Rebel XTI help Please
- Thread starter TheReefKeeper
- Start date
No worries.
Aquarium photography is one of the most challenging forms of the craft. Frustration is pretty normal, that's why understanding why you're doing something is key. Keep at it. No one needs to know how many images didn't turn out. It's the ones that "do" that are important.
Cheers
Aquarium photography is one of the most challenging forms of the craft. Frustration is pretty normal, that's why understanding why you're doing something is key. Keep at it. No one needs to know how many images didn't turn out. It's the ones that "do" that are important.
Cheers
TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
Ok Here's what I get the same blueish tones in every picture. The focus never seems right. I didn't edit them at all that way you all can see what I'm doing wrong. I have capture 1 downloaded and can't seem to export them. I mailed them to myself and then copied them in Photobucket. See more problems this sure isn't easy.
you can use custom white balance if you think color tone is off.
try to use al servo focusing mode if you can taking picture of fish.
I usually try not to move my camera. Set it on a tripod and wait for fish to swim by. Sometimes I even use manual focus.
Don't be discouraged, 1 good pic out of 50 junk will make you feel much better.
Still.... it's much easier to pinpoint what your problem is if people can see the actual pictures.
try to use al servo focusing mode if you can taking picture of fish.
I usually try not to move my camera. Set it on a tripod and wait for fish to swim by. Sometimes I even use manual focus.
Don't be discouraged, 1 good pic out of 50 junk will make you feel much better.
Still.... it's much easier to pinpoint what your problem is if people can see the actual pictures.
TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
Can't see them HU Let me try and fix that.
TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
How about this one. Can you see it?
TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
I have no problems outside its in the tank. As far as pictures go outside I have no complaints. I bought the camera to take pictures of the tank. I think I took the pic of the Hummer with a different camera.
TitusvileSurfer
New member
Firstly I can't see what you did wrong because of how you uploaded the pictures to photobucket. When you e-mailed them to yourself it must have lost exif data (to keep the transfer size down). If you took the pictures with RAW, you can't view them without special software (that should have come with the camera). Since you aren't editing them at all anyway, set your camera to the highest quality JPEG setting. Then you should be able to upload the images directly to photobucket and we can take a peek at your settings. From the one image that I can see, my guess would be that your shutter speed was way too low. Without actually knowing what your shutter speed was I can't say for sure though.
TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
Cool I change that to jpg. Give me a few I'm doing some maintenance on the tank right now.
TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
Can you read this one I took it in jpg and then to photobucket.
Recty
New member
I'm not sure if you said you used a tripod or not, but if not, you should start.
You are using 1/8th a second shutter speed, which is really slow especially if you're trying to hand hold, that is why the picture turns out blurry.
So your ISO is set at 200... you could probably bump that up quite a bit, try something like 800 and raise your shutter speed and see how they turn out.
If you dont want to do it on manual, go to the shutter priority mode, which should be like tv, I think, and then set the shutter to at least 1/125 if you're hand holding and try that. It's worth a shot.
But basically you need to up your ISO and speed up your shutter at the same time and you'll not be dealing with that motion blur you're getting now.
And a tripod would really help.
You are using 1/8th a second shutter speed, which is really slow especially if you're trying to hand hold, that is why the picture turns out blurry.
So your ISO is set at 200... you could probably bump that up quite a bit, try something like 800 and raise your shutter speed and see how they turn out.
If you dont want to do it on manual, go to the shutter priority mode, which should be like tv, I think, and then set the shutter to at least 1/125 if you're hand holding and try that. It's worth a shot.
But basically you need to up your ISO and speed up your shutter at the same time and you'll not be dealing with that motion blur you're getting now.
And a tripod would really help.
Try use a tripod. If you don't have one, try to set the camera on something. I bet the result will be quite different.
Turn off powerheads and use of tripod allow you to use lower ISO (smaller number, better quality).
read this for white balance
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=325684
***** very important ******
Don't shoot from an angle. Shoot as straight into the tank as possible. Shooting at an angle create distortions. If you have to shoot from an angle, seems like further away from the glass is better... I don't know if it's in my head or really helps :|
Turn off powerheads and use of tripod allow you to use lower ISO (smaller number, better quality).
read this for white balance
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=325684
***** very important ******
Don't shoot from an angle. Shoot as straight into the tank as possible. Shooting at an angle create distortions. If you have to shoot from an angle, seems like further away from the glass is better... I don't know if it's in my head or really helps :|
TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
It's better I've been taking them all on a tripod
TitusvileSurfer
New member
Yes I read you loud and clear and its confirms my origional suspicion. Your shutter speed was too low - way too low. Without a tripod I don't think anyone could have done much better. Photography revolves around light, and contrary to what you would logically expect, your tank doesn't have enough of it. The image looks overexposed (too bright) so you really could have used the light more efficiently than you did (which is a good thing i.e. correctable).
