DSLR, post your pics with details

[billberet]

Hey everyone,
I'm curious on how every takes their pictures, I've seen some great pics on this site and I want to know what settings they are using. Aquarium photography is difficult because the fish never do what you tell them!!!!


these images are with a 50mm lens stopped down to 1.4 at 1600 ISO.
shutter speed between 1/80 - 1/100
auto white balance
(no flash)
camera body is canon XTI 400D

 

[Hondatek]

Will post some when I get home on the pc. Curious if you set a custom white balance for those pics ?

 

[billberet]

Will post some when I get home on the pc. Curious if you set a custom white balance for those pics ?

I had the white balance set to auto. i'm using LED's for my lighting in my tanks and there was no option for LED, so I just left it default.

 

[Hondatek]

Thought so . You should be able use a peice of PVC to set a custom white balance for your tanks lighting . The pics are great but with a custom balance they will be even better and will show the true color of the fish .

 

[billberet]

Thought so . You should be able use a peice of PVC to set a custom white balance for your tanks lighting . The pics are great but with a custom balance they will be even better and will show the true color of the fish .

ok now you got my full attention
how do I go about setting the custom balance.
I have plenty of pvc around.

 

[Fibsog]

Nice bala shark

 

[Hondatek]

You basically put the PVC in the tank and go to your settings . It might be different with your cannon but in my nikon I go to white balance settings then choose custom balance . It will then promt you to take a picture so just take a pic of the white PVC . It will then adjust the colors automatically .

 

[billberet]

Gotcha.
How much of the pvc has to be in frame?
Meaning does it avg out the whole image. Or does it just use the focal point as the reference?

 

[Hondatek]

Your basically taking a pic of the white PVC and telling the camera this is what white is and then it adjusts to that . So focus on the PVC in the middle of the picture . Not sure if that made sense im having a hard time explaining it lol .

 

[NoNitrates]

I use a Nikon D300 DLSR for my digital work. For aquarium shots, I always use flash and fastest shutter flash sync speed of 1/250 of a second to freeze any motion of the fish or my moving the camera. I use off camera flash and aim it at an angle to eliminate reflections and hot spots(and make the lighting look more natural). If I want the exposure to be a little darker for that deep underwater look, I will underexpose a little. And if I want a color cast such as a slight blue I adjust white balance. I NEVER have used auto white balance. And since there's very little depth of field(what you get in sharp focus)in closeup photography, I use a small aperture of about f/16 or f/22 to get as much as possible in sharp focus. Here a few pics I took recently and some from a few years ago.

 

[billberet]

Looks good. I'll have to try an off camera flash. Between the white balance and an off camera flash I'm sure I can come up with some colorful pictures.
For me I dont want the rest of the tank in focus when I do fish shots. If it was a tank image thats different. But a small depth of field is my choice for doing a close up. Hense the 1.4 fstop

 

[Hondatek]

Here are a few of mine. Camera is Nikon D3100 with the stock lens. Since I have the stock lens and low lighting in the tank it makes hard to get lower iso and large aperture like I need for taking pics of the fish but I do my best. Full settings can be seen by clicking the links.


145 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


143 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


106 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


148 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


036 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


067-002 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


105 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


069 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


006 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr


082 by illfixurwhip, on Flickr

 

[FrankoQ]

Subscribed. Amazing pics! keep them coming.

 

[billberet]

I tried to make my custom white balance, boy it didn't go well.
the images were extremely grainy, I have a lot of blue LED's (RGB) so I can turn them all to white. when I do the next custom white balance.

here is a quick example of my white balance with blue LED's still on
I like the blue hue when the tank is on, but maybe it's not good for pictures.

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

Great pics everyone! I'll be picking up a nice dSLR once I dig up the money

 

[aquandrew]

anyone use the nikon d3200? I'm thinking of getting a DSLR, but i want a decent one that won't cost an arm and a leg

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

anyone use the nikon d3200? I'm thinking of getting a DSLR, but i want a decent one that won't cost an arm and a leg

No but have you looked at the Canon Rebel T3? It's pretty cheap for the quality. Not sure about the Canon vs. Nikon thing lol this will be my first camera other than a point and shoot. So I'm not sure if you have a preference or not, but I've heard real good things about it.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Canon have the edge if you want to shoot macro on Dx format. 1.6 crop factor vs the nikon Dx with 1.5 crop factor. I shoot nikon d3100. D3100 won awards for the camera, the kit lens is the best kit lens in the 18-55mm range of kit lenses. The new version comes with VR.
Agree with Honda tec. A fixed fast prime would be a better choice. The famous 50mm.
Full frame cameras are really expensive and the ideal choice for landscapes.

D3200 is upgraded version of d3100 with new expeed 3 image processing engine and the 24Mp sensor. 24Mp not really necessary unless you are printing super large scale. 10 Mp is more than sufficient for standard photo prints. Mp is a buzzword the companies use to keep selling cameras.
I've been practicing photography for about 13 months now. The choice really depends on what your preferred subject matter is. Dx lenses are very much cheaper than their full frame equivalents. They don't need so much glass to be optically perfect as they are tuned to the sensor size. A full frame lens on a Dx camera can help with vignetting that occurs with some of the cheaper full frame lenses.

You can use a polarising filter to reduce glare/reflections on glass but you lose approx 1 1/3 stops, depending on brand. They come in two versions for film and digital. Linear and circular respectively.

 

[jetajockey]

Wait till black friday and get the d3100 or d3200, or t3 equivalent. I saw them down to mid $300s last year at this time. We've had the d3100 for a year or so and my only complaint is that in video mode you can hear the focus motor. Since it's not primarily a video camera I'm not complaining, though, and it's easy enough to put it in manual.

 

[NoNitrates]

anyone use the nikon d3200? I'm thinking of getting a DSLR, but i want a decent one that won't cost an arm and a leg

I'd like to have a D3200. Great camera that's not too expensive. I think you'd like it. But I will probably get the D7100 with next year's tax refund to replace my aging D300. Because the less expensive Nikons do not provide metering with manual focus lenses(and most of the lenses I have are manual). Canon(and other manufacturers)also make great cameras, but I have about 20 Nikon mount lenses. So I guess you could say I'm married to Nikon.