For all you photographers

[thirty5]

i have to disagree with this statement lol i can give anyone the best lens in the world and they would probably still take a crappy shot. u need to know what youre doing...just saying. everyone wants to get a expensive camera thinking that they are gonna take these gallery shots but when they get the camera they dont know wtf they are doing and their photos look like crap.

My statement about the lens was simply stating that the lens is more important than the body when talking about EQUIPMENT. I am not saying that a cheap crappy body will give good pics with the best lens.

But a GREAT body and CRAP lens will not have the best output.

My comment was assuming that the person will "learn" how to shoot.

 

[thirty5]

what do you guys think

Look pretty good. But the problem you are going to come into is when you shoot without flash then you gonna get blue pictures.

Read up on the Custom White Balance, something that you will need to learn to use to take pics under the actinics.

Also read up on shooting with manual settings on top of that. You will need to slow your shutter speed pretty dramatically to get a good pic.

Also pick up a "decent" tripod for those slow shutter speed pics.

 

[Jarrett]

those pictures were on manual mode, i still have to learn how to adjust the ISO,aperature,shutter speed but im learning lol and why is it better to slow the shutter speed down as far as taking pictures of the tank in general? or do you mean for just the up close shots

 

[thirty5]

those pictures were on manual mode, i still have to learn how to adjust the ISO,aperature,shutter speed but im learning lol and why is it better to slow the shutter speed down as far as taking pictures of the tank in general? or do you mean for just the up close shots

Slowing the speed down is not better, you need to figure out what the best settings are. The fastest shutter vs Iso vs Aperture.

IMO you shoot with the fastest shutter speed that you can, but then you may have to raise the ISO too much making grainy pics, or lowering the Aperture which will give you blurry background (good for single item pics, but not for full tank shot).

I never shoot my tank with a flash. Have to deal with the reflection of the flash and just never looks natural.

 

[mike99420]

Hi Jarrett, my name is Mike. I am in the hobby, and I work for Cameta Camera on LI. I am actually a novice with my tank, but know a bunch about photography. Currently I have a FO tank, but in the near future I intend on going back to a reef. If you have any questions let me know. I try to help people on reef boards with what I know well so that when I ask Q's about my reef its not a one sided conversation.

In reading some of the posts that have been in this thread I saw what you purchased and what people were recommending. Know that there is no right answer in anything you do in photography which IMO is very similar to reef tanks. Since you have made your camera purchase already you took the first step. Would a better lens help? Of coarse it would, just like adding a better skimmer or reactor. Keep in mind much of you will do as a photographer is really not always about the equipment. If you give a pro photographer a point and shoot they will still take interesting and usually good pictures.

How savvy are you with photo editing software and do you use a mac or pc?

 

[Jarrett]

Thanks guys! and thanks for the tips thirty. I believe those pictures were taken without the flash but I noticed it was really hard to find the right settings because my tank is in my room which is very poorly lit. and when I was attempting a FTS the camera basically didn't pick up the T5 lighting it almost looked like my tank was sitting in natural sunlight does that have something to do with playing around with the white balance?

 

[thirty5]

Thanks guys! and thanks for the tips thirty. I believe those pictures were taken without the flash but I noticed it was really hard to find the right settings because my tank is in my room which is very poorly lit. and when I was attempting a FTS the camera basically didn't pick up the T5 lighting it almost looked like my tank was sitting in natural sunlight does that have something to do with playing around with the white balance?

Look at your first pic, you can see the reflection of the flash and the reflection of the light on the lens.

It does not matter the lighting in the room. You want the tank lighting to get a more natural look.

If you were taking a picture with T5 and just the blues on, then you might have again been shooting with the flash and just not realized it?

I can't help with the operation of the Nikon. But on my canon, when in manual the flash will not automatically come on. But I can flip it up and then it will fire every time.

Even in manual mode your W/B is probably set to auto anyway. You need to play with the W/B to see if there is any setting in the camera that will work for you. My camera actually has a temperature setting like your lights do. But mine does not go high enough into the blue spectrum.

So if you know the temp of your bulbs you may actually be able to set the camera to the same temp as far as W/B and that will take care of your problem with white balance.

 

[Jarrett]

ok ill look into it thanks for the advice I think I have pre set settings that I guess I can flip through and see what looks the best. if not ill look and see if I can dial in the temperature

 

[rbtwo4]

My statement about the lens was simply stating that the lens is more important than the body when talking about EQUIPMENT. I am not saying that a cheap crappy body will give good pics with the best lens.

But a GREAT body and CRAP lens will not have the best output.

My comment was assuming that the person will "learn" how to shoot.

How is lens more important than body? If u have no body what u gonna do with lens? Lol

Yes lens is very important. But u can buy a $10,000 lens and still take a crappy picture if u don't know what ur doing. U can have a crap body and great lens and if u know what ur doing no one would even know the difference. Do u even know what ur talking about? Ur statement makes no sense. All I said was u can have the best lens in the world and it STILL won't mean anything if u don't know what ur doing.

 

[rbtwo4]

Also pick up a "decent" tripod for those slow shutter speed pics.

More bad advice IF and I say IF u plan on doing more with ur camera. Photography is like reefing. It's a money pit lol. IF u plan on using ur camera for outdoor stuff and trips ur better off getting a very good tripod cus those "decent" ones suck. Only IF u plan on doing more. I have a manfrotto which I spent about $200 on. Yep this hobby with reefing is expensive! There's a good book learning exposure by Bryan Peterson u should check it out.

 

[Jarrett]

some more

 

[mike99420]

With some adjustments in photo editing software you can correct the auto w/b. You can shoot in raw if you are a bit savvy with photo editing software which with a bit of editing you can make those images pop.

 

[rbtwo4]

nice shots bro

 

[Jarrett]

thanks man.

 

[lopeznora]

Nikon D3100

 

[rcharliesam]

Second group of pics are remarkably better than the first group. Nice job.

Pass on some tips for your changes from the first to the second, I just picked up the 5100 from the deal that I had mentioned.

 

[thirty5]

More bad advice IF and I say IF u plan on doing more with ur camera. Photography is like reefing. It's a money pit lol. IF u plan on using ur camera for outdoor stuff and trips ur better off getting a very good tripod cus those "decent" ones suck. Only IF u plan on doing more. I have a manfrotto which I spent about $200 on. Yep this hobby with reefing is expensive! There's a good book learning exposure by Bryan Peterson u should check it out.

how is getting a decent tripod bad advice? I have a crappy one and works for me. I used the word decent to just say not get crap one. and back to your comment about the lens. we are on the same page with that.

all you are doing is criticizing other posts instead of actually giving help. I do know what I am talking about for the most part. I nowhere said I am a pro or know everything.

do me a favor and link your website to your professional business as a photographer.



Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[rbtwo4]

how is getting a decent tripod bad advice? I have a crappy one and works for me. I used the word decent to just say not get crap one. and back to your comment about the lens. we are on the same page with that.

all you are doing is criticizing other posts instead of actually giving help. I do know what I am talking about for the most part. I nowhere said I am a pro or know everything.

do me a favor and link your website to your professional business as a photographer.



Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

how many crappy ones u buy? u must not do much photographing outdoors then if u still have it. i bought a crappy one and had to get rid of it cus i used it too much outdoors so i bought a good manfrotto. thats why i said IF he plans on using it more than just work then he SHOULD buy a good one and not a decent one. its like buying a crappy or decent skimmer u ginna end up buying a better one later or have issues with ur tank. im not criticizing other posts im criticizing ur comments. im not a pro either just so u know and if ur interested i have pics up in the nikonian thread go check them out. GREAT SHOTS JARRETT!

 

[thirty5]

how many crappy ones u buy? u must not do much photographing outdoors then if u still have it. i bought a crappy one and had to get rid of it cus i used it too much outdoors so i bought a good manfrotto. thats why i said IF he plans on using it more than just work then he SHOULD buy a good one and not a decent one. its like buying a crappy or decent skimmer u ginna end up buying a better one later or have issues with ur tank. im not criticizing other posts im criticizing ur comments. im not a pro either just so u know and if ur interested i have pics up in the nikonian thread go check them out. GREAT SHOTS JARRETT!

So you are criticizing me for giving advice on what the OP wants. He said starter camera and you said to get a $6k one at first. Who said that he even wanted to get a tripod. He didn't ask what he should get, then I would not have commented cause I don't use a tripod for the most part unless for my tank and then I don't even touch the camera other than to frame the shot.

I am done with this back and forth with you, you are reminding me of others on this forum who like to criticize people for their opinions?

Do me a favor, send me a PM with link to your tank shots, so I can see them. I don't need to see pictures of a bridge.

 

[MikeC]

Well I'm glad that's over NICE SHOTS JARRETT!! Good luck with your new camera.

:backtotop:smash::banghead::banghead::grouphug: