Coral Pics- Looking for feedback

[marino420td]

Here are some of the better shots I was able to get this weekend. Camera is a Canon 10d with a 50 mm 1.8 Canon lense. Handheld, as I didn't have time to set up tripod. I have been struggling to get photos that accurately reproduce the life like color but these are pretty close. Let me know what I can do better.

More to come

 

[marino420td]

More....

 

[Blazer88]

Not bad but can be improved. They all seem pretty under exposed to me and have a purple/blue color cast to them. Nothing a little post processing couldn't fix though. Can you post some larger examples? What settings were you shooting with? Most people will just say "Great pics!" so I'm not real sure how critical you want here. What do you see wrong with them, how are you looking to improve them?

 

[marino420td]

These were shot at F4 and 1/30th sec. I did use auto WB on these so the color may be a little off. But I have dual URI Actinic VHO bulbs on the tank to give it a little blue color. I have struggled getting a correct WB when shooting my tanks.

I did take these at a couple of steps underexposed (not sure if that is the right terminology) because I normally get a real bright, overexposed shot of my corals.

I have photoshop elements but I really have no knowledge of how to correctly use it. So my goal is to get great shots straight from the camera so I don't have to spend any time cleaning them up. I realize editing is great for certain shots but I would rather not spend much time on it. Basically, I do not have the time to self teach how to use the program. I would rather spend that time learning to properly use my camera (and browse Reef Central).

I'm not sure what you mean by larger examples so let me know. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Blazer88]

It's a bit tougher to get steller shots straight from the camera without any sort of post processing. I'm not sure what capabilities Elements have but it should be able to do basic color correction (which will fix blue hue). As for the exposure, I would check the histogram after each shot and see how to adjust the exposure compensation. 1/30th of a second is pretty slow for most (not all) fish shots, I normally got up to 1/125th at ISO 800 for a faster moving fish. I've gone down to 1/8th of a second for my Blenny when he is perched. What is your ISO at? You are using a very slow shutter speed but are getting dark pics, I'm guessing your ISO is set unncessarily low. But I think it would be worth your time to spend some time with Elements and learn what it can do. While it is no replacement for learning how to properly work the camera, it sure adds to the picture. Below is an example of a shot that I took of my tang.

Original jpeg straight from the camera. ISO 800, 1/125th, -2/3 EV, F/3.2

Processed RAW after five minutes in photoshop.

 

[ataylo13]

I would try to take some shots with the subject being off center. Move the focus of the shot to one of the other quadrants. It can make a shot a little more interesting.

 

[marino420td]

Blazer- my ISO was a 400 in these shots. You're right, I should probably move up to 800 but I was afraid of the grainy look. None of these were shot in RAW format because like I said before, I really just don't know how to process photos yet. Elements does have the capabilities, I just need to learn how to apply them.

The histogram almost always peaks to the left. I can't seem to get a good histogram without the corals looking overexposed.

That is a nice shot of your tang. Was a flash used?

 

[marino420td]

Here are two more pictures of the same coral. This is a good example of the overexposure I usually get on my tank shots.

This picture was taken at F8, 1/60

This was taken at F8, 1/125

Still not very sharp but at least the coral is not so "bright".

 

[Blazer88]

What metering mode are you using? I generally use the spot or center-weighted metering. That way, the center of the picture is (hopefully) properly exposed or close to it. I would mess around with each of the three modes and see what they look like. And I shot the Tang without the flash, I haven't used one on a reef tank before.