why over saturated pics

[Mrfresh]

So I am trying to take true non over saturated pics but they are just not coming out well...
Equipment:
Canon 5d mark ii
Macro lens 100mm 2.8f
Tank:
T5 light only 4 blues running

I went to settings and did a custom white balance.
(I learned how to do it off youtube. and it worked )
Shutter speed is 1/40
F 2.8
Iso 125

For me this is giving the best amount of light. What I mean by this is photos arent to dark or to bright.
The ISSUE example.
I have a nice size monti cap that is a nice solid orange. But when I take a photo it turns out really red why?
As I look at all my coral pics it really only seems to be the orange/red that are giving problems. How can a tone then down?

I will load pics once I delete some photos off photobucket And have some space.

 

[Mrfresh]

I had to take a pic of what my cameras to show what it looks like

What my phone to a pic of.

 

[joshporksandwich]

If you want to take non oversaturated pics don't use blues only white light. Or blue and white together and the you can remove blue with photoshop.

 

[mainereefer]

adjust the white balance then add the blue back in

 

[VividGreg]

I don't think you'll ever get really accurate colors with blue lights only. Our eyes can handle it but cameras not so much.

 

[Mrfresh]

I would like to stay away from photoshopping pics all together.
I really would like to do everything on the camera.

I have tried adjusting white balance,
What has worked best is to turn on all my lights 6blues 1 white and 1 Fiji pink
Take my white photo
Then set my custom white balance.
Turn off the 2bkues 1 white and Fiji pink.
Only 4 blues on now.
What this does is sets the camera to tone out 15k then when I turn the lights off and it looks 20k it will still leave a little blue. But not wash out all of the blue.

With all the playing around I have done the only color I have issues with is my reds/ oranges, they look super bright, other then that I can get everything else to look good. So if I post pics they will just have to deal with bright red in some of my pics. Atleast I can say my pics are as true as I can get, and I'm not just trying to make things look better then they really are.

 

[KoleTang]

Adobe Lightroom is a good, cheaper alternative.

Why did you take a picture of your camera display screen?

 

[Mrfresh]

My photo buck is full. And I cant load any more pics

 

[Reef Pets]

Reds and oranges seem to always over saturate when taking a photo. When this happens adjust the saturation into the negatives until it looks the same as in person. It's nearly impossible to take quality photos without using some sort of program. If the program is used properly the photo is not considered "photoshopped" unless you are altering the colors to the point it no longer looks like the coral does in person. Shooting in RAW format is the absolute best way because the cameras auto setting do not make adjustments in RAW format. But of course you would have to use a program such as photoshop to properly process the photo.

 

[Cichphreak]

Our eyes are able to adjust for the spectrum put out by the blues. Cameras, on the other hand, cannot adjust very well to the changes. I have 4 T5 bulbs as well on my fixture and have this problem when taking pictures. Most often you will see the camera bounce back and forth betwee a good shot and very blue. The way I have mine set up is 2 ATI Blue Plus and 2 ATI Coral Plus bulbs. This allows me to turn off the blue and get a good shot with the almost white bulbs. ( Theres a little red tint to the coral plus but not bad ) With 4 blue bulbs, you don't really have the option to get anything other than a blue tinted pic.

 

[jservedio]

First - take the UV filter off the front of your lens if you have one on it (you SHOULD! to protect that expensive glass) and second you need to use the PRE whitebalance setting and use a white or gray card. I usually put the card behind the tank and shoot through the entire water column. Your camera is only going to allow you to balance for so much blue so you aren't going to be getting anything over around 18-20k. If your tank is really big and the watercolum isn't feasible to shoot through, hold the white/gray card about 2 - 3 feet under the light and make sure it isn't reflecting too much or causing any shadows.

Note: you need a REAL white or 50% gray card - you can't just use printer paper or a note card - it won't work right. It needs to be optically correct and will always muck up your WB if it isn't.

You may also need to play around with your EV - you might need to turn it down a bit since the light meter isn't too great through glass.

Another note: go to your cameras advanced menu and look at photo saturation or vibrance or something (forget the name of hte menu), but most cameras crank up the saturation by default because it looks really good in daylight photos - turn that down to "normal" or "off" - I know my Nikon increased by saturation by default.

Good luck with the photos!

Edit: feel free to PM me if you are having trouble finding anything or want more information. You can also use a strobe (I usually put the strobe top-down and shoot through the glass) to add in a little more fill light and smooth out the harsh blues. If you do this, you HAVE to have a rubber hood to press against the glass or you will get crazy reflections.