Lets take a peek at your basic exposure settings:
Focal length- 53mm
Shutter Speed- 1/8
Aperture- f/7.1 i.e. 53/7.1
ISO- 200
Your camera has a 1.6 crop factor. To make the math easy, lest say its 1.5
Whenever you take a picture without a tripod, you need to take your focal length (53) and multiply it by 1.5 (80). This will show your minimum usable shutter speed. You used 1/8 of a second when you should have used AT LEAST 1/80 of a second. 1/100 or 1/200 is even better. Because you did not follow this basic rule, your picture was blurry.
We now know the cause of your wooes, lets explore some solutions:
Shutter speed, Aperture, and ISO are connected and every action produces and equal and opposite reaction. If you want to change one of these (i.e. shutter speed from 1/8 to 1/100), you have to change one of the other two equally and oppositely.
To make this process easier, each of the three are broken into equal increments called stops.
Shutter speed stops are as follows:
30 seconds, 15 seconds, 8, 4, 2, 1 second, 1/2 of a second, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250...
This is a measure of seconds or fractions of a second the picture is physically being taken, each stop doubles the one before it. Some increments may not be exactly double i.e. 1/60 jumps to 1/125 instead of 1/120, but its pretty darn close.
Aperture stops are as follows:
...f/1.4 f/2 f/2.8 f/4, f/5.6, f/8 f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32...
This is a measure of how wide the opening in the lens is. I don't know how your geometry or trig is, but each stop is the square root of the one before it, effectively doubling the opening.
ISO stops are as follows:
....6400, 3200, 1600, 800, 400, 200, 100, 50
This is a measure of how sensitive the image sensor (digital equivalent of film) is to light. Its increments are very straight forward.
So if your shutter speed is 1/8 and you want it to be 1/125, count how many stops it takes to get there. 1...2...3...4. 4 stops. You now have to change your Aperture or ISO the other direction an equal amount of stops to achieve the same level of "brightness", for lack of a less confusing term.
Your camera is currently set to cut the stops into thirds i.e. f/5.6, f/6.3, f/7.1, f/8, but for explanation purposes lets stick to the basic stops. In the image above you selected f/7.1, but to make it easy lets pretend it was f/8.
So your shutter speed is 1/8 and we want 1/125.
Your aperture was set to f/8, but if we go back 4 stops to f/2, your shutter speed will now be 1/125. Your lens can't go to f/2, so thankfully we have ISO. You can split the difference between ISO and Aperture.
Your lens CAN go to f/5.6 which is one stop. We need 3 more.
Your ISO was 200, so if we bump that up 3 stops we're set. 300...400...800.
So with Shutter Speed 1/125, Aperture f/5.6, ISO 800 your image should not have been blurry and the "brightness level" would have been exactly the same. I'll wait for you to respond while I go on a mad drinking bing and answer any questions in a few hours.
Lets take a peek at your basic exposure settings:
Focal length- 53mm
Shutter Speed- 1/8
Aperture- f/7.1 i.e. 53/7.1
ISO- 200
Your camera has a 1.6 crop factor. To make the math easy, lest say its 1.5
Whenever you take a picture without a tripod, you need to take your focal length (53) and multiply it by 1.5 (80). This will show your minimum usable shutter speed. You used 1/8 of a second when you should have used AT LEAST 1/80 of a second. 1/100 or 1/200 is even better. Because you did not follow this basic rule, your picture was blurry.
We now know the cause of your wooes, lets explore some solutions:
Shutter speed, Aperture, and ISO are connected and every action produces and equal and opposite reaction. If you want to change one of these (i.e. shutter speed from 1/8 to 1/100), you have to change one of the other two equally and oppositely.
To make this process easier, each of the three are broken into equal increments called stops.
Shutter speed stops are as follows:
30 seconds, 15 seconds, 8, 4, 2, 1 second, 1/2 of a second, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250...
