Canon G12

[aandfsoccr04]

So I went out and bought the Canon g12, now what?
Is there some place that you all would recommend that I start?
Is it kind of like reefing where you just jump in and learn as you go while doing some reading on the go?
I guess the best place would be to read the camera manual. I've read through just about every sticky. thanks guys and gals.

 

[Misled]

I guess the best place would be to read the camera manual.

Yes, do that first. Do it with the camera in your hands. Learn to use the camera's controls. Then when you understand what the controls do, learn how they affect each other. You can find lots about that here:

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/

After that, re-read the stickies here. Shooting tanks is something that's quite different.

 

[dendronepthya]

The most helpful thing I can recommend is taking a LOT of photos and then going through them one by one and seeing what you did wrong in them in terms of settings. I often look at a photo and say, I wish I shot that at a different aperture for example.

 

[Reef Bass]

Read the manual once now to cover the basics. Then play with the camera until you're like "how do I...?", then go back and read the manual again. Start with the basics of exposure and depth of field. You could start in auto mode and move to manual as you gain confidence in your abilities.

Shoot in RAW and learn how to post process your pics.

Now that one is not wasting film, shoot lots of pics. You can always delete the bad ones. And often the shots where you'll learn the most are the ones which aren't perfect which you are trying to improve. I've also gone back and re-shot stuff when I had a better idea about either composition or exposure.

Yes, it's a whole lot to take in, but can be very rewarding.

And you'll know you're getting the hang of it when you look at your images and see only the flaws...

 

[Misled]

And you'll know you're getting the hang of it when you look at other peoples images and see only the flaws...

ftfy

 

[aandfsoccr04]

man I admire you who take good pictures! I just shot for the past 2 hours and would only post maybe 1 or 2 and not be totally embarassed. When you upload a photo into in a program like irfanview or digital photo professional which is what came on the cd, what do you all normally do to a photo? I assume it would depend on what it is i.e. coral or fish...
Thanks for all your continued help. I'm really excited and looking into signing up to take an intro to phtography class at a local community college.

 

[BlueCorn]

The beauty of digital is that you don't have to tell anyone about the ones that don't turn out. It also makes learning much simpler. Exposure works the same digital or film (mostly). A really good book is Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. If you put in a little work it'll help a lot.

 

[Recty]

A couple easy tips to keep in mind to help with a few of the biggest problems I see in beginner photography...

SHUTTER SPEED - A slow shutter speed means you need to use a tripod and have a slow moving or stationary subject. So if you're shooting a fast moving fish, or fast moving car, or fast moving kids (you get the idea) then you need to have a fast shutter speed to freeze that motion. Usually when shooting fish, I have at LEAST a 1/125th second shutter speed, preferably 1/250th or higher.

TRIPOD - The vast majority of the good coral pictures you see on here were taken with a tripod. This allows you to set the settings to whatever you want and still get the correct exposure. For instance, you could lower your ISO (light sensitivity) down a lot so the picture isnt grainy, which would usually in turn mean you have to lower your shutter speed also to let in more light which would be a problem if you're not on a tripod. But since you're on a tripod, something like a 1/2 second shutter speed isnt an issue for shooting a stationary coral.

PUMPS - Turn them off for the best results. Let your corals and water settle down and stop moving for 5 minutes, then take your pictures. This will help tremendously plus all the little specs in the water either raise to the top or fall to the bottom, helping your shot look cleaner. DONT FORGET TO TURN THEM BACK ON

And lastly, just experiment. With thousands and thousands of shots being possible with no expense other than charging a battery and running a PC to view them up close, you can take as many shots as you want and learn what the different functions do.

 

[Hookup]

this book is totally worth it's price... IMHO it should be standard gear with all cameras.

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson

best investment i made.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Thanks for the replies you all. I really appreciate it. I've spent probably about 4 hours the past few days taking pictures. This is the one that I am most proud of:

I couldn't begin to tell you what fstop, shutter speed, or ISO I was using. What would you do to that photo in an image editing software?

P.S. I can not get a picture of my clowns that doesn't come out blurry for the life of me. Any recommendation on what settings to use? They wiggle back and forth constantly.

 

[Recty]

Thanks to the magic of the internet, I can tell you what settings you took it with

Exposure Time = 1/15 second ===> 0.06667 second
Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 9/2 ===> ƒ/4.5
ISO Speed Ratings = 800

That's also why your fish pictures are most likely blurry. 1/15th of a second shutter speed isnt fast enough to freeze their motion. You need to bump that up to at least 1/125th if at all possible.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

well you are just all that and a bag of chips. I read the sticky about taking the FTS, fish pictures, and close ups which was very insightful. What settings would you personally recommend for each one of those shots?

 

[dendronepthya]

Turning off pumps and shooting with a tripod will do wonders for your photos. You have to compensate for your slow shutter speed somehow, and it doesn't look like you have a lot of aperture or ISO to play with given you are probably close to your limits.

 

[Recty]

well you are just all that and a bag of chips. I read the sticky about taking the FTS, fish pictures, and close ups which was very insightful. What settings would you personally recommend for each one of those shots?

FTS - Use a tripod. Your fast moving fish will most likely be blurred because unless you're in manual mode your camera probably selects a slower shutter speed. But the tank itself will look great just by using a tripod. Once you're comfortable with the camera (or even if you arent) go into manual mode and set your shutter speed so all the action in your tank is frozen.

Fish pictures - Hard to do on a tripod due to the fish swimming around the tank. Set your shutter speed to at least 1/125th and see if the camera can compensate by opening the aperture and setting the ISO higher. I've never used a G12, so I'm not sure what the ISO and aperture can go to, but if it can do it, it will properly expose your pictures even though you're at a fast shutter speed.

Close ups - Again, use a tripod. The G12 has a macro mode, try that out and see how it does for you.

 

[BlueCorn]

What settings would you personally recommend for each one of those shots?

And we're back to the book that's been recommended a couple of times.

Everyone's tank is different. If you learn how the camera works you'll be able to decide what works best with your tank/lighting and you'll get decent results much more often than if you simply try to copy what works for others. It really isn't nearly as complicated as you might think.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I really appreciate it. I'm going to go and shoot using these tips now and see what results I get. I know it just takes practice and practice. I ordered that book as well so hopefully that will give me some good information for shooting photos of aquariums. Thanks again.

 

[Pumped]

Post some more pics w the g12. Im thinking of getting this as well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

 

[aandfsoccr04]

The camera can do just about anything you'd want to do as a hobbyist. I don't take nearly good enough pictures yet to do the camera justice. In my case, it's more of a user error than anything else. Maybe some of the other people here will post pictures they have taken with the G12. It's definitely a learning process. I bought the book last night and am going to start to read it.