first good macro's

boodlefish

boodlefish

Premium Member
so i would like some constructive criticism (don't be too mean)
my new ORA T. Maxima
ORA_blue_maxima.jpg

my RBTA clone
RBTA2.jpg


that's about it for now thanks for looking!
 
Might et better luck by turning off the pumps and powerhead- you wont get the air bubbles flying across the lenses. I also like the photo of the anemone, what camera are you shooting with?
 
Not bad at all.

A couple recommendations, turn your ISO down lower, ISO 800 on a Xsi starts to show some grain, imo.

Turn your pumps off, you'll be able to lower your ISO since you can then lower your shutter speeds, you'll be much happier with your pictures.
 
thanks all, I have been wanting to post in the photo section for a while now but haven't any thing worthy, and was actually holding my breath with these two.

I am shooting with a canon rebel xsi, and my new (new to me) EF 100mm f/2.8
and some times the kit lenses until i can afford faster glass.
 
It's another good shot, personally, if I take a picture that shows inside the tank and outside, I like to fix the coloring on the outside so it really makes the difference between the tank and the rest of the stuff apparent.

Boodlefish.jpg


It's just personal preference though.
 
You're off to a good start. That is a very interesting shot with the inside and outside of the tank. +1 for the slight misalignment of the VorTech. The dry side also doesn't appear to be "safely" supported by the power cord and supplied sticky square which holds it. But this is not about your MP40.

Are you using a tripod? If you are, then you could slow your shutterspeed and use a lower aperature for more depth of field. The clam mantle could use more DOF imho. I suggest cleaning up (de-icing) the marine snow (flying detritus). It helps to strengthen the quality feeling of the image. I would probably have tightened up a bit on the anemone so one is more lost in a piece of it.
 
Recty- wow thanks, i am trying to find my bearing in ps/cs4 do you mind explaining how you set the wb to out side the tank? ive got a couple other pics like the one obove that need a similar fix.

KKdoughboy- thanks yes i will fix that after work, it doesnt make a sound but i can now clearly see it is not in line.

Reef Bass- my tank is rimless and it seems like a wast of money to have ugly wires all over the place, i do have the "saftey wire things" on the back of the glass so if it goes well lets just hope it doesnt.

I have a tripod (cf velbon w/ monfotto bh) but havent really gotten totally used to it. these shots were all hand held/ or with the lens hood leaning/ pressing on the glass.

Thanks for all the advice, i will practice with my tripod/ lower iso, turn off circulation, and see what happens.

would the anemone pic be better if i clonned out the specs? i'll try.
 
Having the cord holding stickie on the back should be sufficient. I can understand your not wanting to mess up your rimless beauty.

For macros I highly recommend making using of the tripod. You'll be able to use shutter speeds you couldn't hand holding and thus get exposures you wouldn't be able to otherwise.

The clone brush is great for removing marine snow. Sometimes the healing brush can be adequate as well and one doesn't need to tell it where to draw from (as one needs to do with the clone brush). Try cleaning the specs up and then compare the clean and "dirty" versions. I think you'll get what I mean about the feel of the pic improving significantly.

+1 for reducing ISO (I try for 100 whenever possible) and turning off pumps.
 
My opinions:

-Increase DOF on the clam. Everything looks a little blurred because the DOF is so narrow.
-Don't hesitate to crop the image after shooting. The image of the anemone could probably be cropped to remove the rock. Its a little distracting to have the rock in the edge of the frame.
-The cat photo is cool. It would have been really awesome if the cat was sharp.
-If you have carpeted floors, you may be better off leaving the Vortech untethered. Having it tethered at the back of the tank will make a wrecking ball out of your vortech if for some reason it disengages. It will slam into the wall.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15504292#post15504292 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boodlefish
Recty- wow thanks, i am trying to find my bearing in ps/cs4 do you mind explaining how you set the wb to out side the tank? ive got a couple other pics like the one obove that need a similar fix.
Click to expand...
Believe me, I'm still getting my bearings in CS4 as well.

Are you comfortable with layer masks?

I opened your picture and left it as the background layer. Then I opened it again and adjusted the white balance. If you're shooting in RAW, that should be very easy for you to do. If not, what I've done is gone into Preferences which is either under File or Edit and under Open (I dont have CS4 at work so I'm not able to see the exact path) you tell it to always use the Import wizard (or something like that, it's the same tool RAW uses) when you open a JPG. That way you can adjust white balance and all the other options.

So anyway, I opened your picture as the blue version, then I opened another version and adjusted the white balance to what I believed the cat should look like. I duplicated that layer over to the first drawing. This gave me two layers with the grayer looking one on top.

Then I cant remember exactly the command, but it's basically under layer and layer mask and reveal all, look for that. If you're familiar with masks at all, that will be real easy. Then you just use a brush in black on the layer mask to reveal what is behind in, which in this case is the blue picture. I actually used the rectangle selection tool so I got nice straight lines when I brushed.

I dont have time to write out a big tutorial, but if you dont understand layer masks, definitely do some google searching and figure it out, they are amazing.
 
Recty- that makes sense, i have been having fun with layers and am getting the hang of them, i have also used the wb adjust with raw, but was unaware i could do something similar with a jpg. cool thanks.

MrSandman- yes i have been contimplating the wrecking ball senario too, and well, it might be better to let it fall to the carpet, it has befor on my previous tank with no ill effects.

So should i crop the whole rock out? i'll try.
 
That is much better, it's amazing how much a little cropping and taking out the white specs can make a picture look better.

If you want a really great shot, turn your pumps off for 5 minutes then take the picture while using a tripod.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15506514#post15506514 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Recty
That is much better, it's amazing how much a little cropping and taking out the white specs can make a picture look better.

If you want a really great shot, turn your pumps off for 5 minutes then take the picture while using a tripod.
Click to expand...

Yep, completely agree with this. That anemone shot looks 100x better.
 
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