Photography 101 Zoom Meeting?

[Solitaryensis]

Hi Everyone:

For our next meeting, how does everyone feel about a DSLR photograph tutorial? Every couple of years I pull out my old DSLR only to get frustrated at my inability to take any decent photos of the tank. We could even possibly do it by Zoom if there’s enough interest? Just throwing it out there.


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[JVU]

I love that idea. We would need one or more people who are good at it to lead the conversation.

 

[Flagg37]

I may be interested in leading a class on something like exposure. That would only make sense for anyone with a DSLR or mirrorless camera. It wouldn’t really apply to point and shoot cameras or phone cameras. It would cover aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

 

[tankguy]

I’d be interested. I take horrible pics and would like to learn to take better ones

 

[Rostato]

I have an older song a900 with a few lenses that I’ve never been able to figure out

Id take a class.

 

[Coral reefer]

@RandyC tskes some nice pics...

 

[thanh510]

I blew all my money on a tank. Can’t afford a dlsr!



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[Squist]

I don't have a DLSR but interested. I take pics with iPhone. Suspecting there are many tips and techniques that crossover. Who knows -- maybe I'll learn how to use the manual settings or just what they are and do.

 

[Solitaryensis]

...in the interim, does anyone have any tips for taking FTS’ with a camera phone? I am getting better at close-ups but taking a FTS on my 4 foot tank just looks like a blue out of focus/no detail mess...


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[Chromis]

I would definitely be in!

 

[glee]

@Ibn

 

[IOnceWasLegend]

...in the interim, does anyone have any tips for taking FTS’ with a camera phone? I am getting better at close-ups but taking a FTS on my 4 foot tank just looks like a blue out of focus/no detail mess...


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I'm in for the meeting, and also wondering this same thing. Thanks, all!

 

[ofzakaria]

I would be interested in some pro tips using phone as well as camera.
I have a Sony camera but I have no idea if its dslr or not. I rarely, almost never use it)

 

[RandyC]

...in the interim, does anyone have any tips for taking FTS’ with a camera phone? I am getting better at close-ups but taking a FTS on my 4 foot tank just looks like a blue out of focus/no detail mess...


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Some tips when shooting on a phone.

- use a filter if shooting lights that are higher than 14,000k spectrum
- shoot straight on as much as possible. If you don’t shoot exactly parallel to the pane of glass, picture will start getting distorted
- have a steady hand. If your pictures are coming out blurry, either get a mini tripod or turn up the intensity of your lights a bit.

Here's a picture just snapped with an iPhone 7 (crummy camera) with a 20,000k filter that came with the orphek lens kit

same iPhone 7 with 15,000k filter

Angles can work, but they will distort your coral.

 

[glee]

Can anyone recommend a lense filter for canon dslr?

 

[RandyC]

Can anyone recommend a lense filter for canon dslr?

I shoot with a Canon 7D, but I use Lightroom to do the color correction. I've wanted to try a filter, but I shoot with 100mm macro, 60mm macro & a 35mm macro lenses and they're all different filter threading sizes. Plus using a filter usually kills between 2-3 stops of light, so you really need to light up your tank to get some good shots when using a filter without a tripod. For me, it just made more sense to do the white balance in post.

Personally, If I was going to go the filter route, I'd probably find a filter holder (I think they have square ones) and would just cut my own gel filters so that I could find the right color to balance the spectrum I'm using on my lights.

 

[Corallus]

Can anyone recommend a lense filter for canon dslr?

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

 

[IOnceWasLegend]

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

Do you have any recommendations for a phone editing app on Android? I'm not looking for anything serious; just trying to take some pictures to share with friends without losing the purples/golds of some of my pieces.

 

[Corallus]

Do you have any recommendations for a phone editing app on Android?

Unfortunately I've been an iphone person from early on (maybe not the best choice...), so I'm not sure.
But as I understand some android phones have pretty good cameras. For me the key is the file type. Can yours take pics in a raw format? Jpeg really limits how much you can do with the pic after you take it. A color filter may be the best way to go in a lot of phone's cases, but if your editor has a "warmth" setting, playing with that may get you good results too.

 

[Flagg37]

If you go here, there’s a ton of filter options. If you want a screw on one make sure it will match up with your lens. Just so you know, the focal length is not the same as the diameter of the lens.

Look for the symbol of a circle with a line through it. That will be the filter size.

In my case the filter size is 77mm on my 85mm focal length lens.