Cali Kid Corals

Photography 101 Zoom Meeting?

Corallus said:
If you have a DSLR, you should be able to shoot in raw format, which makes it super easy to reset your white balance afterwards if you have access to decent editing software, like @RandyC mentions above. The raw format has much better color depth than jpeg, and white balance correction can make a huge difference without filters that eat light and add another pane of glass between the sensor and the image.

How I take pics with my DLSR (nikon d750):
- Turn off water flow
- Use a tripod with remote shutter release (or timer) for longer exposures; don't let the exposure compensation set the iso too high
- Keep the lens as parallel to the aquarium glass as possible
- Shoot in raw format
- White balance correct afterwards
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I do the same. I am very much a beginner, and am still learning but I would add the following that I have learned:
  • Turn down blue and violet light as much as you can without significantly affecting the color of the corals. The sensor doesn't need PAR and the extra blue light just further blows the blues out more than they are already
  • if you can set your white balance manually set it as high as you can, usually 10,000K. I use RAW and haven't done an experiment to see if it matters, but I figure it can't hurt. If you aren't using RAW, it should definitely help. If you can't set it manually, choose cloudy settings.
  • What really helped immensely with image quality and focus was focusing manually on a 10X magnified image on the LCD screen. You can precisely choose where you are focusing and what the focus is. You are also able to better control and increase usable depth of field by trying to focus about 1/3 from the front of the coral that is being imaged.
 
UPDATE:
I have set up a WebEx Meeting space for this Sunday from 2:00-2:50 for a kick-off discussion. Members who are interested in presenting on Basic Smartphone and/or Advanced Reef Tank Photography Techniques please join. If you want to present but this time doesn't work for you reply to this thread with a date and time that works. BOD members (@Coral reefer) please join too or contact me directly if you'd like to discuss. Dates and times are flexible for this-- I've set this initial date and time to see if it sticks. Organic mode.

This is not the presentation. It's a kick-off meet-up to discuss what this is and how we might do it. All members who want to take part in making this happen are welcome.

Agenda:
- Platform to use (WebEx, Zoom, other)
- Goals/Agenda/Date/Time
- Reef Tank Photography Presenters:
- Basic Smartphone
- Advanced Techniques
- Other

Needed:
- Presenters

Reply to this tread if you want to share and present your techniques with the club.



Squist said:
Few things are as hard as our hobby. I can help. Going organic mode. Here's what we need:

1. A virtual meeting space and coordinator. (@Squist volunteers to set this up)

2. An agenda. Starting point:
A. The basics — using a smartphone
B. Advanced — using a DSLR
C. Other (photogs—chime in)

3. Members to present on one or more of the above to share their methods. I saw some members in the thread expressing interest.

Members who reply to present: we’ll meet virtually to come up with the objectives and agenda. And we’ll figure out how to best demonstrate what you’re doing from where you are and with what video cam tech you have.

Anyone up for sharing what you know and seeing what happens? Reply to this thread and we’ll connect on next steps.
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Solitaryensis said:
This is an example of FTS that I took this evening. I used Snapseed to adjust to reflect how the tank looks (currently really blue since the actinic T5s are on) and while I think the color is fairly accurate, my chief complaint is how the picture looks distorted without any sense of depth or clarity on any of the corals. It would be hard to identify any corals through this pic, unlike Randy’s.
b193a85502687677fc3cb7dcd15a03ba.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Interested in presenting? WebEx Meeting space for this Sunday from 2:00-2:50 for a kick-off discussion.
 
Was planning to join this but got the time mixed up and thought it started at 2:30. Is the meeting over, or was it short? I'd be happy to put something together to cover DSLR - I'm thinking - "What are all those numbers and why do I care about them?"
 
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