This is a measure of seconds or fractions of a second the picture is physically being taken, each stop doubles the one before it. Some increments may not be exactly double i.e. 1/60 jumps to 1/125 instead of 1/120, but its pretty darn close.
Aperture stops are as follows:
...f/1.4 f/2 f/2.8 f/4, f/5.6, f/8 f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32...
This is a measure of how wide the opening in the lens is. I don't know how your geometry or trig is, but each stop is the square root of the one before it, effectively doubling the opening.
ISO stops are as follows:
....6400, 3200, 1600, 800, 400, 200, 100, 50
This is a measure of how sensitive the image sensor (digital equivalent of film) is to light. Its increments are very straight forward.
So if your shutter speed is 1/8 and you want it to be 1/125, count how many stops it takes to get there. 1...2...3...4. 4 stops. You now have to change your Aperture or ISO the other direction an equal amount of stops to achieve the same level of "brightness", for lack of a less confusing term.
Your camera is currently set to cut the stops into thirds i.e. f/5.6, f/6.3, f/7.1, f/8, but for explanation purposes lets stick to the basic stops. In the image above you selected f/7.1, but to make it easy lets pretend it was f/8.
So your shutter speed is 1/8 and we want 1/125.
Your aperture was set to f/8, but if we go back 4 stops to f/2, your shutter speed will now be 1/125. Your lens can't go to f/2, so thankfully we have ISO. You can split the difference between ISO and Aperture.
Your lens CAN go to f/5.6 which is one stop. We need 3 more.
Your ISO was 200, so if we bump that up 3 stops we're set. 300...400...800.
So with Shutter Speed 1/125, Aperture f/5.6, ISO 800 your image should not have been blurry and the "brightness level" would have been exactly the same. I'll wait for you to respond while I go on a mad drinking bing and answer any questions in a few hours.
TitusvileSurfer
New member
Wow, so as I was writing that lengthy novel you had a couple of replies.
I tried to give you some background as to why 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 800 would have been a better way to go.
Recty also recommended (completely unknown to me as I was writing that article) 1/125, ISO 800! I love it. He didn't say f/5.6 or any aperture at all, but he thought it.
If you have been taking them all on a tripod then the game changes. You don't "need" such high shutter speeds anymore. Although it is still apparently helping you. Your tripod isn't doing its job very well (the camera is still moving around, creating your blur). Try mirror lockup and a 2 second timer. Consult your owners manual for directions (if you have one).
I tried to give you some background as to why 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 800 would have been a better way to go.
Recty also recommended (completely unknown to me as I was writing that article) 1/125, ISO 800! I love it. He didn't say f/5.6 or any aperture at all, but he thought it.
If you have been taking them all on a tripod then the game changes. You don't "need" such high shutter speeds anymore. Although it is still apparently helping you. Your tripod isn't doing its job very well (the camera is still moving around, creating your blur). Try mirror lockup and a 2 second timer. Consult your owners manual for directions (if you have one).
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TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
WoW
I can't Thank you enough!! I will have to study that for a while for it to sink in.
That's like talking to someone in German who speaks English and when your done speaking you ask them do you understand? LOL
I will understand after 1,000+pictures and reading that about 50 times
I kinda get it. I think the Math part if messin with me. I'm a Chef and I just don't do allot of Math these days. I've always been deathly afraid of it.
I am going to keep working on this and get back to it tomorrow it's getting late I've been going on this for hours. To boot I quit smoking cigarettes two days ago and believe me I did not think I was going to make it through this today. I was getting really p****.
Thanks to everyone who put up with my Rants and Raves today All of your help has been great. I will post up some pics tomorrow to show my progress.
Thanks All.
I can't Thank you enough!! I will have to study that for a while for it to sink in.
That's like talking to someone in German who speaks English and when your done speaking you ask them do you understand? LOL
I will understand after 1,000+pictures and reading that about 50 times
I kinda get it. I think the Math part if messin with me. I'm a Chef and I just don't do allot of Math these days. I've always been deathly afraid of it.
I am going to keep working on this and get back to it tomorrow it's getting late I've been going on this for hours. To boot I quit smoking cigarettes two days ago and believe me I did not think I was going to make it through this today. I was getting really p****.
Thanks to everyone who put up with my Rants and Raves today All of your help has been great. I will post up some pics tomorrow to show my progress.
Thanks All.