 

[RichieT]

So I am trying to take true non over saturated pics but they are just not coming out well...
Equipment:
Canon 5d mark ii
Macro lens 100mm 2.8f
Tank:
T5 light only 4 blues running

I went to settings and did a custom white balance.
(I learned how to do it off youtube. and it worked )
Shutter speed is 1/40
F 2.8
Iso 125

For me this is giving the best amount of light. What I mean by this is photos arent to dark or to bright.
The ISSUE example.
I have a nice size monti cap that is a nice solid orange. But when I take a photo it turns out really red why?
As I look at all my coral pics it really only seems to be the orange/red that are giving problems. How can a tone then down?

I will load pics once I delete some photos off photobucket And have some space.

You have a Mark II. You should be able to bump up the iso quite a bit without any ill effects to the shots. By bumping it up to 200 or even 400 you give yourself some wiggle room with aperture and shutter speed. Open up that shutter to f8 or f10. This isn't going to help your saturation issue, but will make it a little easier to get crisper photos since you won't have such a narrow depth of field. You should be able to play around with the on camera white balance to knock out that saturation even with LEDs.

These are just a few examples of only on camera WB and absolutely no post processing. I'm using a Pentax DSLR so I don't know how the settings compare to the Mark II. I'm guessing you have a lot more flexibilty.


whites and blue

Blues only (while it may be a little over saturated, it's pretty close to what the eye sees)

 

[Cichphreak]

Those are outstanding colors! Great pics! I have GOT to get rid of my camera phone! lol. Been wanting a DSLR for a long time now..

 

[Zoanut]

Lots of good tips in here, lots of them! Ive learned a bit, and im not even OP! Thanks!

I know OP said he wanted to stay away from photoshop, but Lightroom can really make your pics look amazing without altering colors beyond what they should be. Its going to be my next purchase for camera gear.

 

[Mrfresh]

Its just my brother shot film a long time ago and he showed me when I was really young. And theres just something about knowing how to work you camera to do what u want.

Fandom info. The only color shooting I do is for my aquarium. Everything else I shoot is black and white.

 

[jservedio]

RichieT: I think White Balance is going to be key for him. At least on my Nikon, the highest Color Temperature for the Auto white balance is around 12k (the "Cloudy" setting). With that color temperature, everything complimentary to blue is going to be completely blown out with saturation. Good tips with upping the ISO to open up the aperature while still keeping a reasonable shutter. He could probably even go higher and still keep it sharp - even my lowly d40x doesn't start losing significant quality until around ISO 800.

The biggest help for him is going to be investing in a quality, optically correct white balance card set for $10 from any local camera shop. I had the same problems using Auto white balance shooting under my LEDs when they were set anything above 10-12k.

Also, to get great shots before you are able to correct your white balance properly, you can leave it on auto and just turn down the LEDs to 8K or 10K color temperature and you won't have saturation problems. Once you get your cards, you will be able to crank it up to 16k, 18k, or maybe even 20k if you camera will correct enough for the blue.

 

[Mrfresh]

Im running t5s on my tank not leds.
Ive applied what richiet said and shoots look good

 

[SeymourDuncan]

A trick I learned with my 2 channel reef breeder dimmable fixture was to turn off the blues for pics. The pics look like the tank does in person with all the lights. I use an iPhone. Here's how it looks on mine with blues and without.
With blues:

Only whites

The 2nd pic is what the coral looks like in person with all the lights. Strange. Lol. You would think iPhones were smarter than that


"Live like tomorrow already happened. Yesterday is only 3 days ahead. Today will be here soon." And a link to my tanks https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123851

 

[Dave3112]

Reds and oranges seem to always over saturate when taking a photo. When this happens adjust the saturation into the negatives until it looks the same as in person. It's nearly impossible to take quality photos without using some sort of program. If the program is used properly the photo is not considered "photoshopped" unless you are altering the colors to the point it no longer looks like the coral does in person. Shooting in RAW format is the absolute best way because the cameras auto setting do not make adjustments in RAW format. But of course you would have to use a program such as photoshop to properly process the photo.

^^^^this^^^^


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP on my iPhone while I am hiding from work!

 

[Dave3112]

The problem with a cameras internal or manual white balance in aquarium photography is the refraction of light. Even if you use a optical grey/white card you will have to use it to set the WB at each depth and distance you want to shoot. And then I found that the colors were not true to life. Plus it is a whole lot of work. It is much easier and less time consuming to shoot in RAW and use photoshop to balance it.


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP on my iPhone while I am hiding from work!