Help me with macro photography...

["Umm fish?"]

Well, now you get to why I almost always use a flash. Coral tanks are low-light places (despite the amount of money we spend on lights). If I use a flash I can set the exposure fast enough that I can freeze the scene without having to mess with pumps. That said, I think you froze the scene fine. Most of the fuzziness you are seeing is just from depth-of-field issues.

Tip#2: Focal plane control. For a coral shot, if you can see the mouth of the polyp strive to get that perfectly in focus. Humans' eyes are drawn to facial features and coral mouths count for that. If that is in focus, your brain will shorthand and discount all of the fuzziness in the rest of the photo. If the mouth is not in focus, the whole shot will never quite look right. It's crazy but look at a bunch of coral macros. It's true. Unless I have a reason to do otherwise, I always aim for the mouth of at least one of the polyps (or the eyes if the creature has them).

That said, I really like the photo. The bright colors on the tentacles do draw the eyes away from the darker oral disks and almost make it look like abstract art rather than a photograph of animals.

 

[IPT]

could always focus stack..... Nice pics anyway, I like them.

 

[inktomi]

What does focus stack mean? I've never heard that term.

 

[BlueCorn]

Focus stacking refers to the technique of taking a series of frames, each focusing a little deeper into the scene and then using software, such as Helicon focus, to combine them.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Focus stacking is fun, but it works best on uncomplicated subjects where there is little to no movement of the subject. I'm not saying that it wouldn't work for the zooanthids but the odds are against it.

 

[inktomi]

I suspect that the tentacles would move too much between shots to be able to line them up in software. That said, it'd probably work well for SPS.

 

[Davidnano]

I think the picture is perfect!!! its like corals in heaven. I love macro shots!

 

[inktomi]

Thank you very much for your compliments! I also love macro shots - but I had to return my lens to lensrentals.com today

If only I had $850 to buy it for myself. I'm trying to save up to replace my car sometime late this year so I can't really justify spending that much on a lens right now.

 

[Davidnano]

I have probably the cheapest camera on here but it has a MACRO and SUPER MACRO option. Ive learned that changing the exposure level on the camera works AWESOME with the macro feature. I have a thread in here pretty recent. check it out let me know what you think.

 

[qfrisco]

I don't think you mentioned it, but which Nikon body are you using? You should look into buying a manual-focus 105mm f/4, quite legendary back in its day, and can be bought used for under $200. It's what I use on my D60 and love it! The f/4 is from the 1970s, but will mount perfectly on Nikon D-SLRs of today.

Sites like adorama.com and keh.com have great used equipment, although adorama.com doesn't have any right now.

Here's a link to one in Excellent condition at keh.com: http://www.keh.com/Product-Details/1/NK060090032600/NK06/FE.aspx

If you want to spend a bit more money for a faster lens, the 105mm F/2.8 can be had for just over $300.

http://www.keh.com/Product-Details/1/NK06010200791N/NK06/FE.aspx

The catch with these lenses is that they are full-manual. But as you've learned with macro photography, it's best to shoot all-manual anyway.

Some samples of photos I've taken with it:

 

[inktomi]

That's a great idea - used! I just didn't know where to go to find good reputable used lenses.

I use a D60 as well. Seems to do it's job pretty well.