Sherita Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Since somebody here on ARC got a new camera (Planeden). I thought I'd throw up some pics as inspiration. Ok, your turn........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Lol. The gauntlet has been thrown. Great pics sherita. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Lol. The gauntlet has been thrown. Great pics sherita. I don't throw gauntlets, that's not ladylike. (crap, that was hard to say with a straight face, LOL). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Ms. Sheirta, I usually turn my cameras to a lower quality setting to reduce the file size. Saves me from needing to go back and shrink them before use. Do you think it loses too much quality to be worth it? Also, what format do you snap them in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Lol. The gauntlet has been thrown. Great pics sherita.I don't throw gauntlets, that's not ladylike. (crap, that was hard to say with a straight face, LOL). Sure, and kicking them makes them go farther . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 I shoot in the highest quality jpeg setting, the post process in photoshop cs4. That's a bit pricey for most folks, but GIMP is a good photo editing software. Reducing file size will reduce quality. Regarding the gauntlet thing..........I try to not let my mouth write checks that my body can no longer cash, LOL. I'm not what I was 20 years ago, we should all be thankful for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizzy Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 This post is all sorts of win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Folks, don't forget to click on the pics to embiggen. Elizzy, glad you are getting some entertainment value out of it Ya gotta take what ya can get around here, it can be a tough crowd, LOL. I figured for sure that JeeperTy the stix guy would chime in on that Purple Nana. I guess the awesomeness just rendered him speechless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogdan Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 What is this "green hedgehog" species? Haven't seen that one yet. They all look fantastic BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 What is this "green hedgehog" species? Haven't seen that one yet. They all look fantastic BTW. LOL, apt description! It's a toadstool. I got it from Woods. I think it's awesome, it reminds me of those Koosh balls that we had when I was a kid. Wonder if those things are still around............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Thanks for posting the pics Sherita. Now to be fair to see if Planeden can take decent pictures you should give him all those frags and we'll see if he can take the same quality pictures as you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Thanks for posting the pics Sherita. Now to be fair to see if Planeden can take decent pictures you should give him all those frags and we'll see if he can take the same quality pictures as you. Hardeeharhar There's one in every crowd (or several in the case of ARC) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 don't worry. i wouldn't know what to do with those frags any more than i know what to do with the camera. well, maybe the hedgehog. i started reading through the manual last night to figure out stuff. but all i really figured out was how to adjust things i know nothing about . it'll be auto-modes for me for a while. i may play with some of the different "scenes" to see if reefs are more like kid's portraits, pet portraits, or sporting events. also, i figured out that i do not have the variety of corals and fish to take pictures of as my esteemed colleague here. so, as i post learning shots you will see a lot of the same things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 don't worry. i wouldn't know what to do with those frags any more than i know what to do with the camera. well, maybe the hedgehog. i started reading through the manual last night to figure out stuff. but all i really figured out was how to adjust things i know nothing about . it'll be auto-modes for me for a while. i may play with some of the different "scenes" to see if reefs are more like kid's portraits, pet portraits, or sporting events. also, i figured out that i do not have the variety of corals and fish to take pictures of as my esteemed colleague here. so, as i post learning shots you will see a lot of the same things. You will do fine. When I bought mine, all I knew was how to turn it on. That was IT. I pushed buttons and flipped switches, took lots of photos, asked for help, and did a lot of studying. Right now, the main thing you need to figure out is white balance and exposure. Then work down from there. The macro photos that I take required a lot of practice after I learned how to operate the camera. AND, there are still things on the camera that I have not got a clue about. But, I figure since I'm happy with my pictures, I don't need to know what those things are. Bring on the pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 ok, here we go. all of these were taken with the auto stting, flash off. i have been mixing up autofocus and manual focus. i'm not sure which is which. any critiques are appreciated. first world problem: with taking so many pictures i'm having to scrape my glass every three days or so. 2-10-14 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 2-11-14 7. 8. i have been trying to get a good picture of the little crab in the nem for a while. from several angles. as you can see, no luck yet. autofocus tries the foreground things usually and manual focus, well...yeah. 9. 10. 11. also been trying to get a good picture of him for a while so i can ask if it looks happy and healthy. one of two SPS. it'll probably be better to turn off the pumps and take it from above, but then i get reflection from the lights. 12. see, this angle bad, too. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Ok, first things first. Your firefish photos are quite nice. I've never had much luck with fish picture taking, so I'm glad to see someone getting the knack of it. First rule of thumb, when taking pictures, clean your glass the day before. It lets all the "stuff" settle out of the water column. Clean your sandbed too, might be something interesting on there to take a pic of. When taking photos of "wavy" stuffs....duncans, torches, etc, turn your pumps off. You will still get the illusion of movement, without the blur Figure out how to adjust your white balance, and learn how to do a custom white balance. That will help you get rid of the windex blue. Brace your hand or camera against something, to help with the jitters. We all shake a little bit. If your lens has a hood, rest that against the glass. If not, extend the pinkie of your lens holding hand, and use it against the glass to help stabilize. Get a top down photo box, or photo barrel (I use the barrel, I can bring it next time I come down, so you can check it out). The photo barrel is the true secret to some of those really crisp up close shots that I take. Practice, practice, practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Thanks sherita. So far I've found fish easier than corals. Well, except morticia, the black clown, and the royal gramma. Their darker colors just don't seem to pop like the orange clown chromis, and firefish. I have to look up white balance and get back to you on that. Like I said, these have all been using auto settings. I have not done any sort of post processing, either. Wait, I'm supposed to be holding the lens . I like the hood idea. I'll try that if I can figure out how to put it on. Clean the glass AND the sand bed. Man, all this work. I'm taking pictures everyday, so some will be the day after the cleaning . But that's part of the practice. Right now I'm just practicing focus, I suppose. I don't know how to do anything else . It sounds like white balance is the first thing to learn. Or next thing since I'm still working on focus. Problem is, things that look to be crisp in the viewfinder aren't on the computer. It's confusing. Aquadome has a "photo box" on the nem tank. So I think I know what you're talking about. The principle at least. I guess that will also take care of the light reflection problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Let the camera deal with focus as much as possible. It's reaction times will be much faster than anything a human can do. Once you get a handle on your white balance and depth of field, you will find that things start becoming much clearer and sharper. The windex blue look makes things look "fuzzy" even when they are not. I'll try to help when I can, but I'm a Canon gal. In the end, it might be worth your time to reach out here on the forums. We have several folks who take fantastic photos. Someone is bound to be shooting with a Nikon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 ok, so i found a cool sight that explained some things and even went through my camera and explained what settings he used. so i played with a few things. these are fun pictures, but not exactly the true to life bit i should probably go for. also, it seems that the white balance i ws going for (reducing blue, right?) got canceled out by the "vivid" supersaturated sharp setting. 1. 2. 3. knockoff streakable windex... 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 It's actually looking much better. How are you setting the white balance? Manually, or with a color card? On another note, you need to move that bubble coral down, and into lower flow. He's one mad dude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Thanks sherita, For white balance I used a camera setting "auto +6 amber" or something. The camera can skew "auto" 6 clicks towards/away blue and 6 clicks towards/away green. The color is "vivid" +3 saturation and either 0 or +5 sharpness. I'm sure these are camera specific (or at least brand), but I was just using settings suggested by Ken rockwell at http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d5000/users-guide/index.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter. His site has a lot of information I was reading, then found his page for my camera. As for the bubble, he has just been getting more and more unhappy since i got him. I think the flow there is a bit low because it is blocked by a rock. But I'm just not sure what to do to make him happy. But it opened up more yesterday when I moved him there than he was earlier in the day. I won't leave him there long unless he perks up today. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherita Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Those settings are camera specific, so I can't help there. My Canon has the option to take a photo of a color balance card and use that to set a custom white balance. Your camera will have that ability as well, you just have to figure out the where and the how. Keep at it, you are gaining by leaps and bounds already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Thanks Sherita. I do have that option. I put a white paper on the tank under the lights and he camera said WTF. my problem is I played with all the WB auto settings and they all look basically the same to me . So, I guess I will depend on the camera for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Ok, still practicing. I found in my treat bag i have macro filters, or lenses, or something. they screw on the front of my regular lens. I think these first ones are with 10X, but sometimes i have to zoom out so far to get a focus that i don't think the 10X helps as much. I think these are with 4X. it seems better because i don't have to play with the zooms so much to get to the bottom of the tank. My fish are so social they get in the way of so many of my shots they follow me from one end to the other like "hey! you should be looking at ME!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 The frogspawn picture came out great! I have one of those screw on 10x lenses. I have fond I almost need to be right at the aquarium glass to use it, and the subject has to be pretty close. And the fish will only be in the way until you try taking actual pictures of them..then they will hide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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