Some of my latest shots

kilroy217

Member
Here's a small sampling of some shots I took last week:

1.
2010-01-28BigsinkAquarium-25.jpg


2.
2010-01-28BigsinkAquarium-18.jpg


3.
2010-01-28BigsinkAquarium-14.jpg


4.
2010-01-28BigsinkAquarium-13.jpg


5.
2010-01-28BigsinkAquarium-1.jpg


As always, C&C are welcome. Thanks for looking!
 
What kind of camera and lens?

I like the eye of the fish in #5 (I was gonna say I like your fish eye but didnt want you to think I thought you took the picture using a fish eye lens ;) )
 
If you want constructive criticism...

1) The mouth of the polyp needs to be in focus and it would be much better.
2) and 3) The foreground has out of focus distracting elements in it. Without those, they would be great shots.
4) Looks good.
5) Looks good to me, although I'd like to see more of the fish in the picture.
 
Octoshark - Thanks! I'm using Nikon D90 and 105mm f/2.8 VR macro lens.

Recty - thanks. 1. Yes, I agree, but it was the best shot I had of that particular coral.
3. yes, I agree, but it was a buddy's tank, and I didn't want to ask him to start moving things around.
5. The blenny wasn't sitting still very much. I was lucky to get this shot! All of my other fish shots were out of focus or motion-blurred. Any tips on settings for getting moving fish with a macro lens?

Thanks for looking!
 
Octoshark - Thanks! I'm using Nikon D90 and 105mm f/2.8 VR macro lens.

Recty - thanks. 1. Yes, I agree, but it was the best shot I had of that particular coral.
3. yes, I agree, but it was a buddy's tank, and I didn't want to ask him to start moving things around.
5. The blenny wasn't sitting still very much. I was lucky to get this shot! All of my other fish shots were out of focus or motion-blurred. Any tips on settings for getting moving fish with a macro lens?

Thanks for looking!

I took a lot of fish pictures with my 100mm macro. I think the key is having a high ISO and f/2.8 (or the largest aperture you can) so you can use a high shutter speed.

Or, use a flash, that's very helpful as well.

Biggest thing is you've got to stop the action, so you'll need a high shutter speed. It's easy to get 1/250th with your flash on which will freeze you fish in motion with no problem, although the colors dont look as true to life as if you cranked up your ISO and just used a high shutter speed with available light.
 
won't the DOF be as issue at f/2.8? I think I was shooting f/9 to get enough depth to get the whole fish in focus. I probably was up to 1/100th or so, and could either crank my ISO or add flash to get that higher. Thanks for the suggestions - I'll work on it, and try to post more pictures when I get some shots worth posting. :)
 
With the flash yeah, you can use a f stop that gives you lots of depth of field.

If you dont mind me posting a picture of my own in here, this is my blenny I took with a 100mm macro at F/2.8.

lawnmower001.jpg


Notice the very thin depth of field, but imo it makes the shot just that much cooler. I like that effect. Just try to get the eyes in focus, I wish my depth of field had been slightly larger so the entire eye was in focus, not just the pupil. It's a little distracting to me that the front of his eye is getting blurry.
 
That makes sense, and I remember when you posted that shot originally. The DOF definitely adds something.

Tang-A, a better camera doesn't necessarily correlate to a better shot - it's a lot about how you use the equipment you have... that's why I appreciate people like Recty offering advice and helping me to improve! Just keep posting and asking for advice, and you'll see, things will get better! I'm too embarrassed to post some of my first shots - even with a fancy(ish) camera like the D90.
 
I took a lot of fish pictures with my 100mm macro. I think the key is having a high ISO and f/2.8 (or the largest aperture you can) so you can use a high shutter speed.

Or, use a flash, that's very helpful as well.

Biggest thing is you've got to stop the action, so you'll need a high shutter speed. It's easy to get 1/250th with your flash on which will freeze you fish in motion with no problem, although the colors dont look as true to life as if you cranked up your ISO and just used a high shutter speed with available light.

These are good tips. You could obviously also shoot in bursts. Atlease one out of the 10 pictures will be centered in the frame usually. I guess that's sort of cheating though!
 
DivineStler and kobett - thanks for looking! I shot some more last night, and will post them when I get around to post-processing. I tried using the flash, and it definitely messed with the colors, but I have a few that are really sharp. Stay tuned.
 

Kilroy217~
All great shots IMHO # 3 & 5 stand out above the rest. I am curious to what extent you have or have not photoshoped these images.
Don't take this the wrong way, they do not look photoshoped, if anything a little touch here or there could help.

For #3 I really like the composition of this photo and I have to disagree with Recty, about the out of focus foreground being distracting,
IMO its fun/ artsy and adds a bit of movement to the photo.

For #5 This one is my favorite of your posted photos. The only suggestion I have is to clean up/ soften or darken the fish eye.

well either way really great shots, :)
 
boodlefish - thanks for your comments. to answer your questions - there was no "photoshopping" done at all, as I do not even own a copy of photoshop. I did do some post-processing in Lightroom, haha... White balance, exposure, some slight adjustments to brightness, contrast, saturation, clarity, etc. and spot removal tool to get rid of most of the "dust". This was not my tank, and I was a little shy in asking to turn off the pumps. I think I cropped the original image some, too. That's about it.

No offense taken - edit away! :)
 
I certainly don't mind critiques or criticism, but your post is not helpful in any way. how could they have been better? What should I do the next time to do better? What, specifically, didn't you like about them?
 
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