settings for Canon 40D: Reef photos

[lemmiwinks]

my old man has just picked up a new canon 40D dslr. i have no idea how to use it, but from a few things i have read, it has three adjustable 'presets' called C1, C2, & C3. i would like to make C3 the setting to take photos of my aquarium.

it is lit by a 250watt MH and 2x 24watt blue actinics, and all of the photos seem to be comming out blue.

what can i change to fix this up?

thanks for your help peoples

-stuart

 

[bdepp]

i have a 40d and i use the AV mode when i shoot. i also shoot in RAW which means that i can change the blue cast in post production.

what you want to do is set the white balance, so you remove the blue cast and save that setting in one of the c modes

i havn't used the C modes as yet but i think it would be a good option

 

[Los]

I'm curious as well. Anyone have a 40D care to tell us what settings they use for corals. While you're at it, what are the best lenses and other equipment.

Thanks in advance

 

[tremendo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12604406#post12604406 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bdepp
i have a 40d and i use the AV mode when i shoot. i also shoot in RAW which means that i can change the blue cast in post production.

what you want to do is set the white balance, so you remove the blue cast and save that setting in one of the c modes

i havn't used the C modes as yet but i think it would be a good option

lol wow chines to me can you please slow down and tell us more some of us aren't that good lol

now for the Q?

whats blue cast and post prosesor

i know if feel dome asking this Q?

thanks

 

[bdepp]

hey tremendo.

Blue cast is just the usual way that aquariums come out in photo's. they usually have a blue colour as a result of the actinics.

post-production/post processing is the work you do in your image edittor after. all the things like adjusting the white balance, saturation, sharpness, etc.

the only stupid question is a question not asked.

 

[tremendo]

thanks for your reply now what sofw is good and whats are the points we should look at when we editing

for example

i see when i use the raw setting the pics come out really dark how can i fix that o what i need to do

thanks in advance

 

[bdepp]

With post-production you really don't want to do much with this or else it can look like it's gone through some processing. the trick is to get the best photo from the camera.

As a guide, i usually adjust settings like white balance, saturation and brightness. i will often adjust curves to make backgrounds darker and bring out mid-tones more. the final step is to slightly sharpen the photo's once i've finished the clean-up, reduction and conversions.

If your getting dark photo's you'll need to adjust the white balance and brightness in the RAW file with your RAW converter to get them brighter. or shoot at a lower ISO to allow more light to be captured

 

[Los]

Can anyone suggest specific f stop, ISO, etc. settings to put in our storage settings (C1, C2, or C3) for reef photography on a Canon 40D and a 100mm macro f/2.8 ?

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

The ISO depends on what kind of shutter speeds you are getting with your lights. Everything in digital photography revolves around and effects how your sensor sees light. Since it is doubtful that our lights are identical (even with the same model), specific f stops and ISOs will not help. You must understand why they are important and how to use them. To answer the OP's question:
The sensor does not see light temperatures exactly like you or I. Mercury Vapor looks blue-green, Tungsten appears orange, every type of light has a different color temperature. Your combination looks blue to the camera.
In your RAW mode you have to bump the exposure, the light hitting your sensor, up in order to lighten the dark picture. That is a whole other lesson. When your load the pictures into your computer, edit them with digital photo professional (it came free with the camera in the box). Click:
View_Tool Palette
Click the RAW tab and then the dropper bottle.
With the dropper bottle cursor, click on something in your tank that shouldn't be blue...but Grey. 18% Grey to be exact. Play around until its right. There are many ways of fine tuning but this is quick, easy, and effective.

 

[griffithimage]

a good way of explaining aperature (f stops) and shutter speed is to think about the eye. Aperature is how big the opening is or how big your pupil is. The less light, the bigger the pupil and thus more light getting in. Shutter speed is how long you are looking at something, the longer you look at something the more light is exposed to the sensor.