Took night time pics of some corals!
- Thread starter titoav15
- Start date
titoav15
New member
Thanks!
I am shooting with a tripod, it makes things A LOT more clearer for me. As for the lense, I am using Canon 28-135mm IS. I also have a 55-200mm that I should give a try soon!
Thanks!
If you have a moment, Try turning off the pumps and using aperture priority mode with F11 or something close and dropping the ISO to 100 (and possibly go back to to auto exposure). Set the focus and metering to a single pointm which should be 1/3rd of the way into the part of the coral you are focusing on. use the time delay feature (10 second or something like that) to take the picture. You will have shutter speeds in the 2-5 second range, color saturation and detail should improve. If the picture is too bright, slightly adjust exposure on the camera.
Do you have software to process raw images?
Brent Thomann
New member
Pretty good for actinic lights only.
You also can get better shots if you can shoot down through the top of the tank looking down at the corals. Its hard unless you have a shallower tank though.
You also can get better shots if you can shoot down through the top of the tank looking down at the corals. Its hard unless you have a shallower tank though.
titoav15
New member
Sorry for the delay, I turned the pumps off, dropped iso to 100, set to av mode with F13 or so (I forget), set the focus to center, when you say time delay feature, do you mean the 10 sec countdown? My shutter was more than 5 sec lol. Maybe we need to have a photo session because I am not photo savvy yet and sadly I probably don't know half of the features that my SLR offers. Anyway, I took it about 5 pics and this one was the best. I could not take more because my gf wanted to sleep.
As far as processing raw images goes, I have Digital Photo Professional that came with my 40D as well as Photoshop CS2 on my other computer but I am clueless in that department (little embarrassing, I know).
Sorry for the delay, I turned the pumps off, dropped iso to 100, set to av mode with F13 or so (I forget), set the focus to center, when you say time delay feature, do you mean the 10 sec countdown? My shutter was more than 5 sec lol. Maybe we need to have a photo session because I am not photo savvy yet and sadly I probably don't know half of the features that my SLR offers. Anyway, I took it about 5 pics and this one was the best. I could not take more because my gf wanted to sleep.
As far as processing raw images goes, I have Digital Photo Professional that came with my 40D as well as Photoshop CS2 on my other computer but I am clueless in that department (little embarrassing, I know).
Awesome, little by little
it takes practice and many failed attempts! I'm VERY new to photography, just passing along some things that help get some very clear sharp pictures.Looking at the picture your f-stop is still at 5.6. You are in the right mode (aperture priority) , see if you can adjust the f-stop (on my nikon its a rotary dial, not sure for your canon).
your exposure was 8 seconds which is pretty lengthy - what kind of lights do you have while shooting? move the iso up to 200 which will increase sensitivity and reduce shutter time. I like to shoot at 100, though if the tank lighting isn't very bright I'll go to 400, after that the quality starts to suffer, especially for cropping and zooming in.
looking at the picture you have good intensity, though a little bit of movement (could be the wake of a passing fish).
adjust the f-stop up to 11 or so and take another shot - keep using the tri-pod and make sure all the adjustments are tight.
with the timer, yes, I meant the countdown timer. Your hand on the camera is enough to distort the picture.
If the picture comes out over exposed (bright white areas), try adjusting the exposure to -1.
we'll cover the color correction after we get the shot nailed
Looking forward to some more pics!!!!!!!
titoav15
New member
Awesome, little by little
Looking at the picture your f-stop is still at 5.6. You are in the right mode (aperture priority) , see if you can adjust the f-stop (on my nikon its a rotary dial, not sure for your canon).
your exposure was 8 seconds which is pretty lengthy - what kind of lights do you have while shooting? move the iso up to 200 which will increase sensitivity and reduce shutter time. I like to shoot at 100, though if the tank lighting isn't very bright I'll go to 400, after that the quality starts to suffer, especially for cropping and zooming in.
looking at the picture you have good intensity, though a little bit of movement (could be the wake of a passing fish).
adjust the f-stop up to 11 or so and take another shot - keep using the tri-pod and make sure all the adjustments are tight.
with the timer, yes, I meant the countdown timer. Your hand on the camera is enough to distort the picture.
If the picture comes out over exposed (bright white areas), try adjusting the exposure to -1.
we'll cover the color correction after we get the shot nailed
Looking forward to some more pics!!!!!!!
Sounds good, I'm learning a ton here! I love photography, hence me getting 40D in 2008 when it came out. I am/was mainly shooting scenery with it. I am just wondering, when looking at the aperture setting it ranges from 3.5-22 and as the number increases the aperture shrinks. Now, should I try to set the aperture to 3.5 and get the most light I can into the lense under low light situations? I am shooting under current true lumens (I have 2 strips that have 4 leds per strip).
