# pink yuma



## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

HI i'm new to dslr.

Here is a few pics of my yuma and one of my fish:


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## explor3r (Mar 14, 2010)

Nice shots


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Very pretty yuma, and nice fish


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## darthvictor (Aug 16, 2011)

Love them


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

Thanks

The one yuma that fill's the shot most of the way, was my first attempt at focus stacking.

I put the coral as close as I could to the glass and used around a aperture of 8,shutter a little slower then 1/10th,iso 100, auto white balance. only other thing was that I cropped the edges off.

camera/lens etc 

is a canon eos t3 with 50mm 1.8 len's and 12mm extension tube, tripod, wired shutter.

For my next shot, I'm going to try to darken the room, turn the pump's off and maybe use mirror lock up.

might try to use a custom white balance too, if I can figure out how to use it?

The shot of the fish was my first moving target, I felt like a sniper, trying to analize his previous movement's then predict on were he would move next right before taking the shot.

Was fun, but a little frustrating, because I was using a tripod, no flash. Probably the hard way to get that pic.


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

Any suggestion's on lighting coral's for photography? I have my coral's now under 18" from the light source,with a 6 x t5 h.o ati power module 5 x 20 000k bulb's, 1 is purple.

I could go to 2 for 20 k, 4 for all 20 000k beside 1 purple, or all 6 for 5 x 20 000k and 1 purple to take pic's?

I went over to detroit and noticed a guy had 2 t5 h.o on instead of 6 and I asked why? he said that he prefers that lighting because he's always taking pic's.

Didn't think too much about it at the time because I didn't own a camera, I was there to pick up some high end zoa's/paly's etc.

He also said that he find's that 2 blue t5 h.o actually promotes better coloration, and ok growth, he hardly run's the rest, this was on a 12" deep tank, 18" from light.


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

Mostly it's all about white balance. Play with white balance settings and use that as a starting point. Taking shots under the blue/purple spectrums can be tricky as the camera's sensor can easily get confused between the BRIGHT colour reflectivity in coral and the places in the tank that don't reflect.


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

RR37 said:


> Mostly it's all about white balance. Play with white balance settings and use that as a starting point. Taking shots under the blue/purple spectrums can be tricky as the camera's sensor can easily get confused between the BRIGHT colour reflectivity in coral and the places in the tank that don't reflect.


Great point, which is why I'm hesitant with led, I need to see an awesome image shot under led, this way, maybe I can design a 5g display,35G sump, system just for images and small corals.

i'm using 4 x t5 h.o, 20" from sea floor. 50/50

I went to a guys house, He had a set up in which he used just the 2 x t5 20 000k to take pics. any thoughts on this? how did he get the white balanced?

I personally use auto WB and works great with a 50/50 spectrem around 12-14k, as long as the exposure is set right.


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

For the most part it is trial and error, in the past I have placed laminated white boards and grey boards into the tank for the purpose of pulling a reading from them. With new digital cameras they all have different settings for WB and many ways to go about metering and setting it. Light mixing should be avoided so typically its always best to shut off any other light source in the room and avoid shooting during day light hours if you can't block day light from the room.

Which camera are you using ?


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

I'm using the canon eos t3, 50 mm lens, extension tubes, sturdy tripod,laptop with canon utility program

ps 5 

shooting in the dark

flow off and let to settle

glass cleaned

WB auto

aperture 8-18

iso 100-400

shutter around the 1 sec mark.

angle straight on, or tilted slightly up/down.


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

Awesome, Canon's got a pretty good WB scale to choose from. So, I'd start by selecting and shooting at all available WB settings and then comparing. Should work in 100K shifts. If shot in RAW it may be possible to push that metered K reading further in post. I don't typically shoot RAW when capturing frags and coral so Im not really sure what capabilities await you there.

Once you have nailed down your WB you can then start playing with your light meter, and the areas you meter exposure form. Eventually you will likely find that the best reproductions are anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 over exposed IME. But every tank and light source will be slightly different. Not to mention peoples individual perception to colour, I've met people who see a 20K blue spectrum as bright white. I myself have been known to call a really bright green Yellow, etc.


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

Same here that greenish yellow throws me off, here's an image: let me know if it looks to be missing something.


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

Id have no complaints about that. Great shot, perhaps if your looking for something to work on, more exposure should "Brighten" it up a bit. But that's splitting hairs, great shot. Is it an accurate representation ?


