Rebel XT: Taking coral pictures

[gparr]

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

Actually, actinic shots are not different from "regular" shots. They just take longer exposure times and you don't do any white balance adjustments. You don't need to open the aperture. You just need a good tripod and remote release or timer. This actinic shot was a 4-sec. exposure at f/29, ISO 400.
Gary

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

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

What you do is exactly what I am talking about. Actually I do less work than that on most of my photos. Usually I do a auto correct and a sharpen. :)

 

[gparr]

Rev, instead of those rather crude auto adjustments, try learning how to do some basic curves adjustments. It doesn't take much longer and you'll be able to deliver much more of what your camera captured. Some great tutorials here: Digital Photography Tutorials
Gary

 

[Myteemouse]

wow 4 seconds..
I'll give it a shot.
I do alot of pics only lightened (to dark from the camera) and crop thats it.

 

[Littlebigaj]

I still can't get good actinics. I think I've looked through the little hole too much for one day. I'll give the actinics another whirl tomorrow. Thanks for the pointers!

 

[CoralBandit]

+1 the macro too LBAJ