Tips on taking better pics with my camera

[Orr2003]

I am a complete camera knownothing. lol
So here I am looking for some tips on how to take better pics with the camera I have.

My camera is a Nikon Coolpix 5400.

Lens - Opteka Digital Super Wide 0.5X AF Macro Lens,
Opteka Digital Super Telephoto 2.0X AF Lens.

Filters - Opteka High Definition 52 mm Polarized Filter
Opteka High Definition 52 mm FLD Filter
Opteka High Definition 52 mm UV Filter

I dont even know where to start really. I basically just put the camera on auto and point and shot without any lens or filters and it doesnt take the greatest shots of my tank when used this way. I know it is not the best camera and a little dated but I believe it can take better photos then I am getting.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Just remember I am a complete noob when it comes to cameras.
So lets start off slow and to the point so I can understand the terminology.

I do have the manual to the camera so that will help walk me through some of this if need be.

Thanks guys and bare with me on this.
Scott

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

So what do the pics you are getting look like??

 

[Orr2003]

Ok here are a few of the better ones I have taken with this camera. But I can not remember what lens or what settings I was using when I took them. I just mess with some setting until I got some decent pics.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

And what exactly is it about these images that you are unhappy about? What do you want to improve? Are they too bright? Are they too blurry? Is there not enough contrast? What in your mind makes you look at that image and think, "man that could be so much better"?
Firstly I would say ditch your lenses. I don't think they are going to do you any good in your tank.
Secondly, make sure you are shooting "TIFF" as opposed to JPEG.

 

[Orr2003]

The pics that I posted are ok for this camera I believe. But I cant remember what settings I used.

I do remember they were taken with the macro lens and I think the UV filter.

One problem I have is I dont know how or if I can focus manually.
Most of the time when I zoom in to take a closeup it will only auto focus on whatever is closest to the camera. Which is never what I want to capture.

And I dont really know how to set it up when using the macro lens other then auto point and shoot. I know if set up right it could do better.

Alot of times the pics are just not crisp and in focus clearly.

Yes most are blurry (out of focus) and not enough contrast.

I have no idea how to shoot in TIFF? Nor do I even know what it is. LOL

The last pic I posted is with the macro lens on auto everything zoomed out to farthest extent. When using this lens should the camera be set to zoom in and not have the black ring from the lens. Of course it goes away if I zoom in but them I cant really get it to focus on what I want.

 

[Orr2003]

Here is a pic I just took using no lens and auto point and shoot.

As you can see it focuses on whatever is in the background and not what I am trying to take a pic of. Also if I dont use a filter the pic is just so blue and isnt very clear. How do I get it to not be so blue? My tank is no where near that blue just looking at it.

I think if I use the polarized filter I get much clearer shots.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
The pics that I posted are ok for this camera I believe. But I cant remember what settings I used.

1)
Shutter Speed: 1/16 second
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 50
Focal length: 15.6mm (75mm equivalent)
Multi-segmented metering
No flash
2)
Shutter Speed: 1/50 second
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 50
Focal length: 19.8mm (95mm equivalent)
Multi-segmented metering
No flash
3)
Shutter Speed: 1/13 second
Aperture: f/4.6
ISO: 50
Focal length: 62.4mm (301mm equivalent)
spot metering
No flash
4)
Shutter Speed: 1/10.6 second
Aperture: f/4.6
ISO: 50
Focal length: 24mm (116mm equivalent)
Multi-segmented metering
No flash
5)
Shutter Speed: 1/20 second
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 50
Focal length: 5.8mm (28mm equivalent)
Multi-segmented metering
No flash

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
I do remember they were taken with the macro lens and I think the UV filter.

You don't really have a macro lens, even if what you have was called a macro lens so people would buy it. Your camera has a built in lens which can't be removed. Any other "lenses" are simply places on top of the existing lens. Your "macro lens" is basically a magnifying glass that conveniently screws onto the front of your camera. Your UV filter is good for 1 thing IMO, and that is to keep fingerprints off of your built in lens. Of course it is just as easy to wipe off the UV filter as it is the lens...so I take that back, it isn't good for anything IMO. Maybe a raging sand storm...but you should probably run for cover instead of taking pictures. The sand would block all of your light and your images would be pitch black anyway.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
One problem I have is I dont know how or if I can focus manually.
Most of the time when I zoom in to take a closeup it will only auto focus on whatever is closest to the camera. Which is never what I want to capture.

