Help with Full Tank Shots

[Reef Bass]

Clarity wrecking distortion is introduced when shooting at an angle through glass. As such, the barrel of the lens must be perpendicular to the tank front. Said another way, the front of the lens should be absolutely parallel with the tank front. This can definitely cramp one's composition but it's a reality. You can certainly move the camera around in front of the tank, as long as the lens barrel remains perpendicular to it.

And just to be specific, with live view, one locks up the mirror, not the sensor. Locking the mirror in the up position allows the light from the lens to strike the sensor, versus being reflected up into the view finder.

 

[ReefBum]

You should also be mindful of your f-stop. I like to use the aperture priority mode and keep it in the 5.6 to 11 range for full tank shots.

 

[MichaelW]

Clarity wrecking distortion is introduced when shooting at an angle through glass. As such, the barrel of the lens must be perpendicular to the tank front. Said another way, the front of the lens should be absolutely parallel with the tank front. This can definitely cramp one's composition but it's a reality. You can certainly move the camera around in front of the tank, as long as the lens barrel remains perpendicular to it.

And just to be specific, with live view, one locks up the mirror, not the sensor. Locking the mirror in the up position allows the light from the lens to strike the sensor, versus being reflected up into the view finder.

Thanks for the clarification.
Yes I presumed perpendicular would be best.
Next noob photography question is will I be better of keeping camera as close to tank as can with lens zoomed out (keeping whole tank in frame) or move camera back and zoom in to fill frame? Common sense would tell me camera close without zoom.... But my common sense has fooled me before.

 

[Reef Bass]

My preference is to be closer and less zoomed. I believe slightly more light enters the lens that way.

 

[rickztahone]

My preference is to be closer and less zoomed. I believe slightly more light enters the lens that way.

It does if you happen to have a varying aperture lens. The more you zoom, the more it stops down as you do it.

 

[Reef Bass]

I have also noticed this with my prime macro. It makes sense considering the inverse square law of light transmission. The amount of light drops off by one over the square of the distance. More distance equals less light.

 

[woodnaquanut]

I have also noticed this with my prime macro. It makes sense considering the inverse square law of light transmission. The amount of light drops off by one over the square of the distance. More distance equals less light.

Ken, are you talking about f stop and zoom lenses?

Your statement about inverse sq. law is correct but doesn't apply here.

When metering an object, it doesn't matter how far the lens is from the object. What matters is the strength of the light source and it's distance from the object. That's why an incident light meters work.

F stop is the ratio of lens aperture to focal length. So on a zoom lens the max aperture is fixed but the focal length changes thus changing the max f stop.

 

[MichaelW]

Ok so I spent a while playing around yesterday. This was the best I could come up with... Still not great.

 

[SoloGarth]

I have similar difficulties. It is hard to get decent FTS. I think a lot of this is due to the direction from which the light is coming.

 

[Reef Bass]

Ken, are you talking about f stop and zoom lenses?

No. I confused the issue by bringing up my experience with my prime macro. My b.

 

[noy]

can you post your exposure information - camera/lens/exposure/F-stop/speed/ISO - you have the white balance correct but shot just lacks detail.

 

[MichaelW]

Nikon d5200, stock18-55mm lens, exposure -1.7, f stop I think around 9, 1/60 ( I think), iso 500. I think these were the settings for that shot.

 

[noy]

use a tripod (if not doing so already)
try fixing ISO at 100, same exposure setting, and take a few shots start at F9 and going to F5.6 - see what depth of field you get.

 

[SoloGarth]

use a tripod (if not doing so already)
try fixing ISO at 100, same exposure setting, and take a few shots start at F9 and going to F5.6 - see what depth of field you get.

Doing this will require very long shutter speeds. I have not gotten good results in this way.

 

[rickztahone]

Doing this will require very long shutter speeds. I have not gotten good results in this way.

Agreed, you may need to bump that ISO up to at least 800 sensitivity.

 

[Matt Dean]

Are you using a timer for the shutter release? Set it to 2 seconds so you can push the shutter and back away. This will diminish the potential movement you get when pushing the shutter, especially if you have a lighter tripod. You at find this will sharpen things up.

 

[rickztahone]

Are you using a timer for the shutter release? Set it to 2 seconds so you can push the shutter and back away. This will diminish the potential movement you get when pushing the shutter, especially if you have a lighter tripod. You at find this will sharpen things up.

sry, couldn't help but chuckle from above :lolspin:

 

[Matt Dean]

OOPS! Damn auto correct

 

[MichaelW]

I have not tried using a timer for release no. But have been using a tripod. I need to keep my shutter speed fairly fast or the fish blue. I'm not sure if using a timer release would make much difference due to the high shutter speed I am using anyway? I am wondering if the lens I am using may just not be able to produce the results I desire.

 

[Matt Dean]

The timer has no affect on any of the settings. it just delays when the shutter is engaged. It minimizes any chance of camera movement when you press down on it. Even on a tripod, you can move the camera when you depress the shutter. try a 2 second delay. I use the delay even when I am holding the camera to give me a chance to settle.

Didn't notice if you were shooting in RAW or JPG. If you can, shoot in RAW. You can get a lot more out of the pic that way.