Aquarium Pics From Different
- Thread starter PeterC99
- Start date
- Tagged users None
o2manyfish
Valuable Member
Your photos look like you are focusing on getting good shots of the individual corals themselves.
For the best shots you would want to use a camera with a macro lens on a tripod with a remote shutter release.
With that setup you can get detailed photos down to the polyp level
Some of the cellphones these days will let you get pretty detailed shots -
For either type of shooting to get the colors out of the coral you are going to want to get a yellow or orange filter for the camera lens and learn how to use White Balance correction on either the phone, camera, or a post processor (ie; Photoshop, Lightroom).
You're going to want to really be calm and relaxed to keep your hand as steady as possible. When you get serious with a macro lens you realize that even you pushing the shutter on a camera mounted on a tripod leaves enough vibration to take some sharpness out of the photo.
And always shoot straight into the tank. Whether acrylic or glass shooting at an angle to the front pane other than 90 deg (straight thru the glass) is going to make the properties of the tank affect how the light travels and the focus you can get in your photo. The bigger the tank, the thicker the panel, the harder it is to take really close up photos because you are shooting thru so much material.
Turn your pumps off. If you are trying to show polyps on the coral then the movement of the polyp on the coral will cause the photo to look blurry.
If you have LEDS's then you might want to add more white light. I know your colors look the 'best' under blues. But blue light is dimmer light. The less light available the harder for the camera (on any device) to capture light and make a nice sharp clear photo. The more light you add to the tank, the better your chance is of getting super sharp shots.
Realize where your camera or cell phone is focusing - Especially when doing real close up/macro shots - What appears in the view finder is not always what ends up in the photo. The depth of field in a macro shot is really small. Focusing on 'the' colony isn't good enough. You have to find the center of the frame - which will be in perfect focus - and realize the center of the frame is going to be your usable shot.
If you shoot a colony and the branch in the middle of the frame is farther back (even a 1/2") then the branches around it, the device is going to want to focus on the closer branches, or bigger branches, and then the branch in the middle - which you wanted to shoot - turns out blurry.
There is both art and science to this. And if you want to be serious about macro photography then you want to have the right equipment- even if borrowed.
When I get into my Macro moods I will shoot maybe 40-50 photos of a coral to get that one 'almost-perfect' shot. And that's using a top end camera, dedicated high end macro lens, weighted tri-pod, filters, and remote shutter release.
Dave B
For the best shots you would want to use a camera with a macro lens on a tripod with a remote shutter release.
With that setup you can get detailed photos down to the polyp level
Some of the cellphones these days will let you get pretty detailed shots -
For either type of shooting to get the colors out of the coral you are going to want to get a yellow or orange filter for the camera lens and learn how to use White Balance correction on either the phone, camera, or a post processor (ie; Photoshop, Lightroom).
You're going to want to really be calm and relaxed to keep your hand as steady as possible. When you get serious with a macro lens you realize that even you pushing the shutter on a camera mounted on a tripod leaves enough vibration to take some sharpness out of the photo.
And always shoot straight into the tank. Whether acrylic or glass shooting at an angle to the front pane other than 90 deg (straight thru the glass) is going to make the properties of the tank affect how the light travels and the focus you can get in your photo. The bigger the tank, the thicker the panel, the harder it is to take really close up photos because you are shooting thru so much material.
Turn your pumps off. If you are trying to show polyps on the coral then the movement of the polyp on the coral will cause the photo to look blurry.
If you have LEDS's then you might want to add more white light. I know your colors look the 'best' under blues. But blue light is dimmer light. The less light available the harder for the camera (on any device) to capture light and make a nice sharp clear photo. The more light you add to the tank, the better your chance is of getting super sharp shots.
Realize where your camera or cell phone is focusing - Especially when doing real close up/macro shots - What appears in the view finder is not always what ends up in the photo. The depth of field in a macro shot is really small. Focusing on 'the' colony isn't good enough. You have to find the center of the frame - which will be in perfect focus - and realize the center of the frame is going to be your usable shot.
If you shoot a colony and the branch in the middle of the frame is farther back (even a 1/2") then the branches around it, the device is going to want to focus on the closer branches, or bigger branches, and then the branch in the middle - which you wanted to shoot - turns out blurry.
There is both art and science to this. And if you want to be serious about macro photography then you want to have the right equipment- even if borrowed.
When I get into my Macro moods I will shoot maybe 40-50 photos of a coral to get that one 'almost-perfect' shot. And that's using a top end camera, dedicated high end macro lens, weighted tri-pod, filters, and remote shutter release.
Dave B
