Top Down LPS shots, need to find a better tripod

[PedroYoung]

If anyone has a better way to shoot top down in a full tank (not frag tank) other than using 2 legs of a standard tripod please let me know. There's always some swish back and forth that causes the lens to move (in Avast Porthole) which makes the shots blurry. Some look like a painting more than a photo, but here they are. These are all @WWC corals except the Acan Echinata which is @jfox .

WWC Oblivion (with a little Area 51 in the corner)
Oblivion-2 by Peter Young, on Flickr

WWC Rainbow Rim Chalice
rainbow rim-3 by Peter Young, on Flickr

WWC Nacho Cheese Chalice
Nacho Cheese by Peter Young, on Flickr

WWC Ultimate Bowerbanki (from Victor's private collection)
WWC Bower by Peter Young, on Flickr

Jason Fox Rainbow Acan Echinata
rainbow echinata top-2 by Peter Young, on Flickr

WWC Maui Sunset Chalice (my current fav)
maui topdown by Peter Young, on Flickr

Thanks for looking

 

[BigJim]

I shoot my top down shots free hand. It's just a matter of getting the settings right. You will need to use a faster shutter speed. The slowest shutter speed where I can get a clear shot is 1/320. I have to lower my f stop to 9 or 10 and set my ISO to at least 500 to get enough light in the shot. I still have to bump up the exposure in Photoshop to get the picture bright enough. It might look really dark if you preview it on the camera , but you should be able to brighten it up enough.

 

[PedroYoung]

Thanks, I will play around with lower f stop and shutter speed.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

if you are in the market for another tripod, the legs on my bogen tripod fold all the way out, then you could effectively straddle the tip of the aquarium with the legs.

 

[PedroYoung]

if you are in the market for another tripod, the legs on my bogen tripod fold all the way out, then you could effectively straddle the tip of the aquarium with the legs.

Interesting, so the legs go "flat"or parallel with the ground? I see how that could work.......

 

[Velcro]

I'm in the second boat. I can get things still enough for macro photos free hand even with a non stabilized 100mm manual focus macro lens, but videos need extreme stabilization in post.

I'm looking into options. I do have a canopy so considering mounting something in there.

Need to look more into these videos to see what could work

 

[PedroYoung]

I shoot my top down shots free hand. It's just a matter of getting the settings right. You will need to use a faster shutter speed. The slowest shutter speed where I can get a clear shot is 1/320. I have to lower my f stop to 9 or 10 and set my ISO to at least 500 to get enough light in the shot. I still have to bump up the exposure in Photoshop to get the picture bright enough. It might look really dark if you preview it on the camera , but you should be able to brighten it up enough.

@BigJim I experimented with some lower F-stops (4.5-9 instead of the 18-24 I usually shoot from the front) and it did seems to help some.

poinsettia top down by Peter Young, on Flickr

avenger topdown-4 by Peter Young, on Flickr

area51 topdown by Peter Young, on Flickr

Maui-7 by Peter Young, on Flickr

maui topdown-2 by Peter Young, on Flickr