new camera and lens - pics showoff time!!!

[WayneL333]

OMG dude! I get what you're saying. I'm such a photo newb. Truthfully, my eyes started to glaze over two sentences into your post, but after reading your post like 10 times and thinking about it, I get it! Well, some of it. I was shooting at the highest f-stop, I think 32, just to get the whole frame into focus. But I now understand why not to do that. The picture is much crisper and sharper with the lower f-stop. I still don't really understand ISO, but at 2000, my pictures really look great! Actually, I don't understand the rest of your post, but I understand enough and my pictures look much better!

See for yourself! Shot at ISO 2000, f-stop 16, and I think shutter speed 15.

It looks soooo much better! Thank you for taking the time out to explain this to me. LMK if you want a frag of one of my SPS colonies out of my tank. It's the least I can do to show my appreciation! Now for more pictures to come...

RR Diablo

Wayne,

what stop are u shooting at? Your shots are very shallow. The dept to field blurs everything so if u are shooting at an 2.8 everything around your focus point will be soft or blurry. Try to shoot at higher stop like 8-16and increase ur ISO. I'm comfortable at 2000-2500. This way more of the image or focal point will be sharp. Also like u stated that u may be at the end or start of your lens. For macro type if shooting I do not recommend being a either end, So if ur on a 2.8 at 100 mm u will get distortion. Just set up at 100 and move up a tad so ur not at the end. U can shoot with priority mode and test out shots at a 2.8 and at 16 and I promise u will like the results.

Anyways amazing stuff, u got some skills and must sweat at a salinity of 1.026, lol.

 

[WayneL333]

Spectacular colonies.... How are all the fish doing?

Dave B

Hey Dave and Lawrence, most of the fish are doing fine. My Interruptus and Gem Tang are alway battling it out to see who is the king of the tank, but otherwise OK. I'll post pics of them later. I did lose my RCT hybrid angel though. It got some kind of weird abdominal infection and it stomach bloated up to the size of small marble. I couldn't catch it to treat it so it eventually didn't make it.

 

[WayneL333]

Wayne tank is looking awesome, was looking at another thread how is your Pee Pee doing, and I am talking coral you should rename

lol...here's another pic. I gotta play around with the exposure more. You still can't see the true blue color cuz of the mh light effect on the camera:

And the RR Wayne Acro just for good measure. I'm going to be taking the Diablo and Wayne Acro out of my shallow reef quarantine with T5 lighting and putting them in my main display that's running MH. They'll hopefully color up even more.

 

[solitude127]

Nice Growth. Where are the pictures of your fishies? You have an amazing fish collection

 

[turtlespd]

Hey, looking a lot better. Sorry for the nomenclature it takes time. Ill take a diff approach. The great thing about DSLR is that u can control every aspect of the look. So as u discovered shooting at F 16 is a lot sharper than F2.8. Shooting a wide pic at F32 is fine if u want the entire image sharp but what most aim for is sharp subject out of focused background. Shooting at a 2.8 is if u want a single point sharp however u are on a macro lens and the sharp point at 2.8 is like 1/4x1/4 area. So as u go up in F stops your sharp area increases.

Here is a easy tip u will use. Think of the F-stop as your eye the more you squint the more you are focused on a point ( 2.8) and when u don't squint everything is in focus cause Your not concentrating on a point like (F16).

The shutter is like a window with a blind ( 1/15). The lower the shutter the longer the window blind opens. So at 1/15 is opening the blind and allowing light to be captured for a longer time, like soaking up light. So if u have a coral that is red but u keep capturing maroon it's prolly cause your window blind opened and closed too fast.

Also don't be afraid to crank up the ISO, its like a gain switch. The 5d was designed to shoot very well under low light conditions. I shoot at 2000-3200 all the time and the grain still isn't noticeable.

Don't be discouraged shooting a reef tank is not easy by any means. I still shoot in AV mode which selects which shutter for proper exposure. That helped a lot untill I understood all the dang buttons. I bet if u went outside to shoot a flower the image will be remarkable, it's the available light that is usually key. Well I hope u keep practicing, I can see u learn fast, im sure your next set will be even better. As for the free frag..thanks but I'm not in it for frags but in it for new and improved pics!

 

[bullitr]

Wayne
Maybe its time to pluck all of those bubble algae before the reefkeeping magazine TOTM peeps call you

 

[frankyrivera]

Maybe I missed it but do you dose 2 part or run a calcium reactor your SPS growth is insane. Beautiful tank

 

[WayneL333]

Since I had my camera out, some pics

 

[WayneL333]

 

[WayneL333]

 

[o2manyfish]

Was worried in the first posting the fish were missing. Thanks for the second post with the fish.

Nice photos overall.

Dave B

 

[frankyrivera]

What is that purple beast in the first pic that thing is awesome

 

[WayneL333]

Was worried in the first posting the fish were missing. Thanks for the second post with the fish.

Nice photos overall.

Dave B

Lol...yeah they got spooked when I turned off the pumps. Thanks.

What is that purple beast in the first pic that thing is awesome

That's my Red Dragon...grown from like a half inch frag.

 

[bullitr]

Looks great Wayne any Fts ?
Or should we wait for the TOTM ?

 

[WayneL333]

Looks great Wayne any Fts ?
Or should we wait for the TOTM ?

lol...i'll try to get a good fts later. they're kinda hard because my tank in 62" long and I have to get pretty far back and I lose detail when I do.

 

[frankyrivera]

Take 3 shots left center and right

 

[karm40]

Wayne, are you now using a tripod? If so there isn't really a reason to shoot at ISO 2000 on a Mk2. If at some point in the future you want to make some larger prints, etc. you will see some noise in the image. Great stuff though!
I'm a photographer and oddly enough, there is an issue with the glass in my tank and I can't get a sharp image!!!

 

[WayneL333]

I am using a tripod for the coral shots. I'm a crazy photo newbie, but I used ISO 2000 to get the picture bright enough on an f stop 16. Is there another way to increase the brightness without increasing the iso?

 

[karm40]

Well, more light, open up the shutter or fstop or the ISO. For corals, since they aren't moving, you can use a slower shutter speed but, anything moving will be blurred. It can be an interesting effect with polyps open and swaying...

 

[xxvietxjustinxx]

I am using a tripod for the coral shots. I'm a crazy photo newbie, but I used ISO 2000 to get the picture bright enough on an f stop 16. Is there another way to increase the brightness without increasing the iso?

F/16 is a little over kill. F/11 would be more than enough IMO to get a great looking shot and more light.