Fish Pictures With My New Camera

[IntrinsicReef]

Yesterday I received a new (to me, released in 2014) Nikon D810. I did my first photo session last night with a 50mm 1.8 lens, and am quite excited to tinker with it. I am going to update this thread periodically with progress and welcome any constructive criticism or observations.

I am very interested in people's opinions on cropping. Macro photography interests me most and I consume social media via my phone. So I tend to crop way in. Here is another version of the Naso Tang picture. To me, on my phone, I like the headshot better. But on the laptop, the whole fish with bokeh background is nice. Let me know what y'all think!

 

[Uncle99]

Very nice!

 

[luis angel]

Yesterday I received a new (to me, released in 2014) Nikon D810. I did my first photo session last night with a 50mm 1.8 lens, and am quite excited to tinker with it. I am going to update this thread periodically with progress and welcome any constructive criticism or observations.

I am very interested on people's opinions on cropping. Macro photography interests me most and I consume social media via my phone. So I tend to crop way in. Here is another version of the Naso Tang picture. To me, on my phone, I like the headshot better. But on the laptop, the whole fish with bokeh background is nice. Let me know what y'all think!

Great pictures!! Following

 

[PharmrJohn]

Nice! I've always been drawn to Maroon Clowns (white stripe). They're just flat out beautiful! Too bad they're Demon Spawn!

 

[Slocke]

I find that macro works great for corals but I actually prefer telescopic for fish pictures. I find it easier to track fish and at least on my camera the autofocus works faster on a telescopic lens.

Then I just crop down.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

I find that macro works great for corals but I actually prefer telescopic for fish pictures. I find it easier to track fish and at least on my camera the autofocus works faster on a telescopic lens.

Then I just crop down.

I am going to be trying telephoto next. I have struggled in the past with just gathering enough light. But with this full frame sensor, I am picking up much more light. Learning continous auto focus is on the agenda. It seems like that would be very helpful in tracking fish.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

Nice! I've always been drawn to Maroon Clowns (white stripe). They're just flat out beautiful! Too bad they're Demon Spawn!

Maroons are the worst of the knuckle biters

 

[maroun.c]

Believe you made great use of an "old but gold " camera and lense set-up.
Pictures are amazing, both hold their value be it the full shot or the tight crop of the naso.
Can I ask why you decided to go with the 810 vs 850 and not one of the nikon mirorless cameras , which would be the z8 or 9 to match the auto focus of the 810?
The continuous auto focus of the z8 which is the same as the z9 brings the added animals and bird continuous autofocus which I believe is amazing,I'm still experimenting with different settings and technics and shifting through different focus options after locking focus ... techniques that work great in challenging bird in flight before I can share my thoughts.
The mirorless cameras do help with better high iso lower noise , yet looking at your shots I don't think u need that.
Congrats on a great camera and lense and looking forward to see great shots.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

Believe you made great use of an "old but gold " camera and lense set-up.
Pictures are amazing, both hold their value be it the full shot or the tight crop of the naso.
Can I ask why you decided to go with the 810 vs 850 and not one of the nikon mirorless cameras , which would be the z8 or 9 to match the auto focus of the 810?
The continuous auto focus of the z8 which is the same as the z9 brings the added animals and bird continuous autofocus which I believe is amazing,I'm still experimenting with different settings and technics and shifting through different focus options after locking focus ... techniques that work great in challenging bird in flight before I can share my thoughts.
The mirorless cameras do help with better high iso lower noise , yet looking at your shots I don't think u need that.
Congrats on a great camera and lense and looking forward to see great shots.

Thank you so much! That means a lot. I really wanted the 850 but it was $1800 used. I got this 810 with 50k clicks for $571 + tax. I went dslr out of habit. I have no personal experience with mirrorless. I have some camera experience throughout my life, but am really just now getting serious. I want to learn and make some mistakes before pulling the trigger on a higher end setup.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

A few pictures from a photo shoot after work yesterday. I played with the continuous auto focus. I have mostly used manual focus. I would pick a spot with good light and background, and snap fish as they swim into focus. The af-c will take some getting used to, but I like it. It seems to want to focus on the body of the fish, though. I need to dial it in for the eyes/face.

This clowfish picture is a bit of a heartbreaker. The larger female's eye and face are out of focus. I tried to crop the male more front and center. I like the picture because they are close together in good light. These clowns are 18 years old! They seem to have more black in their orange than younger clowns, and it comes through in the pics. I bumped up the warmth a bit to take some blue reflection out of the white stripes, but it is still pretty blue.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

Wow

Thank you so much! That means a lot!

 

[IntrinsicReef]

10" Regal Tang "smiling" for the camera. Not the best fidelity, but I thought the focus on the teeth was unique.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

Cool and very large fish in my client's tank, but a challenging photo shoot. 480 gallon bowfront with Kessil spotlights. The curved thick acrylic distorted and added haze. The spotlights meant the fish were swimming in and out of shadows. The camera picked up mostly blue light, even though it looked near daylight to the eye.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

I bought a used Nikkor 105mm 2.8 lens and I am happy with the results. It doesnt let as much light in as the 50mm 1.8, but I like filling the frame with closeups and packing in the pixels.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

Great sharp shots.

Thank you! Much appreciated!

 

[IntrinsicReef]

I had a lot of fun photographing and editing this Tusk. More pics of him incoming.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

I enjoy shooting portraits of fish. I always see detail I miss with the naked eye. The 105mm has been great for filling the frame with detail.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

Love his resting grumpy face

 

[betareef]

You are getting lovely sharp clear photos with your new lens. Well done.

May I suggest that the colours are oversaturated a bit, and maybe white balance is a bit off too (caused by the tank lights I expect). This is all correctable in post processing - the photos are great.

 

[timmyrules]

These are some ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL pictures!!!!! :star-struck: