Reef Bass, TitusvileSurfer, Misled
- Thread starter rams
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TitusvileSurfer
New member
I really like your images. The post processing was well executed. The colors are striking yet not overdone, the sharpening is clear and crisp without being too much, your signature gives you proper credit without being obnoxious or hindering to the image, ect.
The settings in the camera itself were all dead on. I was surprised to see f/22 in the first shot, then f/29 in the following two, but...hey...it worked just fine. Every tentacle of the anemone is crisp and in focus. Your images are all well exposed, depth of field is nice and wide, and there is no motion blur caused by shutter speeds too low to speak of.
My only real issue concerns the composition of the blue damsel. He is dead center frame. If you pushed him over to the right, it would give a pleasing illusion of motion. The viewer can subconsciously visualize somewhere for him to swim to. It sounds artsi-fartsi I know, but the "rule of thirds" really does make a big impact. In your last image of the tomini tang, this guideline was followed. In effect...even if we don't realize it, the tomini seems to be swimming forward. This effect also stands true for most still subjects. Move it up down, side to side..but not dead center. I talked about this earlier in "o0xerog0o"s thread. His subjects were interesting and sharp but because they were dead center screen it just made them look so...blah.
In the clown pictures, he is always a crowed favorite, this isn't as crucial because he should be "moving" in place over the anemone anyway. I can picture him waving his tail back and forth slowly, fighting the current to stake his claim and defend his precious home for any tomini tang who may wonder too close. I see him peaking out like a grumpy old man about to yell at kids on his lawn in the last shot. :lol: Again center frame works well in this case but you may want to try moving it more towards the bottom of the frame just to see.
All and all great job, especially on the post processing. Not too much is just right!
The settings in the camera itself were all dead on. I was surprised to see f/22 in the first shot, then f/29 in the following two, but...hey...it worked just fine. Every tentacle of the anemone is crisp and in focus. Your images are all well exposed, depth of field is nice and wide, and there is no motion blur caused by shutter speeds too low to speak of.
My only real issue concerns the composition of the blue damsel. He is dead center frame. If you pushed him over to the right, it would give a pleasing illusion of motion. The viewer can subconsciously visualize somewhere for him to swim to. It sounds artsi-fartsi I know, but the "rule of thirds" really does make a big impact. In your last image of the tomini tang, this guideline was followed. In effect...even if we don't realize it, the tomini seems to be swimming forward. This effect also stands true for most still subjects. Move it up down, side to side..but not dead center. I talked about this earlier in "o0xerog0o"s thread. His subjects were interesting and sharp but because they were dead center screen it just made them look so...blah.
In the clown pictures, he is always a crowed favorite, this isn't as crucial because he should be "moving" in place over the anemone anyway. I can picture him waving his tail back and forth slowly, fighting the current to stake his claim and defend his precious home for any tomini tang who may wonder too close. I see him peaking out like a grumpy old man about to yell at kids on his lawn in the last shot. :lol: Again center frame works well in this case but you may want to try moving it more towards the bottom of the frame just to see.
All and all great job, especially on the post processing. Not too much is just right!
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Recty
New member
Well his fish would be wicked ticked you called it a blue damsel, hopefully it doesnt see this post.
I agree with everything else TS has to say though, you just about nailed all the important aspects of fish shots.
I like the clown peeking out from behind the anemone in the tomini tang shot
I agree with everything else TS has to say though, you just about nailed all the important aspects of fish shots.
I like the clown peeking out from behind the anemone in the tomini tang shot
OK, so you asked for my opinion, and I really don't know why. I'm just an amature and probably don't know half as much as some, but I'll tell you what I see anyway. The pics are't bad from an all around standpoint, but I'm gonna tell you what I see. Mind you I'm being picky.
First pic: There's 2 shadows, I guess one from the lights and the flash fired. I didn't check the data, but I'm guessing that's what it was. The focus is pretty good all around on this one. Thing is, when I look at it all I see is a fish. A good picture of a fish, but it doesn't say anything else to me. With a straight black backround of the rockwork being out of focus some may help the fish have more presence.
The clowns and nem: Both are ok pics. Did you find the adjust sharpness in the enhance tab. This is the one I use the most. Tends to make a well focused pic stand out. Don't overdo it though.
The tang: Really my favorite for one reason. The clown peaking out. The balance is off, really not much going on on the left half of the pic. But I still think the clown peaking out is sweet.
Most of what I'm talking about is how you compose your shot. Really nothing wrong with the pics.