You can focus manually. I don't know how. After you figure that out, a way to fine-tune your focus would be to simply lean backwards or forwards. I am assuming your manual focus will be terribly inaccurate, but in the ball park.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
And I dont really know how to set it up when using the macro lens other then auto point and shoot. I know if set up right it could do better.

I think you should learn how to use the lens that is attached to your camera before you start attaching other lenses to it. In fact if I was in your position I would probably forget I even own that macro lens or UV filter. It isn't really a macro lens. Not in the sense that you hear everyone on these boards talking about.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
Alot of times the pics are just not crisp and in focus clearly.

Your shutter speeds are terribly low (see, "But I cant remember what settings I used" above).
Shutter speeds are measured in seconds or fractions of a second. The faster the shutter speed (smaller the number), the more movement will be frozen in place both by the subject and the photographer.
Take the settings from your first picture:
Shutter Speed: 1/16 second
Focal length: 15.6mm (75mm equivalent)
The basic rule of thumb (for 35mm) is that the shutter speed should be 1/focal length. You have a 5x crop factor, you must multiply your actual focal length by 5 for this rule.
you took the picture at 1/16 second but should have taken it at 1/75...about 2 stops faster. We'll get into what a "stop" is later. Google it if you are curious.
The point is, you need to use a much faster shutter speed or stop shaking so much. The image is recording like a video camera for 1/16 of a second. It records everything into a single image and all of the movement that happens during that time smears together. We call this blur.
"Wow I didn't know I moved so much in 1/16 of a second while trying to keep still!", you say. "How do you guys not move around so much?"
The answer and be summed up in one word: Tripod

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
Yes most are blurry (out of focus) and not enough contrast.

I already told you (on a very basic level) why your pictures are blurry. Contrast is something we should tackle later. Its a more "okay I got the basics down lets get medieval" subject involving some settings tricks and/or photoshop.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
I have no idea how to shoot in TIFF? Nor do I even know what it is. LOL

Well you can't shoot RAW but TIFF is the next best thing. It may help with your blue lights. TIFF is a type of computer file that your camera codes your pictures into. You are using JPEG right now. JPEG uses less memory card room but records less quality information.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
The last pic I posted is with the macro lens on auto everything zoomed out to farthest extent.

Zooming out is good because you experience the least amount of blur.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981549#post14981549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
When using this lens should the camera be set to zoom in and not have the black ring from the lens. Of course it goes away if I zoom in but them I cant really get it to focus on what I want.

Just stop using it. It is doing way more harm than good.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14981584#post14981584 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Orr2003
Here is a pic I just took using no lens and auto point and shoot.

As you can see it focuses on whatever is in the background and not what I am trying to take a pic of. Also if I dont use a filter the pic is just so blue and isnt very clear. How do I get it to not be so blue? My tank is no where near that blue just looking at it.

I think if I use the polarized filter I get much clearer shots.

You need to use manual focus or be patient with the auto focus until the hits what you want. Unless you upgrade your camera this is just something you have to deal with.
Your filter should have nothing to do with how blue your tank looks in the picture. Unfortunately the blueness is something that could really benefit from an upgrade but there is more you can do for it than the auto focus. What kind of custom white balance options do you have?
Your polarized filter should make your shots blurrier. If the UV filter is improving your shots one of us is very confused.

 

[Orr2003]

TitusvileSurfer

THANKS!!! for taking the time to explain some of this for me. Trust me you are not confused, I was/am. lol
So I am ditching the so called lens and filters.


My white balance options are:
In auto and scene modes white balance is adjusted automatically to suit selected scene.

In P, S, A, and M modes you can choose from the following options:
Auto - adjusted automatically
White Bal Preset - White object used as reference to set WB
Daylight - WB adjusted for direct sunlight
Incandescent - WB adj for incandescent
Fluorescent - WB adj for Fluorescent
Cloudy - Shooting outdoors under cloudy skies
Speedlight - WB adj for light produces by built in flash
Shade - Use under sunny skies when your subject is in the shade


Then it has Fine-Tuning white balance that can be adjusted +3 to -3 in increments of 1. Higher setting for a bluish tinge and lower setting to compensate for a light source with a blue cast.
In Fluorescent WB you can choose from three different bulb types,
FL1 (white), FL2 (Daylight white Neutral), FL3 (Daylight)

And it also has Auto Bracketing and WB Bracketing.

I am already starting to learn something here.
So I should use White Balance Preset and WB with a sheet of white paper? right? And then fine tune it lower to compensate for the bluish MH bulbs?

 

[Orr2003]

So what mode should I be shooting in? I am thinking M once I learn what everything does but maybe P mode for now.


P - Programmed Auto, camera sets shutter speed and aperture for best exposure.

S - Shutter-Priority Auto, user chooses shutter speed, camera sets aperture for best results.

A - Aperture-Priority Auto, User chooses aperture, camera sets shutter speed for best results.

M - Manual, user controls both shutter speed and aperture.

 

[Orr2003]

Ok now I am getting somewhere. I just took several pics in P mode with some new settings (ones I am going to remember) and they are MUCH better.
However they are in TIF and photobucket will not let me upload them.

So what site do you use to upload TIF photos?

 

[Orr2003]

WOW! my brain is hurting lol

Well after a bunch of reading (reefkeeping article) on posting an image, I have finally figured out how to resize and convert TIF to jpg so I could upload it to photobucket.

So here is a new pic

This is the same coral in the second pic I originally posted. Most all of my SPS bleached after a levamisole hydrochloride treatment for flatworms. They are just now starting to show signs of regaining their color.

Anyways I am starting to get the hang of this. Still a long way to go but the few pics I took today are much better.

What do you think?


Just a few basic adjustments to my out of date camera and I am very pleased with the pics it is producing now.

 

[jay2525]

very good job. they're getting much better.

 

["Umm fish?"]

I just mess with some setting until I got some decent pics.

That's what we all do. The only difference is that you have to remember what you did last in order to make changes for next time in a way that makes sense (i.e., is not totally random).

Your shots are certainly getting better. Keep going!

What helped me a lot when I was starting out with manual mode was that I put my camera on a tripod, didn't change anything, and just systematically went and took shots of my subject while changing the settings one at a time all the way through what the camera and lens at that time could do. Then, I sat with a record of the settings used and looked at the photos I took. It's slow and painful, but you really learn a lot about what changes to different parts of the "exposure triad" (ISO, aperture, and shutter speed) do to the pictures you take. It's really important to get a handle on those three things and they will be the settings you mess with most on any camera you ever use. I'd worry about stuff like white balance later (unless you're happy with where you've set it now).

 

[IPT]

last 2 look real good

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

I'm sorry about all of the spelling and grammatical errors above. I am just reading it for the first time, wincing and shaking my head in disgust all the way.
Your second round of images have greatly improved! I am sad to see your coral bleached in such detail but hey, the detail is there.

Shooting Modes:
I would stick with A. Aperture priority is a very useful mode which will take you far in photography. Stay away from P (more or less automatic mode) unless you are feeling lazy and want to watch Shamu do back flips with your own eyes more than you want to worry about which settings might capture those flips better than any others.

If you are taking a picture of your reef, chances are quality counts. Otherwise you would have never made this thread.

Exposure is comprised of three elements.
Aperture
Shutter Speed
ISO

Light hits your camera's sensor and the metering mode you select decides when everything looks bright enough to make an acceptable picture. Think of the amount of light the camera needs as the number 10. The shutter button is hit, and when you count to 10 the camera finishes taking the picture. How much light is entering the camera determines how fast you can count. In a candle lit church during a wedding, you have to count very slowly. At the outdoor beach reception that afternoon, the bright sun light makes you count very quickly.