WOW - that boat shot is really nice! Taking good pictures is hard! I have my hands full learning about the reef tank, now the camera
relative to the aperture - as the f-stop (aperture) increases (decreasing the amount of light) the depth of field is increased - this means that you have more of the coral in focus front to back. This becomes VERY apparent in macro photography where the depth of field is VERY shallow. There is a lot of physics behind this with collimation of light which i don't claim to understand. what's important at the newbie level is that the larger f-stop has a greater depth of field. the compromise is that less light comes in which means you need a longer exposure time. The nice thing is that our cameras are smarter than us (at least me) - by selecting aperture priority mode you are letting the camera compensate for the decrease in light by allowing the camera to select the shutter time. I like to start at F11 and move from there - if it's a large piece like the last pic you shot you might need to go higher.
the 8 second shutter time - I was struggling with this for a bit - the cause is your lights. the true-lumens don't put out a lot of light, as such your (smart) camera is doing what it needs to in order to get enough "image" onto the senor. if you shoot with your regular lights on (T5 or halide) with the same setting you will notice the shutter time dramatically drop. You can keep shooting under the true-lumens (as I'm sure they look great!), just keep in mind that any movement during that 8 second period is recorded and will show as a blur.
You can compensate for this by increasing your ISO (sensitivity to light) - the higher number increases sensitivity which will decrease the shutter time. again the compromise - as the number goes up the picture gets grainy. I try to stick to 100 as the pictures are sharp, the colors rich, and zooming and cropping isn't an issue. If you go up, my experience is that 400 is the furthest you can go.
Try to keep shooting the same piece so you can plot your progress. IT might benefit to pic a piece closer to the glass that is smaller (say 2" round max) for learning.
stick with the 28-135mm for now, preferably the 18-70 kit lens if you have it (I believe that's the canon kit lens).
tripod!
aperture priority mode
F11
ISO 100-400
I have had to reduce my exposure a bit (adjustable on the camera) at times. I shoot under LEDs (reefbrite), these LEDs are super bright. I don't believe you will have the same issue, though only trial and error will tell!
give that a shot and post a picture!
My christmas present should be arriving (finally) tomorrow - 90mm Macro lens!!!!!!!!
titoav15
New member
WOW - that boat shot is really nice! Taking good pictures is hard! I have my hands full learning about the reef tank, now the camera
relative to the aperture - as the f-stop (aperture) increases (decreasing the amount of light) the depth of field is increased - this means that you have more of the coral in focus front to back. This becomes VERY apparent in macro photography where the depth of field is VERY shallow. There is a lot of physics behind this with collimation of light which i don't claim to understand. what's important at the newbie level is that the larger f-stop has a greater depth of field. the compromise is that less light comes in which means you need a longer exposure time. The nice thing is that our cameras are smarter than us (at least me) - by selecting aperture priority mode you are letting the camera compensate for the decrease in light by allowing the camera to select the shutter time. I like to start at F11 and move from there - if it's a large piece like the last pic you shot you might need to go higher.
the 8 second shutter time - I was struggling with this for a bit - the cause is your lights. the true-lumens don't put out a lot of light, as such your (smart) camera is doing what it needs to in order to get enough "image" onto the senor. if you shoot with your regular lights on (T5 or halide) with the same setting you will notice the shutter time dramatically drop. You can keep shooting under the true-lumens (as I'm sure they look great!), just keep in mind that any movement during that 8 second period is recorded and will show as a blur.
You can compensate for this by increasing your ISO (sensitivity to light) - the higher number increases sensitivity which will decrease the shutter time. again the compromise - as the number goes up the picture gets grainy. I try to stick to 100 as the pictures are sharp, the colors rich, and zooming and cropping isn't an issue. If you go up, my experience is that 400 is the furthest you can go.
Try to keep shooting the same piece so you can plot your progress. IT might benefit to pic a piece closer to the glass that is smaller (say 2" round max) for learning.
stick with the 28-135mm for now, preferably the 18-70 kit lens if you have it (I believe that's the canon kit lens).
tripod!
aperture priority mode
F11
ISO 100-400
I have had to reduce my exposure a bit (adjustable on the camera) at times. I shoot under LEDs (reefbrite), these LEDs are super bright. I don't believe you will have the same issue, though only trial and error will tell!
give that a shot and post a picture!
My christmas present should be arriving (finally) tomorrow - 90mm Macro lens!!!!!!!!
If you're not busy, I would love to see the hard pluming in your aquarium system (I want to see if its easy enough to upgrade to it sometime soon). I can also swing by with my camera and try to take some pictures under supervision lol. Let me know I'm home all day till 4:30.
Similar threads
