Please help me improve my aquarium photography

[rsaha]

I've been trying to improve my aquarium photography but I am just not getting it. I love the pics I see on here by the masters (you know who you are and I just can't get anywhere near what I see. I've read all the stickies and generally poked around this forum for a few weeks.

I have a D7100 with the Nikon Micro 105mm on a Manfrotto 074B tripod with 229 head (a guy was closing down his studio) so pretty stable tripod setup. I have wireless shutter release. Manual focus and I try to make sure the camera is perpendicular to the glass. I also get as close as I can while still getting the composition I'm trying for and/or able to focus.

I'm using center weighted metering because for some reason with the 105mm I find the with matrix I get about a full stop over exposure. I shoot as high an f stop as I can get away with and still have a shutter speed of over 1/30 to 1/40. I can get it higher if I crank the ISO but I've been trying to keep it at 500 or so.

For post processing I am trying to learn Lightroom - muddling mostly - and doing some tutorials on-line.

The D7100 is new. I was using a Panasonic micro4/3 format (still love it for walking around) but wanted try to up my game after reading here... I find manual focus pretty tough in live mode on the smaller cameras - really do prefer an optical viewfinder.

Here's a couple of examples of some of the better photos I've taken.

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For this one I applied the punch preset followed by vignette 2 and then upped the contrast and blacks to try to get the inky black background I think I see in many of the pics posted here.


vignettefuzzy by rsaha1, on Flickr[/IMG]

For this one I turned off the pumps - didn't think of it when I took the photo above. The composition is weird, I know. It was supposed to be a setup shot that just seemed to be sharply focused with good colour...

I tried Jonathan's trick of setting the WB to 10000K but I seem to get badly washed out colours. Tinkering with the WB I have found the best colours seem to come out at 7500ish which is what the auto WB seems to come up with so I have been using autoWB.

Please be brutally honest and don't pull any punches. I really want to up my game. I really appreciate any and all feedback.

 

[Misled]

So I played with what you had for a couple minutes. I took out of it what called to me, and pretty much by cropping and clone stamping got rid of everything else. I did some shadow work and a little darkening.



To me, it's more about what I see, or what I take from a shot. On my set up, I use spot metering which meters on my focus point. I may decide to change the focus point in mid shot, but I always want it to meter there. My camera is on auto WB and post is with PS.

 

[Ssteve]

Why a high f stop? I assume you mean high in numerics meaning closed down? The edit misled did is ok I suppose but very unnatural looking imo. What software are you editing with? I always recommend starting with Lightroom for most basic editing and shoot raw with no changes in camera. On the first shot you missed the focus a little so it's a bit soft, and the second shot should have been composed a little different imo.

 

[faithenfire]

remember the rule of threes with composing. and the triangles
we are attracted to things in groupings of threes: corals, or individual polyps
if it is a singular subject put it in the bottom third or top third.

lines can carry you thru a picture, especially if the line goes to a corner

the colors are interesting
in the bottom photo i would like to see a bit more black at the top so it doesn't feel so crowded.
the bottom photo also seems a little noisy too, maybe bring down your iso

middle one, don't like the centering of the focused coral. I'm not sure about the unfocused piece in front of it. maybe with different cropping

top one is a strange composition as well. and it's busy without a purpose. what are we supposed to be looking at? what do you want as the focus? this one is a littl noisy too

i like the editing other than the noise. the dark background and lighting helps the viewer focus on the corals

 

[Reef Bass]

You've got a lot of the basics down and a good attitude for learning. I also welcome constructive criticism. While compliments are enjoyable, "nice pic" doesn't help me to evolve or to see and to think about other aspects of an image that maybe I hadn't considered. But if that's all you got, then thank you for expressing your appreciation.

Take advantage of the tripod, remote shutter release and pumps off. With stationary subjects you can go for way longer exposures which opens up lower iso possibilities and / or greater depth of field via smaller lens apertures. Your second shot doesn't look very pumps off to me, although possibly that's due to the angle of the frag. Maybe give the tank a few more minutes for water motion to slow. Suspended detritus will also settle, and polyps generally inflate.

To me, there's the technical side of the photo, and then composition. Great photographs are interestingly composed. Center composition has its place, but it's generally not as appropriate as its all too frequent use might suggest. Try to avoid it. Asymmetry can be very powerful artistically. As faithenfire demonstrated, the rule of thirds is a good starting place.

I think Jesse's crop is more interesting than the original center composed image. I agree with Steve and faithenfire that the composition of #2 could be improved. Beware of large out of focus objects in the foreground. They can be distracting and something the viewer has to "climb over" or "go around" visually to appreciate the subject.

Feel free to post, especially your challenging photos, as those can be bigger learning opportunities.

 

[rsaha]

Appreciate all the feedback. I am away from my tank but when I get home I will try to absorb these ideas. I think my first problem to fix is tack sharp. I will try pumps off and let the tank settle. The points around composition are well taken. I hadn't even been thinking about composition - just trying to get the mechanics sorted.

I have been struggling with manual focus. I think I learned something that may be impacting it and can't wait to try it out. I had set the diopter setting on my camera by using the AF and picking the setting that was clearest. Learned yesterday that the way to do it is to set it with the camera off using the lines in the viewfinder. I've adjusted that and will post the results soon.

Thanks again all - please keep it coming!

 

[Ssteve]

Ive never used the 7100 but I would imagine you could tether it to a computer? That could help with manual focus a fair amount.

 

[rsaha]

Ive never used the 7100 but I would imagine you could tether it to a computer? That could help with manual focus a fair amount.

That is an interesting thought. I've never even heard of that...

 

[rsaha]

I think the adjustment of the viewfinder has set me on a path of better focus. Also, I noticed my lift pump does send a bit of vibration into the floor so that probably hasn't been helping. Pumps off for me from now on.

Here's my attempt from today.


thecraw1 by rsaha1, on Flickr


bluefrag by rsaha1, on Flickr

 

[Ssteve]

Focus is much better. I'd keep playing with composition a bit and see what you can do with your new found focus powers.

 

[Reef Bass]

That is an interesting thought. I've never even heard of that...

I shoot remotely / tethered almost exclusively when doing macro work. It's much easier to see where the focal plane is on a 15" laptop than a 3" camera back, and to evaluate the larger image than smaller. I control everything from my laptop except focus.

My 6D with wifi is allegedly controllable by my smart phone, though I haven't explored that yet. My laptop has a much bigger screen.

New shots are improved! Keep it up!

 

[faithenfire]

new shots are much better. much sharper. looks like better white balance and less noisy.

hmm tethering... i was planning on using it when i get around to my self portraits and food again but i didn't think about my tank shots...

now to figure how to do it right

 

[rsaha]

Very kind but I have a long way to go. I am very happy I have at least figured out how to focus my camera - staring at pictures that were focused in the viewfinder but not in reality was annoying I am coming from micro4/3 so I am facing a learning curve across a lot of dimensions...

I downloaded some open source tethering software that works so so in live view but the reviews of the Nikon tethering software is really bad and outrageously priced in Canada. The tethering idea sounds brilliant if you could get the whole screen of your laptop to replicate the display on the camera but I haven't found that for Nikon at a reasonable price yet. Anyone know of this, please let me know.

 

[rsaha]

Few more attempts - trying to better my composition. Frank feedback appreciated.


redmonti by rsaha1, on Flickr


funny milli by rsaha1, on Flickr


pavona by rsaha1, on Flickr


washedoutbonsai by rsaha1, on Flickr

 

[faithenfire]

the top two shots, don't look quite sharp.

i like the bottom one best

when you are shooting try to have a point of interest. someplace where the eye is supposed to go.

but they are nice shots, i like the color temperature/pallette

 

[Ssteve]

The stuff on the right side in 1 and 2 is distracting. Three is a boring subject for me, but #4 is very good. With some post process it has a lot of potential.

 

[rsaha]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I didn't even notice the distraction on the sides of pictures 1 and 2 - I have alot to learn. As an exercise I recomposed them and explored the luminance features in colour.

For the 4th picture I would love some guidance on what types of Lightroom based post processing I should be looking at/learning.


funny milli by rsaha1, on Flickr


redmonti by rsaha1, on Flickr

 

[rsaha]

Here's my attempt at post processing the 4th picture. I am playing with lens correction and used the auto in the basic menu - minor improvement I think but nothing dramatic. Guidance really welcome here...


washedoutbonsai2 by rsaha1, on Flickr

 

[faithenfire]

first one-no amputating without compostional reasons
second one-i just don't have a point of interest so i find it sorta blah
third, i think i like it the way it was.

i might do the second like

 

[rsaha]

Thanks - I'm a bit at a loss on ssteve's comment re: post processing on image 3 so I was just trying to see what I could come up with.

How about this one... I had a really, really hard time with the colour of the acro. Gave up trying to get it right in favour of getting the goby right... Did get this one with manual focus so I'm getting better at that at least:lolspin: