.

 

[dendronepthya]

I like to use Aperture 2, but many others use Lightroom 2. The two are very comparable but Lightroom tends to support more camera RAW files. I just bought a Panasonic GF-1 and Lightroom came out with an update quickly and Aperture I'm still waiting on.

And yes, seeing an actual image with the EXIF information is the best thing for diagnosing issues.

 

[Fireworm]

alright. I planned on doing this last night, but I didn't feel good. Don't feel the hottest today, so if I can get the kids to bed, and the house quite, then I am on the camera.

 

[Fireworm]

ok. I didn't get it done last night. I dosed up pretty good on nyquil and feel 100% better today. I plan on doing it tonight. I tried earlier, but the batteries died in the camera.....

 

[Fireworm]

Ok... here is everything I took the past few days. My camera is a Panasonic Lumix 5.0 MP, and 6x optical. Not sure if that helps you guys, but that is what I got.

 

[Fireworm]

more

 

[tyoberg]

I see a fair amount of noise (you might be able to drive that down by trying different settings). Everything has a pretty heavy blue color cast to it. But yeah, the camera definitely has some shortcomings. You might try switching it to macro and getting up close?

I did a WB fix one with the MS Office Picture Manager thingy (has you click on an area that should be white/grey). Noticeably better, but probably not what you're hoping for.

 

[dendronepthya]

Try taking a picture of the ricordea again. I'm not sure what manual controls your camera has available, but if it has a aperture priority mode "A" I wouldthe following settings using a tripod.

Shooting mode = Aperture priority
ISO = 100
Aperture = f/11
Shutter speed = whatever the camera selects

That should give you a much clearer shot of your coral. Be sure to shut off your pumps and shoot 90-degrees to the plane of the glass to avoid distortion. Try and get a shot like this:

 

[Fireworm]

Thanks for the advice. I will try to do more tonight. I don't have a A priority setting on mine, it is just a plain point and shoot for the most part. And if I remember correctly I did take the pics with macro, but I did have my pumps on.