First pic: There's 2 shadows, I guess one from the lights and the flash fired. I didn't check the data, but I'm guessing that's what it was. The focus is pretty good all around on this one. Thing is, when I look at it all I see is a fish. A good picture of a fish, but it doesn't say anything else to me. With a straight black backround of the rockwork being out of focus some may help the fish have more presence.
The clowns and nem: Both are ok pics. Did you find the adjust sharpness in the enhance tab. This is the one I use the most. Tends to make a well focused pic stand out. Don't overdo it though.
The tang: Really my favorite for one reason. The clown peaking out. The balance is off, really not much going on on the left half of the pic. But I still think the clown peaking out is sweet.
Most of what I'm talking about is how you compose your shot. Really nothing wrong with the pics.
rams
ramtheory
TitusvileSurfer, you have been very active on this forum with straight forward comments giving feedback and tips. Thank you for that. Your post made me laugh in a good way. Reading your comments I felt as if I walked up to someone viewing my work in a gallery. Standing next to someone who didn't know I was the photographer. It was great and thanks for taking the time to look into the details. That was my main concern and need for opinions. I am a rookie with PS Elements and wanted to make sure I wasn't too off. Still learning what camera settings work in each situation. Composition will be my next concern and thanks for the tips.
Recty, I don't think the royal gramma minds much as it seems to be confused most of the time. Most grammas hide in the rocks. This one thinks it is a clown fish half the time. Thanks you for your comments.
Jesse, I grabbed your attention in the subject because I know you shoot with Nikon. Expert or not you have a valuable opinion. Thanks for taking the time to post. With the royal gramma I was more concerned about opening up the aperture and getting the detail of the rock. My current tank I do not have coral worth shooting and mainly the fish are the attraction until I start over. Composition was in the back of my mind. I agree the pic looks to busy when the fish is the main attraction. Below I have other shots where I was more concerned about the detail of the fish and wasn't shooting in aperture priority. Now for the shadows when utilizing flash photography. Any tricks?
Recty, I don't think the royal gramma minds much as it seems to be confused most of the time. Most grammas hide in the rocks. This one thinks it is a clown fish half the time. Thanks you for your comments.
Jesse, I grabbed your attention in the subject because I know you shoot with Nikon. Expert or not you have a valuable opinion. Thanks for taking the time to post. With the royal gramma I was more concerned about opening up the aperture and getting the detail of the rock. My current tank I do not have coral worth shooting and mainly the fish are the attraction until I start over. Composition was in the back of my mind. I agree the pic looks to busy when the fish is the main attraction. Below I have other shots where I was more concerned about the detail of the fish and wasn't shooting in aperture priority. Now for the shadows when utilizing flash photography. Any tricks?
Recty
New member
I like this second set of shots you've shown, the first one is good. The blurred background really helps, imo, to make your fish stand out and look good as the only subject.
The second shot isnt bad, but the gramma's eyes are just outside the field of focus and starting to slightly look fuzzy and that ruins the shot for me. Unless you're doing something really artsy fartsy you need to always make the eyes of the subject be in focus.
The second shot isnt bad, but the gramma's eyes are just outside the field of focus and starting to slightly look fuzzy and that ruins the shot for me. Unless you're doing something really artsy fartsy you need to always make the eyes of the subject be in focus.
TitusvileSurfer
New member
DOH! Yeah that was stupid...sorry Mr. Gramma!
Reef Bass
colors and textures
rams I apologize for not noticing this thread earlier. I've been preoccupied with some personal stuff (death in extended family, children, stolen wallet). You've been well taken care of by others it seems.
I want to make some sort of witty dig on TS's missed-id but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. Not enough coffee yet. TS, that's the downside of being so right so often. You make one wee mistake and people want to pounce!
My initial comment would be something along the lines of nice job with the fish. I haven't done much fish work with my limited lens selection. I also have a royal gramma, so your subject is near and dear to me. That is one chubby clown!
Good clarity. Good sharpness. Good exposure. Good post processing overall. In my opinion, your contrast looks a bit high for the sideways clown. I might have also lightened the dark bottom a tad in the first two.
+1 for others' suggestions for more interesting composition than center placed subjects. That is something that I am working on as well.
I also would have cropped the tang / clown combo differently to feature the clown peeking out more. When one can discern a personality / attitude from a subject, I think it makes for a more impactful image.
You've done very well. A couple suggestions for maximizing visual goodness. You might consider more midrange fstops. It would allow you to use faster shutterspeeds and / or lower ISOs. With fish you are riding the slowest shutterspeeds one can use. It's working for you, don't get me wrong, just not all fish can be stopped with 1/60th. I see you are using 125th as well which is more typical. Low ISO helps with image quality by reducing noise / "grain". 400 good. 100 better (if you can use it, which is not always possible, particularly with moving subjects).
