Help with Tank Pics

[marino420td]

Here are some shots I took today of my 65 gallon tank. Canon 10D with 50mm 1.8 lens.

No tripod, just hand held shots. I didn't have time to set up tripod.

My question revolves around the overexposed leather (front left in the tank) and other bright spots in the first two pics. How do I eliminate this? I see other tank shots with great color and lighting but I just can't seem to duplicate them. Any suggestions?

 

[acroporas]

Try photoshops highlight recovery tool.

 

[BlueCorn]

Learn to read a histogram. It can tell you with a very quick glance after the shot if you've got the exposure right.

A good tripod may seem like a hassle, but it's the one single thing that can have the largest positive impact on your ability to take sharp, well exposed shots of your tank.

Cheers

 

[Blazer88]

It does seem like the leather is a bit over exposed. What were your settings when you took the shot? There is no exif data to look at so I can't tell. Reading the histogram is a great start and will help minimize any photoshoping. But an overexposed spot is simply that, just white light with no color information.

Here is a few minutes with Photoshop. I adjusted the levels, added a multiply layer just for the leather, did a slight highlight recovery, and added a very slight cooling filter.

 

[gregr]

What exposure mode were you in? For a shot like that I'd use aperture priority but to each his own in that regard. After you've familiarized yourself with the histogram you'll see that the camera is overexposing the image and what you need to do is apply negative exposure compensation. It sounds complicated but it's merely a turn of a dial and takes a split second. The trick is knowing when you need to apply compensation- or at least it was in the film days Nowadays you just look at the lcd/histogram and make the appropriate adjustment. With the 10D in aperture priority you would be turning the big dial on the back of the camera- the front dial (by the shutter release button) will change the aperture. Turn that large dial to the left and watch the light meter in the viewfinder- for a full tank shot you'll want to underexpose by about a stop although you should exeriment and see what looks best.