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

Very accurate, your right thou, I need to find I way to brighten it up.

Could use PS and the adjustment layer's, to bring in the light to the shadows a bit. 

but 

Of course I want the depth of field, so I brought the aperture up, shutter down,iso up.

plus, i'm using extension tubes so it makes it even darker.

I'm not to sure @ what exact point, that defraction from aperture take away from quality?

along with what max iso, will have to much noise.


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

Dependant on the lens, for the most part 2-3 stops up from wide open will be the sweet spot. Typically you should start to loose sharpness around 5.6 *ish

Perhaps simply play around with over exposing ? Don't change the aperture but increase exposure time. I will say though at longer exposures that becomes harder to do.


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

If you say around 5-7 aperture

what about iso? shutter speed?

For depth of feild, I can focus stack them, and go with 5-7 instead of my average 11-18

Only thing is that the, shrooms slightly move, I might need to buy a macro rail and practice on taking pics faster, moving in and out, as opposed to turning the focus ring.

But at the same time, when I took the this image:










it was done on wooden floor's too, lights were on, and pumps on

Does canon eos t3, do a good job with auto sharpening? do they normally not need sharpening?


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

To be honest, I haven't stacked anything in like 10 years. My advice on this is a moot point. The best results will come with a Macro lens or shooting with a telephoto and cropping down. Using what you've got I would make an attempt to capture each image with as few frames as possible. As you stop the lens down sharpness drops somewhere in the mid point. Call it 5.6-8 range. BUT the difference between 8 and 11 is so small that it may be difficult to detect if not at 100%. BUT because you are stopped down the out of focus area won't be as nice as if you were shooting at a lower value if that makes sense. Perhaps try renting a macro lens from Vistek and see how you like it. IF you are presently stacking images for every picture its really worth the time saved. Unless you enjoy working in PS then stack away !

I typically shoot in Aperture priority and then adjust shuterspeed through over/underexposure and spot metering then lock in the value. Seldom will I actually shoot in manual. I always try to shoot in the lowest ISO possible which is determined by the shutter speed and your cameras ability to handle ISO. Some can shoot at 1000 better than others at 100.

Can't answer the auto sharpening question. Its set to off in my body and really only gets used on landscapes.


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

Wish I knew hw to quote section's of wht you wrote.

that vistech? place is that in windsor or a online place, what are we looking @ $, wise

thanks for all your replies

I want to also get into some videography stuff, was thinking of paying this guy I know, just don't know what the average price should be? something that blends music,video animation's etc

is the canon 100mm lens better then temron 90 mm lens?

mp e 65 lens? for smaller stuff

or better len's in the 100 mm range, worth saving up for?

Is a properly exposed image, quality clearness-wise, then a image slightly photo shopped? 

what do you use to give your photo's some color pop? straight from the camera? or?


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

Vistek is a camera store up here in the GTA. Im not sure if there are any rental places in Windsor.

Video work I have very little experience with.

Of the two I have only used the Canon 100mm and really, really like the results. I'd always say good glass is worth saving up for, holds value better than some alternatives too.

As far as colour corrections, I don't really know how to answer that question. There are 100's of ways to go about manipulating a photo and really depends on the subject matter. For the most part I just work at getting exposure down and then the results don't really need manipulation. Shooting in Jpeg will have better out of the camera results as the colour conversion happens in camera as opposed to in the 3rd party conversion software when you import to your editing software. So to answer your question specifically, IMO exposure is everything. Correct exposure will make images look sharper as they will be brighter, in focus area is clearly defined and out of focus area will be smooth and even. (Assuming you are using the best possible area's of the mounted lens.) What works with my 50mm doesn't work with my 135mm.

HTH.


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## DrBlueThumb (Feb 18, 2012)

What about jpeg plus raw? will one be color boosted and the other needs ps to boost?

Arpature priorty, will give me a better exposure right, then I would just need to concentrate on shutter and iso?

jpeg will reduce my raw 4272 px x 2848 H to?

Realistically with my camera and some of the best picture development, what size image can I expect to be framed with the best quality. raw and jpeg?

What about the 100mm canon lens and 2 stacks of tubes? good idea?

Is the glass in the canon 100 mm that much better then the economy 50 mm?


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