I want to make some sort of witty dig on TS's missed-id but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. Not enough coffee yet. TS, that's the downside of being so right so often. You make one wee mistake and people want to pounce!
My initial comment would be something along the lines of nice job with the fish. I haven't done much fish work with my limited lens selection. I also have a royal gramma, so your subject is near and dear to me. That is one chubby clown!
Good clarity. Good sharpness. Good exposure. Good post processing overall. In my opinion, your contrast looks a bit high for the sideways clown. I might have also lightened the dark bottom a tad in the first two.
+1 for others' suggestions for more interesting composition than center placed subjects. That is something that I am working on as well.
I also would have cropped the tang / clown combo differently to feature the clown peeking out more. When one can discern a personality / attitude from a subject, I think it makes for a more impactful image.
You've done very well. A couple suggestions for maximizing visual goodness. You might consider more midrange fstops. It would allow you to use faster shutterspeeds and / or lower ISOs. With fish you are riding the slowest shutterspeeds one can use. It's working for you, don't get me wrong, just not all fish can be stopped with 1/60th. I see you are using 125th as well which is more typical. Low ISO helps with image quality by reducing noise / "grain". 400 good. 100 better (if you can use it, which is not always possible, particularly with moving subjects).
xtm
Active member
I know I wasn't "invited" in your thread, but I'll shamelessly invite myself anyways, since I'm also a Nikon shooter I suppose you at the very least glance at my 2 cents' worth of comments.. lol :lol:
The 105 micro-nikkor is a great lens. I've never used a D50 so I can't comment on it personally.
The clownfish/anemone pics are tack sharp and well-exposed, but lacks emphasis. If you could crop the rest of the image so your focus stays on the subject it would be great.
Composition-wise, the fish shots are.... um, regular. Surfer dude has already pointed out the rule of thirds but let me add another perspective... the fish shots look like snapshots. I mean, they look like just about every other fish shots out there. When you're shooting a subject that has been "shot to death", you want to be unique. You want to make a statement. You want to make the viewer go.. WHOA. You are a photographer, not a snapshooter. You give a kid a point and shoot and I guarantee that he will snap the exact same composition of the "blue damsel". You want to be shooting at a different vantage point... the more difficult the better. If you need to shoot inside a powerhead to capture the fish's emotion, do it. If you need to rig a custom plexiglass box for top-down shots, do it. What separates a good photographer from the snapshooters is that the good photogs are willing to go the extra mile to get difficult shots.
Also, nature and wildlife photographers wait hours and days on end just to capture "the shot". Don't just start clicking.. you need to wait for the EXACT moment before you press the shutter. You need to capture the fish when it's doing something that is NOT normally seen by everyday aquarists. If you need to scare your Blue Damsel to make it jump out of the tank so you can capture "the shot", do it. What separates the good photographers from the snapshooters is that... the good ones WAIT for the moment. They are always in the right place at the right time.
sorry for the long post... lol hope what I said made some sense.
sorry to hear that.... hopefully everything's ok with you.
The 105 micro-nikkor is a great lens. I've never used a D50 so I can't comment on it personally.
The clownfish/anemone pics are tack sharp and well-exposed, but lacks emphasis. If you could crop the rest of the image so your focus stays on the subject it would be great.
Composition-wise, the fish shots are.... um, regular. Surfer dude has already pointed out the rule of thirds but let me add another perspective... the fish shots look like snapshots. I mean, they look like just about every other fish shots out there. When you're shooting a subject that has been "shot to death", you want to be unique. You want to make a statement. You want to make the viewer go.. WHOA. You are a photographer, not a snapshooter. You give a kid a point and shoot and I guarantee that he will snap the exact same composition of the "blue damsel". You want to be shooting at a different vantage point... the more difficult the better. If you need to shoot inside a powerhead to capture the fish's emotion, do it. If you need to rig a custom plexiglass box for top-down shots, do it. What separates a good photographer from the snapshooters is that the good photogs are willing to go the extra mile to get difficult shots.
Also, nature and wildlife photographers wait hours and days on end just to capture "the shot". Don't just start clicking.. you need to wait for the EXACT moment before you press the shutter. You need to capture the fish when it's doing something that is NOT normally seen by everyday aquarists. If you need to scare your Blue Damsel to make it jump out of the tank so you can capture "the shot", do it. What separates the good photographers from the snapshooters is that... the good ones WAIT for the moment. They are always in the right place at the right time.
sorry for the long post... lol hope what I said made some sense.
sorry to hear that.... hopefully everything's ok with you.
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TitusvileSurfer
New member
Reef Bass I am really sorry to hear about your recent troubles.