10 was just an analogy. You are actually counting with Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO.
Each one is broken into "stops". A stop of one is equal to a stop of another in terms of amount of light gained/lost.
I want you to put your camera in P mode. No seriously, stop reading this and get your camera. I'll wait here patiently.
Okay place your camera on the computer desk where it won't move around much, and point it in the general direction of the computer screen. When you activate the metering system (probably by pushing the shutter button half way down) you will see a series of numbers.
Something like 1/125 f/4 100
These are your shutter speed, aperture, and ISO respectively. You can tell by how they are written. Since your camera is in P mode, you can turn a knob, flick a switch, push a button, or do something that will scramble the numbers. I don't know what to press on your specific camera to make this happen but it is the whole point of P and you need to understand what is going on.

Remember Stops? Well here they are from most light to least light:
Aperture:...f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/11, f/16, f/32
Shutter Speed:...2 seconds, 1 second, 1/2 of a second, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000...
ISO: 1600, 800, 400, 200,100, 50

Your camera probably measures in half stops or 1/3 stops. This is just to help fine tune your decisions. You should memorize these numbers. You don't have to do it now and you don't have to be able to recite them. I just want you to recognize that 1/60 is one stop slower in shutter speed than 1/125 without having to look it up. That shouldn't be too hard right? I mean each stop is double the stop before it...and if you are measuring seconds that shouldn't be too hard. This is true.
What about Aperture? f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6 that isn't doubling at all. Shutter speed measures the amount of time the picture is literally being taken. ISO measures how sensitive to light your camera is (does it amplify the light). Aperture measures how big around your lens is. You are measuring the circumference of a circle compared to the focal length of the lens. Instead of multiples of 2, aperture uses the square root of 2. The square root of 2 is 1.41421356, and 2.8 x1.41421356=4 x1.41421356=5.6 and so on.

So you have your camera set to P. You see what your shutter speed, ISO, and aperture are set to. Lets pretend 1/125 f/4 100 since I'm not literally standing over your shoulder. I want you to write down the actual reading.
Turn your knob or push your button to scramble the numbers. What do they change to? Your ISO is set independently of P, so it will stay the same. Your shutter speed and aperture should both change however. One will go up a stop and one will go down a stop. The amount of light your meter sees as sufficient hasn't changed. If you change the aperture to f/2.8 (the lens gets wider), more light will come in. If you take the picture for the same amount of time everything will be too bright. To counter the wider opening letting more light in, the shutter speed will increase to 1/250.

Lets look at some possible combinations:
Shutter, Aperture, ISO
1/125 f/4 100
1/60 f/4 50
1/250 f/4 200
1/500 f/2.8 200
1/1000 f/2.8 400
1/60 f/16 400
1/125 f/5.6 200
Everything must balance. If you want to add to one of them, you must subtract an even amount from one or both of the other two. Understanding this is the first step to mastering photography. Its more importiant than knowing what they actually do. Like the karate kid, wax on wax off. Paint house, paint fence. Before you even realize you know karate, you can instinctively block roundhouse kicks.

Now why did I tell you to stick with A and not P?
A controls your aperture. The wider the aperture (more light), the smaller your Depth Of Field (DOF). DOF is the width of your focus channel. It determines if the background is blurry or crisp. This is obviously importiant.
What if you want the fastest possible shutter speed? You should use S for shutter speed priority right? Wrong, use A.
To get the highest possible shutter speed (darker), you need to use your widest possible aperture (brighter) to balance it out right? Your widest possible aperture is f/2.8, so pick f/2.8 in A and you automatically get your fastest shutter speed. You can bump the ISO speed up for even more.

The only time S would make sense is if you want a very specific shutter speed...but in that case I would use M mode anyway. So I never use S, I only use P when I am lazy or much more realistically a photography ignorant friend who I trust very much is holding my very expensive camera so I let the camera do the work for them, I use A a lot, and I use M a lot. You'll figure out when to use one over the other when the time comes. Until then I suggest you just stick with A.

