Some of my Fluorescence In Corals photographs

[frankyrivera]

Well I have failed miserably so far I have a Nikon d7000 while I don't have a macro lens I was using a 2.8 Nikon 17-55mm using a tripod and an sb800 flash with a green gel on the flash and a yellow filter on the lens. No luck. Would I be better off using my 55-200mm instead

 

[frankyrivera]

Help want to learn!

 

[SushiGirl]

He said earlier he was using dark blue or dark violet gel and a dark yellow on the lens. I would assume this color combo would work so well because those are complimentary colors (opposite on the color wheel). The macro lens would probably just be important for getting close detail rather than the fluorescence, though it could help by cutting out extraneous areas of the tank that could affect how the pic comes out.


For ISO & shutter speed he said this:

Im using a Tamron 90mm macro lens mounted on a tripod. Strobe is Nikon sb900 and each photo was shoot in manual mode, both camera and flash. I'll try to keep the shutter speed no lower than 1/100s and ISO 100-200. Flash was set to front curtain. Hope that helps

The article linked earlier in the thread also had good info.

Hope that helps you out, Franky!

 

[frankyrivera]

Thanks sushi girl that was very helpful reading. Do I need to. It that flashlight or is the blue or purple gel over my sb800 flash the same as the flashlight

 

[SushiGirl]

The flashlight seems to be a whole other thing that smoq didn't use, and it seemed they only really used it to find the best coral for shooting. I would imagine it isn't necessary, and have no idea where you'd even find one LOL. I really need to try some of this, but it's really hard reading the small stuff on the camera to get the settings right!

I did discover that I can shoot using the flash with just the moonlights on & you do get quite a bit of color pop doing that...looks like daylight because of the flash but the greens really are brighter than shooting with full light on. That could be something to play with if you have moonlights, not sure if it works with actinics. The other thing I did is shoot with moonlights & no flash with the tripod, but there's too much blue in the pics & it's pretty impossble to adjust the pics to true colors in photo processing later. I also shot some with the flash & no lights at all, which gave some interesting results, as well. I have a bunch of those pics I need to add to my 55 thread. They were kind of fun to play around with. Seems my next thing will be a trip to the camera store for gels & a yellow filter (don't think we have one) & my reading glasses to play with non-auto camera settings LOL.

 

[bobears03]

I'm not a photographer. I know your trying to capture the fluoresce and all, but I think I'm more impressed with the contrast and definition of some of the pics. With that big of a color difference and I can make make out out a discernible line between them, awesome.

 

[smoq]

Hey people, sorry for not answering your questions yet, I just came back from a whale-watching trip and dindn't have a chance to get to it. I'll try to post something when I get back from work.

 

[nycpassat]

Amazing photos!

 

[reefer999]

Really nice pictures, can't wait for the new ones!!

 

[jroovers]

Wow, this is really amazing stuff. I too would be curious to see a shot or two of your set-up (filters and flash) if you can swing it.

 

[knight2255]

Anymore pics?

 

[smoq]

I'll try to shoot some from my new tank today, so stay tuned

 

[frankyrivera]

Any updates

 

[frankyrivera]

So I have it a shot this is what I came up with

 

[smoq]

Looks great. You have to overexpose the scene a little bit and then play with exposure in Camera RAW. Hope that helps

 

[frankyrivera]

Yeah raw is uncharted territory for me that was actually shot as a jpeg so I had little room to make changes. What aperture/ISO shutter speed do u usually stay around. Is your flash mounted on the camera or off to the side

 

[smoq]

Some new shots from my own tank. Sorry for delay

Goniopora

Chalice Pectiniidae family

Octospawn

Acanastrea

Blastomussa merletti

Leather coral

 

[smoq]

Yeah raw is uncharted territory for me that was actually shot as a jpeg so I had little room to make changes. What aperture/ISO shutter speed do u usually stay around. Is your flash mounted on the camera or off to the side

I usually stay in f/8-16 and shutter speed between 80-160, depending on light. ISO 100-200 Flash is connected to the camera on cable release and I play with different rosco gels on flash

 

[frankyrivera]

Your pictures show better greens where mine are heavier on the yellow due to the filter. Is it cuz I'm losing to much light given the fact that I stacked my filters I simply screwed a yellow filter over my circular polarizer. Should I take the polarizer off and only use the yellow filter withy the blue gel on the flash

 

[smoq]

Your pictures show better greens where mine are heavier on the yellow due to the filter. Is it cuz I'm losing to much light given the fact that I stacked my filters I simply screwed a yellow filter over my circular polarizer. Should I take the polarizer off and only use the yellow filter withy the blue gel on the flash

Yes, take the polarizer out, it only slows down your shutter in this situation. LMK how that works for you