Embarrasing pictures from a Pro Photographer

[pledosophy]

My aquarium photography skills are rather awful. Especially since replacing my T5's with a Kessil LED. Worse yet, I am a pro photographer and have been for 22 years.

My shots were pretty good with the T5's, but the change in light is really throwing me. What advice would you guys have for me?

Camera is a 5D MIV. I have a 100mm macro and various lenses. I do have a tripod and a shutter release (manual and digital).

There is some part of the switch from T5 lighting to A single Kessil that is throwing me.

Thanks.

 

[BighohoReef]

What are you seeing as the main challenge? Lighting spectrum?

I've felt like I've encountered the same issues with my Nikon system. Someone told me to get a sepia lens to address the blue light bled that is apparent in all my shots.

I'm using a tripod w/
40mm macro - digital
60mm macro - older no autofocus
105mm macro - older no autofocus

I'm not a pro but I've been around an SLR for more than 20 years... It's frustrating because I feel my iPhone takes better pictures due to the color corrections.

 

[GabeM]

Have you tried gel filters?

 

[pledosophy]

Have you tried gel filters?

I haven't tried any filters infront of the lense besides a polarizer.

 

[BighohoReef]

I would give a sepia filter a try... I uploaded some photos from my iPhone with and without the orphek lens.

I'm not sure outside of that what to do about the SLR piece, I've been tinkering with the F stop, exposure, you name it. Sort of been hit or miss. I even turn the flow off in the tank to see if the reduction in movement will help. I'll keep following the thread, I would love to know how the community gets some of those amazing shots!

Added a few tags to this thread for all the photography folks

 

[kcoykend]

I found I like the filters if I'm only doing quick cell phone photography, where im not going to post process to much. If I'm shooting with a dslr/mirrorless and shooting in RAW, I don't like to use the filters. It adds a lot of saturation thats difficult to remove in post. This could just be my experience with my specific set up. Ive been using tripod with shutter release, high ISO (i think just because my lens requires a lot of light, Laowa 24mm probe lens) 1/8 shutter, f14ish (again because of my lens) and just correct WB in post.

I have heard the kessil blue is harder to shoot with though

 

[pledosophy]

F14 would require a lot of light. Is that as low as your lens goes?

 

[AZMSGT]

I'm new to reefing photography too and I shoot semi-pro with 5DM4 and 5Drs, the tricks to getting it right are:
1. Adjust the lighting to a whiter setting.
2. Adjust your white balance to match.
3. Shut off pumps and let the water settle
4. Shoot perpendicular to the glass or straight down using a lens tube.
5. Tripod
6. I use a Canon 100 & 180 Macro lenses
7. with the flow off and the water settled you can get longer time shots and get those F14 depth of field shots
8. Lightroom to edit.

Take some time and read the stickies that are in this section. Lots of good info there.