Perfecting your white balance is going to be annoying because you can't shoot RAW. Do you have Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or some other advanced image editing program? Even in old one will work. My version is a dinosaur. I vow to buy CS4 though! haha
Anyway I think I have written enough for tonight and we will work on white balance (blueness) another day.
If you are anxious and want to research ahead, the method we will likely use entails your, "White Bal Preset - White object used as reference to set WB". Google is your friend, there all all sorts of explanations I am sure. Coffee filters...special white black and grey cards, or whatever. It's not a terribly accurate nor enjoyable way of doing it, but this is one of the areas your older technology is really going to hold you back.

 

[SlavicSavage]

Instead of increasing your shutter speed or ISO, which will eventually make your pictures too dark or grainy, I would suggest purchasing a tripod. It makes taking pictures of fish tanks infinitely easier due to the light levels involved, and that will give you the clearest possible pictures because you can keep the camera perfectly still.

 

[Orr2003]

Thanks everyone for the compliments.

TitusvileSurfer
And a big thanks to you. You have definately went above and beyond my expectations with the help you have given. I really do appreciate it.

I just got home from work 7a.m.- 7p.m. this week so I wont have much time to mess with taking pics this week. But I will try to find some time to read a little more.

I do have the trial Lightroom 2.3 for 30 days. I used Irfanview to resize and convert my pics. I dont have a clue how to use the Lightroom though.

Until next time
Scott

 

[toddy boy]

Cool pics... =)

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

Lightroom should would just fine. When I suggested you shoot TIFF above, that was specifically to give you an easier time in lightroom. TIFF images for one are lossess. They make good master files to save on your computer. When you want to post an image on Reef Central, simply save the TIFF as a JPEG and then delete the JPEG. Its sort of like half way between RAW and JPEG. RAW is boss though. In a RAW image, no image information is changed or discarded. For instance in white balance on your camera you can choose between custom, cloudy, sunlight, florescent light, toungston light, ect. ect. If you shot in JPEG the camera would use the one you selected and delete the other combinations. Then the camera edits some other stuff, sharpens the image for you, and you get your final result all done when you load it onto a computer. Well with a RAW file, it saves every possible combination of while balance so you can take your time and select the very best one. This leads to very large files on your memory card...but a 4 gig card cost me less than $20 so does it really matter that much? In JPEG mode the camera starts with a RAW file, edits it for you, and converts it to JPEG in 1/10 of a second or so. I mean come on it doesn't even know what you are taking a picture of. With a RAW file you go in with your superior human brain and do everything yourself to your own liking. JPEG is convenient if you don't really care about the image, but if you are making a photograph do it yourself almost *always* should produce higher quality results.
With all of the origional excess image information intact, you basically have an ice sculpture. When you take the picture, that is like using a chain saw to carve the basic shape of the sculpture. Then you go into Lightroom and/or Photoshop with the tiny chisels to carve a masterpiece.
I would spend several hours a day for the next 30 days explaining all of the things you can do and not cover any of it. Heck I've been using Photoshop for years (an outdated version at that) and I still learn new things from time to time.

I'll go over some of the very basics though:
White balance is a balance between blue and red. Under the "basic" menue you should see an eye dropper with a couple of sliders.
The most importiant slider is called "Temp" which stands for Color Temperature. It doesn't take a genius like Kanye West (fishsticks) to figure out that blue is a cold color temperature and red is a warm color temperature. If the picture is too blue, move the slider to the red side. If the picture is too warm, move the slider to the left and cool it down a little bit.
The other bang up tool is the eyedropper itself. Click on the dropper and experiment. You should see a box in the upper left which previews the change as you scroll over. You are ideally looking for true gray. As you scroll around the screen you should see some percentage values like "R: 54% G:57.5% B:53.5%". On a very basic level, try and get these numbers as close together as possible. I would use the eyedropper first, then you can use the temperature scale to change what you get. TIFF isn't quite RAW but it is better than JPEG and you should get better results in Lightroom if you use it. If you have no intention of editing your images, just shoot JPEG. Why anyone who is trying to take a stunning photograph lets their camera do all of the fine chiseling is beyond me though.