Xtm I think you made some great points. When I go birding I often sit there for hours without touching my camera.
Xtm I think you made some great points. When I go birding I often sit there for hours without touching my camera.
Reef Bass
colors and textures
Thanks guys. I appreciate your well wishes. Considering the greater burdens so many in our country are feeling right now my problems don't amount to a hill of beans. They do tend to distract me from reading new RC posts however.
TS, I'm hearing your "just sit there" thing and it makes me happy to know others do that too. In my case I'm often just sitting waiting for coral polyps to reemerge after either moving the piece or, my absolute favorite, accidently banging / knocking / bumping into something in / around the tank that causes the polyps to all disappear into their coralites and making my subject to go from veritably furry to bald in 1/2 second. Sometimes I have to just walk away from the tank for 5 minutes.
The other time I find myself waiting while shooting reef pics is for my fish to stop aggressing on my lens. My purple tang seems to perceive my long black hooded macro lens as an intruder that must be driven away. My entire camera display or laptop screen will go dark purple, which means he is entirely blocking the view. Plus when he is swimming excitedly, he is often either creating marine snow storms near the bottom or blasting the subject with current from his tail, often resulting in polyp retraction and subsequently I am back to waiting scenario #1.
rams, I hope you've gotten what you need from this thread, now that it seems to be a bit OT. Or better yet bring it back on topic with a new posted pic and some questions!
TS, I'm hearing your "just sit there" thing and it makes me happy to know others do that too. In my case I'm often just sitting waiting for coral polyps to reemerge after either moving the piece or, my absolute favorite, accidently banging / knocking / bumping into something in / around the tank that causes the polyps to all disappear into their coralites and making my subject to go from veritably furry to bald in 1/2 second. Sometimes I have to just walk away from the tank for 5 minutes.
The other time I find myself waiting while shooting reef pics is for my fish to stop aggressing on my lens. My purple tang seems to perceive my long black hooded macro lens as an intruder that must be driven away. My entire camera display or laptop screen will go dark purple, which means he is entirely blocking the view. Plus when he is swimming excitedly, he is often either creating marine snow storms near the bottom or blasting the subject with current from his tail, often resulting in polyp retraction and subsequently I am back to waiting scenario #1.
rams, I hope you've gotten what you need from this thread, now that it seems to be a bit OT. Or better yet bring it back on topic with a new posted pic and some questions!
rams
ramtheory
Reef Bass: no apologize needed and hope you have better days on the horizon soon. Thank you for taking time to post and add tips. I have a chance to shoot a friends tank tonight and will try to be more conscience of composition. I should have time to mess with different ISO and shutter speed combination. I keep my RAW files in tack so I will have to try your suggestions and work with those pics. Hopefully this will be a better shoot and I will find time to post soon. Thanks again.
Wow, I know I said anyone else who would like to chime in is welcome. :lol: thats cool another Nikonian. Yes composition, I feel like a dead horse
. My intentions of this thread was more or less am I doing things right with the post processing. I have received some really helpful posts. All $.02 are welcome even yours. Really xtm I saw Reef Bass, TitusvileSurfer, Misled online that night and I knew the subject would make them at the very least click the thread. It didn't stop Recty. I know Jesse was surprised to be called out but I have PM'd him in the past for a couple questions. I really appreciate the replies. In my club forum I get a lot of awesome and can you help me with my camera responses. At least in here I can face a true firing squad and take it. This forum is here for a reason and you all make it nice.
As for the 105 micro... ya I wish. I am using the 18-105mm that is found in the D90 kits. It was affordable and a step up from the 18-55mm I have been running with.
Thanks again and hopefully I will have some new pics soon, with composition in mind
by the way hi-jacking threads is cool when in good company... be good
Wow, I know I said anyone else who would like to chime in is welcome. :lol: thats cool another Nikonian. Yes composition, I feel like a dead horse
. My intentions of this thread was more or less am I doing things right with the post processing. I have received some really helpful posts. All $.02 are welcome even yours. Really xtm I saw Reef Bass, TitusvileSurfer, Misled online that night and I knew the subject would make them at the very least click the thread. It didn't stop Recty. I know Jesse was surprised to be called out but I have PM'd him in the past for a couple questions. I really appreciate the replies. In my club forum I get a lot of awesome and can you help me with my camera responses. At least in here I can face a true firing squad and take it. This forum is here for a reason and you all make it nice. As for the 105 micro... ya I wish. I am using the 18-105mm that is found in the D90 kits. It was affordable and a step up from the 18-55mm I have been running with.
Thanks again and hopefully I will have some new pics soon, with composition in mind
by the way hi-jacking threads is cool when in good company... be good
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