Learning Coral Photography - My first success!

[BReefer13]

Hey all,

My wife has a Nikon D80 (I know its old), and I bought some macro lenses to try and learn photographing corals, started yesterday.
After much frustration and climbing the learning curve, I've achieved the result below. I wanted to know from the experts if there is room to improve or if you think its good enough?

P.S.: this photo has zero editing, is straight from the camera to this post.
Thank you!

 

[andrewey]

I'm not a pro (although I did own the D80, small world!), so I can't help you there, but as a lay reefer, that shot looks fantastic, especially for raw photo without post processing! Really good job!

 

[BReefer13]

I'm not a pro (although I did own the D80, small world!), so I can't help you there, but as a lay reefer, that shot looks fantastic, especially for raw photo without post processing! Really good job!

Thank you sir! It took me 6 hours to get to this point lol. So frustrating at first, but I am quite happy with the results so far, check below one of my first attempts lol:

 

[maroun.c]

Amazing shot especially with no post processing and with an older body that has less features to make it easier than the latest bodies.
I think technically u reached a great level. Room for improvement would be to play a bit with composition and maybe on preparing ur subject in cleaning the little algae and air bubble at the base which takes away from the beauty of the shot. Otherwise very little u can do really.

 

[trvsty]

whoa whoa what macro lenses are you using. i've been trying to take some good photos but i don't think i'm using the right lens for the job

 

[AZMSGT]

Amazing shot especially with no post processing and with an older body that has less features to make it easier than the latest bodies.
I think technically u reached a great level. Room for improvement would be to play a bit with composition and maybe on preparing ur subject in cleaning the little algae and air bubble at the base which takes away from the beauty of the shot. Otherwise very little u can do really.

I disagree, I think the bubbles add to it. They give that extra sparkle and interest to the shot.
OP, I think you nailed an excellent shot. The D80 was a great camera for it’s time. Nothing wrong with using it. The subject is ever so slightly out of focus when I zoom in. Did you shut off flow and how long was the shot?

 

[BReefer13]

whoa whoa what macro lenses are you using. i've been trying to take some good photos but i don't think i'm using the right lens for the job

I am actually using the cheapest I could find on Amazon, here's the name:

PM me if you need the link.

 

[BReefer13]

Amazing shot especially with no post processing and with an older body that has less features to make it easier than the latest bodies.
I think technically u reached a great level. Room for improvement would be to play a bit with composition and maybe on preparing ur subject in cleaning the little algae and air bubble at the base which takes away from the beauty of the shot. Otherwise very little u can do really.

Thank you for your feedback. I will work on taking cleaner images! Very encouraging!

 

[BReefer13]

I disagree, I think the bubbles add to it. They give that extra sparkle and interest to the shot.
OP, I think you nailed an excellent shot. The D80 was a great camera for it’s time. Nothing wrong with using it. The subject is ever so slightly out of focus when I zoom in. Did you shut off flow and how long was the shot?

I did shut off flow, the shot was about a second. Thanks for the compliments!