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Thread: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

  1. #31
    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by Kal-El View Post
    Because of this thread i barrow my brother's DSLR and took some discus photos. Love playing around with shutter speed and ISO. I'm going to have to invest in one of my own.
    That is great! Please don't hesitate to share with us here on this thread

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


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  2. #32
    Registered Member Kal-El's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by rickztahone View Post
    That is great! Please don't hesitate to share with us here on this thread
    Low light settings with shutter set at 1/60 and ISO at 1200


    This one taken under a blue light with setting at 1/60 and ISO at 1000


    Not the greatest pic but I'm still learning.

  3. #33
    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    I particularly like the second one. It looks like Infrared photography, and I happen to really like IR, lol.

    The first one, as you may have guessed, is just too dark. Even with you pushing the ISO high it does not get you to proper exposure levels. I can't find your aperture because I can't link to the actual pic on PB, but was there any way to shoot a larger aperture?

    The only other thing you could have done would be to raise the ISO higher, which would introduce more digital noise, or, slow down the shutter speed. However, when you get in to that lower range of Shutter speed, you introduce the possibility, and likelihood that your shot will be blurry either by your hand, or the discus movement. Thank you very much for sharing these shots. This is exactly what we are looking for

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


    http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
    Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
    You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
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  4. #34
    Registered Member Kal-El's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by rickztahone View Post
    I particularly like the second one. It looks like Infrared photography, and I happen to really like IR, lol.

    The first one, as you may have guessed, is just too dark. Even with you pushing the ISO high it does not get you to proper exposure levels. I can't find your aperture because I can't link to the actual pic on PB, but was there any way to shoot a larger aperture?

    The only other thing you could have done would be to raise the ISO higher, which would introduce more digital noise, or, slow down the shutter speed. However, when you get in to that lower range of Shutter speed, you introduce the possibility, and likelihood that your shot will be blurry either by your hand, or the discus movement. Thank you very much for sharing these shots. This is exactly what we are looking for
    You're right I got some blur when shutter were lower . I'm still playing with the camera and trying to figure out what setting works best at low lighting. Trying to capture the image how our eyes sees it.

  5. #35
    Registered Member Kal-El's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by Kal-El View Post
    You're right I got some blur when shutter were lower . I'm still playing with the camera and trying to figure out what setting works best at low lighting. Trying to capture the image how our eyes sees it.
    Where do go to set the aperture setting on a cannon E0S 60D?

  6. #36
    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by Kal-El View Post
    You're right I got some blur when shutter were lower . I'm still playing with the camera and trying to figure out what setting works best at low lighting. Trying to capture the image how our eyes sees it.
    That is very difficult indeed, but it is the ultimate goal in photography for the most part. Low light is always a tough setting to do photography, especially without a flash.

    Do you have a tripod available, or a monopod? Are you shooting these photos in jpeg or in RAW format? Are you editing at all?

    Keep in mind, sometimes, the camera LCD can be deceiving. In order to try to get a little more accurate, you can try to find your histogram reviewer on your playback photos and you can see where the histogram has your color channels.

    You do not want your histogram to be either too much to the left, or too much to the right.

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


    http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
    Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
    You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
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  7. #37
    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Ok, now that I actually HAVE some discus to shoot, I have been trying to dial in settings to give a reference to others here. Unfortunately, my light fixture has not come in which is making it very difficult to get good shots of the discus that I am satisfied with. My shutter speed hangs around the 1/40 mark, and that is just too slow and doesn't allow for sharp pics.

    So, I had to cheat, and I used flashes. The following photo is of one of the new discus I got, flashed from above with a manual flash, just to show that you do not need super expensive gear to get good shots. I know I paid under $50 for this flash, probably closer to $35 if I remember correctly, so shop around ebay or Amazon for sweet deals

    First the Exif data:
    Body: Sony a99 (Full Frame)
    Lens: Sony 70-200 2.8
    Flash YN 460 II
    Aperture: f/3.2 (could have been stopped down one, to f/4 to get rid of some of the highlight)
    Shutter Speed: 1/100 of a second
    Focal Length: 200mm
    ISO: 100 (you want the lowest ISO for cleaner shots)

    At this point I am hoping these values make some kind of sense to all of you. If they do not, please ask. Keep in mind, we are working with flash here, and that is much different than without. I had 2 flashes shooting from above the tank, but only one was technically being used in each side of the tank. Both on manual mode, and both in the lowest settings, 1/32 power. This means faster cycling from the flashes. I didn't use a diffuser, which Matt would tell you, would have helped out tremendously here. I was going to get a piece of regular paper but decided against it in the end.

    On to the Pic:

    Fish Tank_87 by rickztahone, on Flickr
    Some adjustments were made, but not many.

