I don't know much about photography

[stubbsz]

But you guys seem to... I love looking at your photography.

All I have is a Canon G1 ( 3.1 Mega Pixels) and a JVC video camera.

What I've noticed since I had Halides is that the colours I see on the photos I take of my tank although interesting and pretty are completely wrong... nothing like what I see. My yellowy pink Acropora Millipora looks blue... everything looks bluey purple actually. It's hard to sell a frag when the pictures don't match reality.... even if they look better

Is this a typical affect of Halides on cheap cameras? Anything I can do? Is it time to pony up for a decent camera... and what level of decent camera do I really need?

-Adrian

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Googling Canon G1 says that it can do manual white balance. It's probably an option on one of the menus.

One quick way is to hold a sheet of white paper against the tank glass. Put the camera up against the paper and do the manual wb procedure.

Here's some useful info:

http://www.ximinasphotography.com/lessons/index.html

 

[raddogz]

I use the back of my white business card for white balance - it is very useful if you are trying to shoot on location as well i.e. at the aquarium.

 

[stubbsz]

Thanks guys. I'll do some reading on white balancing and give it a whirl.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Stick a piece of pvc in the tank, and white balance against that, that way it'll auto-correct for the blue hue a lot better. Another option is post-photo corrections with programs like photoshop, you can usually get the whitebalance that way.

 

[GreshamH]

You can also make a grey scale card, which I find to be more accurate then using a white chunk of anything. Also, you can put a coffee filter over your lense. It works for some, but not me

 

[jedininja]

Gresham, you use a a greyscale card for white balance? I just use the greyscale for auto-exsposure.