LED photos are EXTREMLY grainy,need advice

KLR · Aug 12, 2011

I have gotten use to take pictures of things in my tanks under daylight lighting but I just added blue leds to my tank and I am having trouble with the pics coming out WAY to grainy,and the color is not exactly how I like.

1st What should I set my custom white balance with? Paper,plate,frag disk?
2nd Where should I hold the object im setting my WB with at?
3rd What should my ISO,Aperature,and shutter be set at(As a starting point)

My pics are grainy because I have to set the ISO really high just to get enough light in my shots to make the corals show up....
The pics below were taken with
ISO-2000-4000(Changing according to position in tank)
Aperature-11(Probably to high, now that I think about it,I had it higher from long exposure pictures earlier in the night)
Shutter-1/50(Because I needed the pics to be lighter)

Give me any suggestions you may have!

I do not care if these pics are out of focus,I did not take them with a macro lens, I just want to fix the grainy/light and color issues im having.

Here they are,I did process them some so the pictures were brighter(I shoot in RAW).

Thanks!

Viva'sReef · Aug 12, 2011

Are you using a Tripod? What about lowering the ISO to 200 and slowing down the shutter speed to 2s or slower?

KLR · Aug 12, 2011

Not on those exact pictures. That is why I didnt set my shutter slower. Does that effect the noise though?

soccerbag · Aug 12, 2011

Kelby, I would invest in a good tripod my friend. It is one the most important pieces of reef photography. And as much as you like taking pics of your corals, you will be glad to have it. If you already have one, I would start using it on any closeup shots / macro shots. It can help to solve many problems!

Luisra · Aug 12, 2011

You need to use a tripod or a table with books, etc... and the camera timer. I don't use RAW, its to complicated for me.

KLR · Aug 12, 2011

I do have a tripod,I will go retake some pics now,the leds are still on,and then we can go from there...

soccerbag · Aug 12, 2011

Luisra makes a great point as well - and something I forgot to bring up. Either using the 7D's timer feature or a remote shutter release will make things even better.

secretreefer · Aug 12, 2011

yup i found using a tripod and a 2 second delay timer worked great for me.

KLR · Aug 12, 2011

Ok I just took pics with the tripod and lower shutter. They look better,but the color is still a little off...I guess that just takes some more practice!

Uploading now.

secretreefer · Aug 12, 2011

lol. bro practice makes perfect!

mixer911 · Aug 12, 2011

The high ISO will make them grainy. To compensate you need a better lens that has a lower F stop. This will allow you to open the aperture more to allow more light in. hope this helps.

clowns101 · Aug 12, 2011

mixer911 said:
The high ISO will make them grainy. To compensate you need a better lens that has a lower F stop. This will allow you to open the aperture more to allow more light in. hope this helps.

I think as long as he can get it down to around 5.6 ish it work IMHO.

KLR · Aug 12, 2011

Ok the grainy is gone but the corals still look like paydough,sometimes. What can I do to fix that?

Here are the new ones

Acro76 · Aug 13, 2011

Turn all pumps off
Turn off lights in the room, except for the aquarium.
Tripod
remote shutter/release - I think you have the 7d so get the canon remote w/cable, pricey but you can do a shutter lock with it, which kills any vibration that could blur the photo.
ISO 100
f2.8-14 every lens has a sweet spot, and it also depends on the effect you want and amount of coral that is perpendicular to the camera lens.
shoot in raw and use software to correct the white balance to what your eyes are seeing (CS4, lightroom, picasa, loads of freeware out there)

AquaWorldPSC · Aug 13, 2011

I am assuming you are shooting through the glass with room lights on? That will make your corals look like playdough IME. I shoot with all top down shots with a custom made porthole like the AVAST one with Acrylic lens on the end of it, you can't beat the clarity. I have tried numerous times trying to shoot through Starphire glass with store lights on using different settings, angles, etc and, it just doesn't ever yield any usable pictures. Please try the TOP DOWN method and get an Avast porthole or hit me up.

I shoot between 100-300 ISO, with WB set at 10000 Kevlin.

I also sometimes adjust the ReefTechs to a more 14k look, if not it is usually a 22k look. It will be better if you can adjust your LEDs to be whiter while shooting, it makes a big difference.

I use a Cannon 50D all freehand no tripod. All my Lens have "Image Stabilizer" though

Here's some pics under LEDs using top down method.

If you do want to shoot through the glass you MUST turn off all other lights.

Regular Aqua lights No other lights on

ReefTechs/Starphire glass with overhead store lights on

Let me know how it works,
Jeff

Myteemouse · Aug 13, 2011

Acro76 said:
Turn all pumps off
Turn off lights in the room, except for the aquarium.
Tripod
remote shutter/release - I think you have the 7d so get the canon remote w/cable, pricey but you can do a shutter lock with it, which kills any vibration that could blur the photo.
ISO 100
f2.8-14 every lens has a sweet spot, and it also depends on the effect you want and amount of coral that is perpendicular to the camera lens.
shoot in raw and use software to correct the white balance to what your eyes are seeing (CS4, lightroom, picasa, loads of freeware out there)

+++100,000

kuyatwo · Aug 13, 2011

Couple things I will chime in to

Try to always shoot level with the subject if shooting through the glass.

If you can not get a remote you can always use a the timer function.

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