How to take a good digital photo
- Thread starter BillyZ
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
ReefLady
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I use the same camera as RR, and really don't have much at all to add to his excellent advice. The only thing that stuck out to me was this:
That's going to give you really grainy pics. I almost always shoot in ISO 100. If it's a really dark setting, I might bump it up to 200. If you don't have the brightest lights, compensate by adjusting the exposure (EV) if you can. Auto setting is 0, and can usually be bumped up and down by .3, .7, .1.0, etc.
HTH!
That's going to give you really grainy pics. I almost always shoot in ISO 100. If it's a really dark setting, I might bump it up to 200. If you don't have the brightest lights, compensate by adjusting the exposure (EV) if you can. Auto setting is 0, and can usually be bumped up and down by .3, .7, .1.0, etc.
HTH!
What's ISO?? I have Auto, 100, 200 and 400 on my Olympus C-740.....what should I put the camera at?
Also I can't figure out how to manually focus on my camera...
and I still don't understand the EV and aperature.
Shutter speed is basically moving object...make it faster....slower or still objects make it slower.....right?
Also I can't figure out how to manually focus on my camera...
and I still don't understand the EV and aperature.
Shutter speed is basically moving object...make it faster....slower or still objects make it slower.....right?
skys
Aquarium Advice Regular
Shutter speed..Good focus and good iso! 
cmor1701d
Aquarium Advice Addict
I think Kevin said in a prior post that he uses PhotoShop to 'process' his pics prior to posting.
OP
OP
BillyZ
Aquarium Advice Addict
Bonestock: Shutter Speed also can be affected by the amount of light. The less light you have the longer the shutter needs to stay open.
Here's something I gleaned from a Kodak web page:
Here's something I gleaned from a Kodak web page:
taking pics...
I have one small tip that can make a difference for some... clean the outside of the tank... If you want an example of what smudged glass looks like find the first pic I posted about the coconut shells. It was a terrible pic only because the glass had fingerprints from my little girl on it. It wasn't a digital photo but this situation would affect any camera out there. I was at walmart today and found a cheap camera. It's a concord something or other. It was marked down from 99 dollars to $85. That sounded good to me. 3.1mp. digital zoom not optical but I don't care... I had to pay another 23$ for a 128mb mem card but still, it'll work for me. My first pic with it is that coconut smiley....
the inside of the glass should be clean too but smudges on the outside aren't always so obvious.... hth
I have one small tip that can make a difference for some... clean the outside of the tank... If you want an example of what smudged glass looks like find the first pic I posted about the coconut shells. It was a terrible pic only because the glass had fingerprints from my little girl on it. It wasn't a digital photo but this situation would affect any camera out there. I was at walmart today and found a cheap camera. It's a concord something or other. It was marked down from 99 dollars to $85. That sounded good to me. 3.1mp. digital zoom not optical but I don't care... I had to pay another 23$ for a 128mb mem card but still, it'll work for me. My first pic with it is that coconut smiley....
the inside of the glass should be clean too but smudges on the outside aren't always so obvious.... hth
Tripoli
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Great thread here....
I'm stuck with a little Cannon PowerShot camera. :? It can take pics with a res up to 1600x1200, but I have very few options when it comes to changing the camera's settings. It does have a macro setting which helps a LOT, but I'd really like it if I could figure out how to change the shutter speed, etc. Most of my pics come out over exposed.
Any advice?
Too bad my nice Rebel is a film camera.
I'm stuck with a little Cannon PowerShot camera. :? It can take pics with a res up to 1600x1200, but I have very few options when it comes to changing the camera's settings. It does have a macro setting which helps a LOT, but I'd really like it if I could figure out how to change the shutter speed, etc. Most of my pics come out over exposed.
Any advice?
Too bad my nice Rebel is a film camera.
jackdp
Aquarium Advice FINatic
What lighting does everyone use when photographing in reef tanks? I have a 175W 10K MH and 2 55W PC actinics. I've tried different lighting combinations but just wonder what anyone else's results have been. If I use all lights on the pics come out okay but a little blue. When just actinics are on the corals look great but the pics look VERY blue, I don't think the camera knows how to deal with all the blue light. Do you use the flash? Any filters on the lense? Just fishing more other people's ideas....
AussieGal
Aquarium Advice Activist
Heres a tip I discovered last night. If you're water is even just SLIGHTLY poor quality its very difficult to get a decent photo. I had a large algae bloom in my FW tank about a month ago. I had cleared it up but there was a very slight tinge of green to the water - barely noticeable. After a bit of effort yesterday, I finally managed to get rid of it and the water is 100% crystal clear... and I finally have a couple of great pics. (Am just using a basic little sony digital camera). I had the lights off in the tank and used the flash.
reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
jackdp said:
I use all my lights, 175W 12K and actinics. Just make sure you manually adjust your white balance. I use 3 white coffee filters in front of the lens and and measure the WB, from about the distance I'll be shooting. This seems to work real well. Another trick I've read about for people with very blue lights, like 20kk is to use a wet coffee filter with a yellow post it behind the coffee filter, and neasure in the light your going to be shooting in.
jackdp
Aquarium Advice FINatic
My camera only has auto white balance and 5 or 6 preset custom settings 
The next model up had manual white but it cost about $200 more. I'm trying all the presets to see if any work better than auto, they are like daylight, cloudy, incandescent, and 3 fluorescent settings. I knew I shoud've splurged for the S7000 :x
The next model up had manual white but it cost about $200 more. I'm trying all the presets to see if any work better than auto, they are like daylight, cloudy, incandescent, and 3 fluorescent settings. I knew I shoud've splurged for the S7000 :x
reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
When using the flash, I have had decent luck useing the flouresceant preset and then adjusting levels in photoshop with fish pics. Without the flash...I really don't know, none of the presets take real good pics with the flos on. Maybe try turning the actinics off and trying incandesceant or natural light settings. FWIW, if you get bad colors, most can be remedied with a levels and curves adjustment in photoshop.
jackdp
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Photoshop that's pricey 8O
reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
You can do alot with photoshop elements, and quite a bit with older versions of PS like 6.0 which is dirt cheap since 7.0 and CS came out.
OP
OP
BillyZ
Aquarium Advice Addict
I stumbled across this link the other day and thouht it had some interesting info in it.
http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/tips/digital_photography_composition_tips.php
lots of tips n tricks for digital photgraphy.
http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/tips/digital_photography_composition_tips.php
lots of tips n tricks for digital photgraphy.
dustybrannum
Aquarium Advice Freak
Why do purples look blue when taking a picture with a digital cam? I have a Canon Power Shot G5
reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
I think it has to do with the layout and ratio of photo sensors. My fuji has the opposite problem, it tends to make certain shades of purple...blue.
dustybrannum
Aquarium Advice Freak
I apologize for the confusion but that is what I meant. If you saw the picture of my deep purple tang in the last SW photo contest he looked blue. Should I call Canon to try and fix this issue? I took some pictures of some purple violets and they were an electric blue on the camera.
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