I'm giving up on photography

vader88

vader88

Dolphin Finatic
Just going to get myself a nice little point and shoot and wondering what you think would be a fair price for the following.

Canon Rebel XT w/ charger & battery
Canon 100mm USM macro lense
Canon 50mm lense ( nifty fifty )
Canon 18-55mm kit lense
Canon 75-300mm zoom lens
Kenko extension tube set
Quantary closeup lense set


I'm just getting frustrated and I'm no closer to understanding. I've looked for some photography classes in my local area and there's nothing.

I'm going to play with it some more, but I don't see myself getting any better.

IMG_6002800x600.jpg
 
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Is there a local reef club with someone who is good at picture taking?

I know there is a Canon dedicated forum out there, check them for on-line type classes. ( I can't remember the name but someone will bring it up.)

What about a local photographer? Ask them to be a helper in exchange for some tips.

Community college? Local big university have informal classes?

Don't give up!!!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13002261#post13002261 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Robb in Austin
Is there a local reef club with someone who is good at picture taking?

I know there is a Canon dedicated forum out there, check them for on-line type classes. ( I can't remember the name but someone will bring it up.)

What about a local photographer? Ask them to be a helper in exchange for some tips.

Community college? Local big university have informal classes?

Don't give up!!!
Click to expand...

I'm gonna check out some of the votech stuff around here, see if they offer something. I'd love to be able to understand this stuff, people on here take awesome pics.

I think I have some good equipment, but it's useless if you don't understand it's capabilities.
 
Take a look at this site for the basics: http://web.canon.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/index.html

Spend some time on http://photography-on-the.net/forum/. Read some of the posts and learn how people are getting their results. Upload some pictures and ask for critique. The people over there are really helpful and you can learn a lot.

I would also recommend downloading an EXIF viewer for your browser, this will allow you to see the settings used for many of the pictures you see posted in the forums (as long as the EXIF data is intact).

The sites that Sam listed are very good as well.

I wouldn't give up before giving it another try. Just be realistic about how the gear you have works best. The 100mm macro is the only lens that you own that will perform well wide open (at its largest f stop), but keep in mind that macro photography at large apertures leaves very little room for error since the depth of field is so thin, so quite often you'll want to stop down (go with a higher F stop number) to give yourself more room to work.

The others lenses are entry level consumer lenses which are capable of decent results but will need to be stopped down in order to get their best results.

Hang in there, post some pics and let us help.
 
Sam posted some good links.

Also, check out the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. It's a bit beyond the basics, but has great examples of the concepts he is trying to impart.

As I mentioned, if you have someone local that is part of a reef or fish club and takes good to great photos see if you can meet them for some tips.

The other thing is keep shooting, remember memory is cheap, and post pics to photo forums as well as here for feedback.
 
Things outside, I can get some decent pics. But the tank shots are killing me. I'm making sure the glass is clean, pumps are off, I'm taking shots close to the glass and straight.

I know those are some of the harder shots, but that's the only reason I went and bought the 100mm lense.

I'll try and snap some photos tomorrow and post them here, I know one thing I need is a quality tripod, mine isn't so hot.
 
The colors are a little off, but nothing I can't correct with software. I just can't get nice focused shots of corals. I know with the macro lense I'm not going to get a full shot, but only a small defined area and I still can't get it.

Getting a clean shot of the fish is out of the question with or without flash. A clown which shouldn't be a problem, forget the yellow tang.

I don't know if maybe I should try a fast focusing prime lens.
 
I still haven't got the hang of fish yet, and like you said the clowns should be easy as they hardly move lol

but things that helped me with corals were.

clean the glass inside and out.
turn off all the pumps and wait a few min. for things to settle.
set the ISO to the lowest setting
and set the F stop at the lowest setting. On mine, that is 2.8 (or f/2.8).

and yes use a good tripod. but if you don't have one yet I use the glass of the tank and set the lens right up against it to help keep it steady.

as for the colors, I took a plain white piece of paper and drew a bullseye in the middle, then laminated both sides to make it water proof. putthe paper in the tank and manually set your white balance to that paper.

like I said I am still getting the hang of this also but these things helped me start out.
 
I have been learning photography for about 2 years now and I feel like I have a pretty good knowledge of the equipment and its capabilities. I still can't get good shots of my tank. I have found that photographing my tank is just hard to get the hang of.

You don't tell us your level of knowledge but I highly suggest you fully understand aperture (fstop) and shutter speed and the affects you get by using different settings. Until you understand these concepts, you will have a difficult time getting good shots of anything, much less a reef tank.

I recommend buying the book Digital SLR's for Dummies (or something like that). I learned a lot from this book and it is written on a beginner's level.

I also recommend you browse some photography forums to learn, just like you do Reef Central. My favorite is fredmiranda.com. There are lots of professional photographers on the forums and many are willing to teach a beginner.

From an equipment standpoint, you are in pretty good shape. I have that 50mm lense and it is sweet (especially for the price). The 100mm macro is considered the cream of the crop for reef macro shots. Just check out the macro shots threads in this forum and you will find that many use this lense.

Maybe blazer or beerguy can chime in. They take great reef shots and can possibly give you (and me) some advise.

Hang in there, learn all you can, practice a lot (digital pictures are cheap!) and results will follow.
 
I'm really green when it comes to photography. I'll check the book out, as much as I love forums, I pick up alot of things when I can sit down and read them. I can't tell you how much computer stuff I learned on the " throne "

Thanks for the tips guys, appreciate it.
 
Need to see some pics. Need to. They're worth a thousand words, after all. Could you please post some pics? There are a lot of people here with a lot of experience, we might be able to tell what's wrong just by seeing the photo.
 
Here is a shot I took early, it was with the 50mm. It just doesn't have the same clarity and sharpness I see others getting.

IMG_6011800x600.jpg


I would love to get a nice clean crisp FTS
 
What f-stop and shutter speed was the photo above?

Are you shooting JPG or RAW?

Try using a tripod for full tank shots.

Also when you resize your photos, you must sharpen them with the unsharpen tool or the like in Photoshop, Bridge, etc to bring them back to where they should be.

To show you what your equipment can do, this was with the XT and kit lens when I first started in high school:
Fire_Jelly_by_ForeverUnknown-1.jpg


I took a photography class in college just to get credit, and you won't truly learn a damn thing past what a f-stop is. You need to go shoot more. Spend hours doing it if you have to. Not like you have to pay for film.

KEEP PRACTICING!


Feel free to PM me if you need any specific help.
 
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