a couple of new pics...

Henry C · Apr 1, 2011

Just got my new led lights today..snapped a few pics :xd:....

Thanks for looking...and as always comments are welcome...:bigsmile:

soccerbag · Apr 1, 2011

Did you post process these? Just not sure what to think about the yellow bottom.....what am I seeing - is the tank barebottom or painted yellow?

Bubbles_B · Apr 1, 2011

+1 :neutral: lol nice stuff though

Henry C · Apr 1, 2011

the bottom is white sand..I took the pics and auto adjusted them and cropped them using windows photo gallery. didn't change anything else...

soccerbag · Apr 1, 2011

When you say "auto adjust" what do you mean exactly? It looks like the saturation was definitely turned way up as sand typically doesn't show up as yellow in pics. I'm not being critical. However, if you would like some tips to get more realistic colors of the corals AND sand, we are happy to help.

What auto adjustments did you make?

Henry C · Apr 1, 2011

I go to windows photo gallery hit the fix button and then it opens a menu and I only use the auto adjust button and then crop the pic if there are parts that are fuzzy or don't look right.. I'll go back in to it and undo the auto adjust and see what changes in the picture..

soccerbag · Apr 1, 2011

Yeah, I would be interested to see what the pics look like without the adjust. Tank lighting is not kind to cameras for sure! I think the auto adjust is just not sure what to do with the lighting that the LED's put off. Are you using a point & shoot? If so, does it have a custom white balance setting?

Henry C · Apr 1, 2011

yeah using a cannon powershot.. It has an auto white balance function, and then I shoot it in manual. I'll take some new pics and leave them raw and post them.. the colors of the corals are almost exact to what they look like with just the blues on. I'll take a few new ones and post them...

brahm · Apr 1, 2011

nuclear!

soccerbag · Apr 1, 2011

Have you set the custom white balance for your tank and, if so, how did you do it? There are a couple of good methods of doing that with a Canon PS and I'll be happy to help you with them if you would like. That way, you can get the natural look of the corals with the natural look of the sand as well. Just let me know and I'll walk you through it : )

_Alex_ · Apr 1, 2011

tagging along we just got a cannon PS sd1300IS not to long ago, and still tryng to figure it out

Henry C · Apr 1, 2011

I took some new pics. The sand is bluish/white. I set the auto white balance by using a white wall. The colors in the pics arent as bright as they are in the tank. I'll have to post later my wife is on my laptop and that's where the pics are.

Henry C · Apr 1, 2011

soccerbag said:
Have you set the custom white balance for your tank and, if so, how did you do it? There are a couple of good methods of doing that with a Canon PS and I'll be happy to help you with them if you would like. That way, you can get the natural look of the corals with the natural look of the sand as well. Just let me know and I'll walk you through it : )

Def interested in learning some different ways to take good pics....

soccerbag · Apr 1, 2011

Henry, when you say you set the white balance by taking a picture of a white wall, I am assuming that was outside of the tank? In order to properly set the white balance, you need to go into the white balance settings of your camera (see user guide) and set the white balance by taking a picture of something inside of your tank. Sometimes this can be done by taking a picture of the sand but you will need to ensure that the entire frame is white only (nothing in background, no rock, coral, etc). They also sell white cards that you can use for this. This will tell the camera what the color white "should be" when taking pics inside of the tank. This should help to balance out the other colors as well so that you can take a more balanced photo. With SLR cameras, most will shoot in RAW and adjust the white balance in post processing (with Photoshop type program). With a point & shoot, you don't have that option. So properly setting the white balance is key to ensure your pics aren't too washed out (or have that "glowing" look to them).

I am not a professional photographer by any means. I have learned what I know from reading a lot of the stickies on this forum and asking a lot of questions. I recommend you read any thread on here that gparr has started. He is a professional photographer (as well as a fellow mod here at R2R) and takes some of the best reef photos I've ever seen. He may chime in here as well as I'm sure there are more technical terms for the items I mentioned above. Once you are able to get the white balance set properly, your overall reef shots should look much more realistic. I hope this helps a bit.

Try some of these tips and post what you come up with photo wise. To give you an idea, if I take 100 pics of my tank, I'm typically happy with just a few of them. The key is to get your settings in order, take lots of pics, and have fun doing it! : )

Henry C · Apr 2, 2011

Thanks Craig, yeah it was a wall. i'll keep playing with the settings and keep taking pics until they come out right. like I mentioned earlier it took lots of pic taking to be able to get decent pics with the metal halides and t-5's now i gotta start over and learn different ways to take pics. The thing that gets me is that the colors are right its just anything thats white is off.....