Jim's 140 gallon FTS with Canon t3i

[jlnielsen13]

Hello,

Took this image yesterday on my canon rebel t3i. I took it on the AV setting and played around with the f setting a little bit but am looking for advice/opinions. I am a newbie for sure with photography! Any questions on the tank/photography welcome!

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Acronic]

Your tank is fan frikkin tastik

 

[Reef Bass]

Yes, nice tank.

A suggestion for full tank shots. Shoot the tank straight on. Then crop out everything outside the tank. You'll be left with a fish's view without all the distracting background elements.

If you start doing close ups, be aware that shooting at an angle through glass introduces distortion. One wants the lens front parallel with the glass and thus the lens barrel perpendicular to the glass.

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

Because the lack of light in many aquarium shots, a tripod can be very helpfull. Even with really intense lighting on your tank, its relatively low ambient light which demands either lower shutter speeds, larger apertures or higher ISO.

You really want to shoot with the lowest ISO possible. Under 400 for the cleanest shots. This will bring down your shutter speed requiring a tripod. Shooting with the aperture wide open will help too but will narrow your depth of field...Which is not necesarily a bad thing.

Shut off your power heads to reduce the movement in the tank, this will make a slower shutter speed more acceptable (Of coarse moving fish may be blurred) Also, I ALWAYS shoot in RAW, which gives you way more control in photoshop for making adjustments. We all know how hard it is to capture the true colors in a coral reef aquarium under artificial light. Some tweaking in Levels and Shadows/highlights can really bring that color to life.

BTW. LOVE your tank!!!

 

[jroovers]

Looks good to me, great shot and nice tank!

 

[jbfloor]

I was in the same boat as you several weeks ago and spent a lot of time learning. I am by no means an expert, but have read the same basic point of advice over and over, so the best advice I can give you is (often the same as other people have already given you):

- Go on Youtube and watch videos on Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. There are some real good and easy to understand tutorials out there. Here's one example.

- Try shooting at 100 or 200 ISO if you can.

- A tripod and remote shutter trigger are absolutely required for good shots. Night shots can have shutter speeds of over 10 seconds and you'll need the stability.

- Shoot a lot of photos. Don't trust the little screen. It might look great on the LCD screen, but could look terrible once blown up to 1:1 size

- Shoot in RAW and learn how to set the white balance and do basic editing. Watch this video and this.

- I tend to shoot in AV setting more than anything else. My white balance in the camera is set to 9000K, but it's in RAW, so I can always adjust in post processing.

 

[x0xvi3t]

Beautiful tank what kind of light did you used?

 

[jlnielsen13]

Beautiful tank what kind of light did you used?

This tank over the years has been a 75 gallon , a 90 g and now a 140 gallon.. It has also evolved over time light wise as well.

First metal halides- greatest growth but too much heat and color was avg.

2nd- 4 Aqua Illumination LED's- Best look terrible growth and death! HATED

lastly- ATI dimmable 8 bulb t5 fixture- Very happy so far!! Great color and no death!


Thanks,
JIM

 

[Michigan Mike]

I got a rebel T3 for Christmas and have decided to return it and put in the extra cash for a T3i , are you happy with the camera ?

Nice tank, pic is a good start. I'm sure you will start taking awesome pics when you get a better understanding of how to work the camera. I'm a noob so all the pics look pretty good to me,lol.

 

[jlnielsen13]

I got a rebel T3 for Christmas and have decided to return it and put in the extra cash for a T3i , are you happy with the camera ?

Nice tank, pic is a good start. I'm sure you will start taking awesome pics when you get a better understanding of how to work the camera. I'm a noob so all the pics look pretty good to me,lol.

I love the t3i! Great camera and takes great family photos! I also bought the photoshop elements and highly recommend that program. Really user friendly unlike the free programs and easier to use than photoshop c5. Definitely worth the 100$ investment!

Thanks for the question,
JIM

 

[Michigan Mike]

I love the t3i! Great camera and takes great family photos! I also bought the photoshop elements and highly recommend that program. Really user friendly unlike the free programs and easier to use than photoshop c5. Definitely worth the 100$ investment!

Thanks for the question,
JIM

Ya I need a tripod , a couple good lenses and software like that, the software that came with the T3i doesn't work on my Mac, it says I don't have the right OS.errr!

I never have been able to take a good shot without my ISO being 1600-3200, even with fast shutter speeds and f4.3 a bit grainy (noise?) but I'm getting it.
The kit lens is okay but I feel I'm outgrowing it quickly.