I am having some difficulties taking some macro shots of my coral top down. I use d5300 and sigma 105mm macro. I also use a top down port hole. Generally a low ISO and wide aperture in aperture priority mode. I turn my kessil brighter and more white manually and the photos seem to come out blue still. My photos seem to lack sharpness and clarity. The camera tends to register not enough light or too much light based upon the intensity of my kessil. I am able to post process, but I am not liking the finished product. I could post some photos later tonight, was wondering if anyone could offer some advice.
Macro top down advice under kessil
- Thread starter ahammer
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I'm a newbie too in photography and reefing. But Maybe I could help? lol! Did you try to do manual mode? Try to play around with the manual mode setting. I haven't tried tried top down photos, just on the side/front of the tank. Taking photo is different-with the tank lighting, water
and the tank glass.[emoji51]
Some macro shots (uploaded directly to my iPhone with no photoshop needed-just the exposure adjustment using the iPhone):
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ChuzUThisDay
Active Member
Awesome pics!!! We haven't had our sbreeflights that long, but the blues over power our D3100. What settings are you using and are you using a filter of any kind?
I'm a newbie too in photography and reefing. But Maybe I could help? lol! Did you try to do manual mode? Try to play around with the manual mode setting. I haven't tried tried top down photos, just on the side/front of the tank. Taking photo is different-with the tank lighting, water
and the tank glass.[emoji51]
Some macro shots (uploaded directly to my iPhone with no photoshop needed-just the exposure adjustment using the iPhone):
Great shots you got there I'll give manual mode a go. I believe I'm facing issues with lighting I am getting quick easy detailed photos out of the water with items such as a penny and other small items.
ZJedi945
Active Member
Yeah manual mode for sure! Low ISO, mine is usually around 100-300 max. aperture is around 7-11. Biggest thing I noticed is its out of focus, so you might be a tad too close. Also if you set your W/B using an image of white or gray under those lights you will see an improvement.
ChuzUThisDay
Active Member
Great advice, thanks. I'll see what my pictures do later this evening following this advice.
BigJim
Well-Known Member
You will definitely get the best shots using manual mode. Are you using a tripod? If not, the soft focus is probably caused by movement of your hand. A faster shutter speed will help that. Aperture priority mode likely sets a slower shutter speed to compensate for the lighting. I have a D7000 and usually set my shutter speed at 1/200 sec, ISO at 800 and f stop at f/9. The photos will be very dark, but you can easily fix that in Lightroom or Photoshop. I took the photo below with those settings using and Avast portal under Kessils and T5s.
Steve Ruddy
Active Member
The color balance can be fixed in post as your not to far off what your shooting for. The focus issue could be as someone mention about being to close. Look at your lens minimum focus distance and see if your meeting it. Also make sure your lens and your viewer/porthole are parallel to each other. My settings for a shot like you posted would be. Manual mode and focus/Raw/auto WB /iso 100/F16 I would also be using a tripod shutter trigger and live view or tethered to see my focus point magnified for adjusting.
BigJim
Well-Known Member
I think the X factor here is whether you are shooting free hand or using a tripod. When I use a tripod and timer, I use aperture priority and a low ISO. My hand is not steady enough to use those settings when I shoot free hand. I have to manually set a faster shutter speed and higher ISO to avoid blurry images. I get more noise in the photos, but they are in focus. Also, youtube is a great resource if you need to figure out how to change the settings on your camera.
Shoot underexpose just a tad you can bump up exposure in post. Shot thru a gel filter using the flourecent tube as wb and color corrected in post with some contrast and saturation and wb tweak just a tad. I had my blues on at 100% kessils 360 shutter around 160 to 200 where the coral is in the tank with f stop about 5.6-8
