Rebel XT: Taking coral pictures

[Littlebigaj]

I am having an extremely difficult time taking anything resembling a quality photo on my Canon Rebel XT.

This is what I have to work with:

A Rebel XT
18-55mm lens
35-80mm lens
A tripod
and a fish tank

I tried reading, and in return I changed the to "M" manual mode and tried adjusting the ISO around, but that didn't help me any.

Could someone take the time to give me some simple spelled out directions please? I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Art

 

[gregr]

Give aperture priority (Av) a try- it's easier for a beginner than full manual exposure mode. When you use aperture priority you only need to choose the aperture- the shutter speed will automatically be chosen by the camera. You can leave the iso to 400 until you know enough to adjust that to get the kind of picture you want.
First thing to understand is depth of field. A rough description is 'the amount of the image that appears to be in sharp focus'. Sometimes you want lots of depth of field, like when you're shooting a coral that you want to see all the detail in. Other times you don't want a lot of depth of field- like when you're trying to get a picture of a fish (or person, flower, etc.) and want the background to be soft and out of focus.
To get a lot of depth of field you need to set the aperture to a big f-number, like f16. To get a small/shallow amount of depth of field you want a small f-number like f4. Take notice of the shutter speeds the camera is choosing for the different apertures. If your subject isn't moving you can use very slow shutter speeds but if it is moving you'll need a shutter speed of at least 1/60 (for a fairly slow moving fish) up to nearly 1/250 for a tang zipping past you.
You could also try shutter priority (Tv) and just set the shutter speed- the aperture will be chosen by the camera. For most photographers aperture priority is the norm though in most circumstances.
So... if you got all that you will be realizing that there is no single set of settings that can be recommended unless you are talking about a specific situation. Fish shots are different from coral shots and they are both different from full tank shots.
Hope this helps.
Greg

 

[Angels 2010]

Here is the advice that was given to me from Gary at Reefpets. I haven't tried it yet myself, but his pics are pretty darn good.:
"Hows it going? Just a little help on the camera. It sounds like you are using the auto setting for the camera?
Here are the settings thats I use.
Set the dial to TV, this will put the camera in manual mode. Then click on the menu button to make sure that the camera is set in the highest quality level.
Once you do that you will see a button on the right that says ISO, click on that and go to 200.
Once that is set there is a dial in front of the shutter button that will set your aperture/f-stop.
When you turn that dial you will see the numbers on the left of the screen change up and down...
WHat this does is when you click on the shutter button to take a photo is will allow the shutter to stay open longer so that the lens can pull in more light.
Keep in mind that none of this will work without you using a tripod. Otherwise while the shutter is open, any movement will completely blur the photo.. Also, there is a timer on your camera for taking photos, always use it. This will allow you take take the photo about 10 seconds (or less) later than when you press the shutter button. By using the timer you are not touching the camera when the photo is taken therefore there is no movement in the camera that will cause a blur.
The other setting is the white ballance setting, just set it to auto and you are ready to start taking photos.
Take a couple photos and each one take it with a different aperture number. Maybe set it where the nemer on the left is a 4, this will keep the shutter open for 4 seconds allowing in a lot of light. If the photo is really white and over exposed then that means that the shutter was open too long. Then you might want to try it on a 2.5 and so on....
Its just something you have to practice with and figure out what aperture is best for the lighring in your tank."

HTH

 

[Littlebigaj]

Thank you both for the posts. I am going to fill up a memory card or two trying to get this right just as soon as the lights kick on.

 

[Angels 2010]

i know he does use a 100mm macro lens so that makes his pics that much better....

 

[revhtree]

Hey check out the stickies at the top of this forum.

Photography Forum

 

[Myteemouse]

For corals
I use iso 100 or 200
Fstop 4.0-9
shutter sheep 1/8-1/40

white balance is set from something white (pvc pipe) on custom white balance setting

 

[Littlebigaj]

I'm understanding a little more. My biggest issue has been that I couldn't get the lens to focus up so close. But now I've realized that I don't need to stick the camera right up the coral. I let cropping do the work. Maybe the lens is holding me back? or something I don't get?

Here are the only ones that have really turned out like anything so far, It's still a learn in progress.

 

[Littlebigaj]

 

[revhtree]

You need to realize that most of the closeups you see are from actual macro lenses. Your doing great though!

 

[Angels 2010]

those look awesome, dude...

My biggest problem is getting the right color. I plan to try everything suggested here and in that sticky and hopefully i can get it right...

 

[Littlebigaj]

Thank you for your help and support. I know that if I could figure it out under my actinics rather than MH, the colors are so much better.

 

[revhtree]

Oh I struggle with actinics shots myself! Here is a little site of my stuff that is mostly macro. Most all is shot with a 100mm Canon Macro lens. The main reason I am showing you these is I am using the Rebel XT as well. Also a little processing helps to make that great picture top notch. All the pros process photos, not to change the colors, but to make the image as nice is it can be without distractions.

Rockin Reef- powered by SmugMug

 

[revhtree]

I adjusted one of your photos a bit and cleaned it up a hair. Remember I am just a novice too.

 

[Littlebigaj]

These are really gnarley pictures revhtree. It seems that the Rebel XT has some amazing capabilities with the right lens. I'll have to make due with the lens I have for now as this new build has pinched my pockets pretty well. I enjoyed looking through your collection, thank you for sharing. I especially love that first SPS, and 38th LPS what are they?

 

[Littlebigaj]

I was going to use the auto adjusts in Photoshop CS4, but I wasn't sure if altering the image was frowned upon.

 

[revhtree]

Oh no! Do you think the pros get those perfect pics straight off the camera? No way!

 

[CoralBandit]

Alright pelos way to go, when you gonna come over here and take some pics of my **** We gotta stop buying coral and save up 4 a macro now huh

 

[Myteemouse]

I also use PS CS4 to crop and adjust stuff . all is fair game to me except color adjustments..
Actinic shots are tough, you gotta turn F stop WAY DOWN and also shutter speed,
I use like F 4.0 and shutter speed 1/8 for the ones I took this morning
This one is F 3.2
iso 100
shutter speed 1/8
and the coral was one inch from the glass

 

[gparr]

Oh no! Do you think the pros get those perfect pics straight off the camera? No way!

Have to contradict you on this one, Rev. I'm no pro, but, other than white-balance adjustment, minor curves adjustments, and sharpening (because the originals are RAW files), my images are basically what comes out of the camera. If they require much work at all, I usually delete them. The goal of everyone who is learning photography should be to get it right in the camera.
Gary