Photography is discouraging

jporter

jporter

New member
The more pictures I take the more frustrated I become. I seem to be going backwards skill wise. I was hoping to get some insight at the October FRAG meeting but someone schedule Reef-A-Palooza that same weekend. :)
Here are some sorry photos I took today. They are disappointing because I took the time to shut off the pumps and play with different manual settings. I think I will stick with TV mode. JP

Unique Corals Insane Favia


This is the frag of Paletta Postrata I bought several auctions ago. Bonus for the PROP group. It is a really cool acro and needs some time to take off. At least thats been my experience.


20K Lokani with a big halloween hermit resting on it


WWC Deepwater acro - This is on the bottom of my tank and loses the green under brighter lighting.


Micromussa from Aquarius - Not sure what the left eye is doing but it looks weird in the picture. My new Scoly is in the background along with some joker zoas.


Flaming Bugatti is finally starting to grow a little. This thing was tiny when I got it.


Cherry Corals Thunderbolt Chalice - Bought during one of the 72Hr WWC live sales. Very slow grower and doesn't photo well due to placement in tank.


Orange Clove Polyps
 
I think those pictures are looking good, Jeff. What mode were you shooting on in those? Under reef lighting when using a tripod, I've found it's best to shoot in manual mode because the camera will try to let in too much light -- even in aperature or shutter priority mode. I usually trust the internal monitor (the one you see when looking through the eye piece) and try to adjust the depth of field and shutter speed so it's around -1/3 or -2/3. Most lenses have a sweet spot for sharpness. If I were to generalize, I'd say around f/8-14. And, if you're shooting in RAW, you might benefit from a little post processing to bring some of the color back in (along with a more precise white balance). I find pictures to be slightly under saturated compared to what my eye sees in real life. When I shoot in JPEG, I usually bump up the saturation a bit anyway because I like rich looking pictures. Personal preference, really.

But I can definitely sympathize with you on the frustration. I can't tell you how many times I've tried taking pictures of fish and got so frustrated I just walked away. There's another RC member, _Aaron_, who takes really amazing fish photos. I have basically the camera set up and can't get anything close -- even after I've stocked his flickr images for EXIF data to figure out what settings he's using.

Keep it up though!
 
Here's another way to look at this. I can remember begging my parents to get me a Canon AE-1 for my thirteenth birthday (for my Bar Mitzvah). They finally relented even though it was a very expensive purchase for them. What they didn't realize at the time was that the true expense was the cost of the film.

Now, we can make all of the mistakes we want, shoot a gazillion pictures, just keep the best, and it doesn't cost a penny. True progress.

As the official worlds worst photographer (I've actually considering submitting my shots to Guiness), those shots look pretty cool to me. Is it the color or the focus/depth of field that is really bothering you.
 
Jeff, your photos are better than most, by a long shot. Aaron's shots are insane and professional quality. Lighting is the major variable when shooting underwater IMO, especially with the artificial lighting we use.
 
Shooting our aquariums is very challenging.

1) You need to have the glass as clean as possible.
2) You need the rest of the room absolutely dark.
3) You need to have crystal clear water with no microbubbles.
4) You need to shoot straight through the glass/acrylic, not at an angle.
5) You need to keep camera shake to a minimum. Either use a tripod or follow the 1/focal length rule for shutter speed (50mm lens don't shoot lower then 1/50th shutter speed).

Even when all of these are perfect, you have to remember you are shooting through at least 1/4in of glass/acrylic, which has a big effect on contrast and color. This means you need to be familiar with post-processing to bring the color and contrast back to what your eyes see. Post-processing is probably the most important thing for giving a photo that POP.

Bob
 
Here is a quick tweak on one of your shots. It seems my unsharp mask routine is a bit strong for your camera settings (each camera is a bit different) so it is a bit oversharpened. Mostly I adjusted the contrast with a touch of brightness.

I hope you don't mind my playing with your image.

Test.jpg
 
haha I purchased my camera just to take photos of my tank...I still can't take photos when it's on the automatic settings. LOL. Yours are better by a long shot!
 
Thanks for the kind words. I'm disappointed because I spent so much for this camera, lens and accessories and expect better photos. It might be a combination of things like standard glass instead of sapphire and water that isn't crystal clear. The photos look great on the LCD screen while I'm taking them but look much worse when I look at them on the computer. I'm sure the skill level I possess isn't worthy of shooting manual just yet.
BTW - to add insult to injury I'm doing the following:
Using a tripod
remote shutter trigger
clean glass
Canon 60D body
100mm Canon macro
Now the manual settings I haven't a clue. I play around with depth of field and ISO. I need to read up on those and in the meantime go back to some of the automatic settings. Thanks again. JP
 
Jeff if this is what your corals look like by a not so good picture I can't imagine what they look like in person. Your corals look great from what I can see.
 
Reefstew:

I've had the amazing pleasure of seeing the tank in person on a few occasions. I don't think anyone can photograph this tank and do it justice. Simiply put, it is magnificent.

Photoguy:

I can't speak for Jeff but that post-processing is amazing.

Jeff,
As always, thanks for the eye candy. Regardless of your photo skills, your reefkeeping skills can't be beat.
 
Your meta data was wiped so I couldn't see how you were shooting these photos. Advise from an expert.....

Custom white balance
Shoot raw format
Shoot manual mode
Post process with calibrated monitor

Shutter speed, aperture and iso can vary, but what I listed above should be standard. Once you start shooting in manual mode, you will realize just how horrible preset modes are. They can actually make your photos look worse!
 
As Bobthephotoguy stated in number 4, you need to shoot straight through the glass. That is VERY important. Most of your shots have a SLIGHT out of focus/distortion to them. You can tell because even the "in focus" are is not entirely sharp. You'll need a relatively long exposure time to get any sort of DOF but with pumps off you'll still get sharp results. Try shooting with a hood on the lens pressed up against the glass that should get you about as straight as you can get. Might be hard to set up a tripod that way but with steady hands and the lends pressed up against the glass, you should be able to get some good shots. From there, it's all post processing. Start with white balance then work on saturation, sharpness etc.

Not to thread jack but here are some shots I've taken of fellow reefers tanks, I'd be happy to show you around :D







 
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