    Now, take the following pic in to consideration:

    Fish Tank_85 by rickztahone, on Flickr
    Check out the settings:

    Body: Sony a99 (Full Frame)
    Lens: Tamron 90 2.8
    Flash YN 460 II
    Aperture: f/8 (this was more of a group shot so we wanted more DOF, which means, stopping down)
    Shutter Speed: 1/60 of a second
    Focal Length: 90mm
    ISO: 320 (you want the lowest ISO for cleaner shots)


    You will notice that this was taken from the side, not head on. This makes a big difference to the background, because now there is a whole bunch of space behind our subjects, and the flash is focusing on this side of the glass edge. I intentionally pointed the flash to the side glass pane to flash their closest side to me. An interesting thing you will notice here, that I am still trying to figure out in aquarium photography, is the fact that my Shutter speed is 1/60. In theory, if you do this in a studio set, the lower your shutter speed, the more ambient light you let in to the exposure. In this case, our 1/60 SS is slower than the original photo before this one, which was 1/100. In "theory", this second one should hav been brighter because it had a longer SS. However, there are always other factors that come in to play, the main one here is available space. Had there been the same amount of space in the first shot, the background would also have been darker, and probably just a tad bit darker at that.

    Shooting in TTL mode in aquarium photography seems to be futile. Go manual all the way, and you will be fine.

    Let me know if you have any questions. I should be getting the light fixture tomorrow, and I will employ some of the tips I mentioned in previous pages to show the end result. Bear in mind, they will probably not look good as these, because in these flash photos we are technically "controlling" the amount of light we want to work with, rather than working with the light we already have in place. Big difference.

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


    http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
    Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
    You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
    Cafepress.com

  8. #38
    Registered Member Kal-El's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Perfect... seeing the adjustment info is what I needed to see... this helps a lot. A wireless trigger/flash is what I need to get the last shot...

  9. #39
    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by Kal-El View Post
    Perfect... seeing the adjustment info is what I needed to see... this helps a lot. A wireless trigger/flash is what I need to get the last shot...
    Yes, a wireless trigger system. A trigger set as cheap as This one would wor. Keep in mind that the linked ones are for Sony and you would need to find the ones for your camera specific brand. You can get all of this for under $80 if you really look for good deals. Not bad, seeing as you can take this same gear and get some great shots of the family and make memories, such as this one:

    Ricky with Hat by rickztahone, on Flickr
    Although I have other flashes capable of HSS/TTL, I still reach for the all manual lenses because they are no frills type of gadgets. You set it to what YOU want and it just does what you want it to, lol. Easy as that.

    Let me know if you need any more help.

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


    http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
    Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
    You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
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  10. #40
    Registered Member Kal-El's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Amazing pictures... I'll look into the link you provided. Thanks bud for all your help and info you have provided...

  11. #41
    Registered Member Discus-n00b's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Hey now, using flash isn't cheating!

    Just of note, I will usually dial my flash back to at LEAST 1/2 or 1/4 power sometimes more depending on the tank I'm shooting in. Full power often seems to be overblown.
    -Matt


  12. #42
    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by Discus-n00b View Post
    Hey now, using flash isn't cheating!

    Just of note, I will usually dial my flash back to at LEAST 1/2 or 1/4 power sometimes more depending on the tank I'm shooting in. Full power often seems to be overblown.
    Very true. Seeing as I was shooting without modifiers I had to take down my flashes to 1/32. It resulted in faster cycle times so I wasn't complaining too much, lol.

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


    http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
    Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
    You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
    Cafepress.com

  13. #43
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Great, great thread. I have a Nikon D80 which has 8mp and it is just fine for the average size picts, say from 4 by 6 up to 81/ by 14. Question, where or how do I get EXIF?
    Jay

  14. #44
    Registered Member pcsb23's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by brady View Post
    Great, great thread. I have a Nikon D80 which has 8mp and it is just fine for the average size picts, say from 4 by 6 up to 81/ by 14. Question, where or how do I get EXIF?
    Jay
    EXIF is info stored in the image - it records the technical info about how the image was taken as well as other info. Some programs read it better than others, but plain old windows explorer will display some of it - right click and choose properties, then click the details tab. Some programs strip the meta data when storing as does some sites, which is somewhat annoying.
    Paul

    Comfortably numb.

  15. #45
    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Camera gear / tips and tricks / tutorials

    Quote Originally Posted by brady View Post
    Great, great thread. I have a Nikon D80 which has 8mp and it is just fine for the average size picts, say from 4 by 6 up to 81/ by 14. Question, where or how do I get EXIF?
    Jay
    That is a nice body. I have shot with one of those in the past.

    As Paul mentioned, EXIF data is simply the recording of the settings and gear used to capture a photo. If you are asking specifically where you can view EXIF data for YOUR photos, then it depends what photo hosting website you are currently using. I use flickr, and it gives you the option to see all of your EXIF data there. If you have Flickr I can show you how, step by step.

    On the other hand, if you are asking where you can view OTHER people's EXIF data, you can download many EXIF Viewers for free. When you see a photo you like, you can simply right click the photo, and if it hasn't had the EXIF data stripped, then you can view it right from there. I hope that helps.

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


    http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
    Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
    You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
    Cafepress.com

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