Watchguy's SPS Addiction (photo intense)

[NY_Caveman]

You really have some incredible pieces with excellent photos of them.

 

[McPikie]

Without wanting to sound rude, or pic holes, does your ISO need knocking down a touch? The pics, although great colouration, look a little noisy.

 

[watchguy123]

You really have some incredible pieces with excellent photos of them.

Thank you

Without wanting to sound rude, or pic holes, does your ISO need knocking down a touch? The pics, although great colouration, look a little noisy.

Not rude at all. I am glad you took the time to look at some of my pictures. I take a gazillion pictures but I am still an amateur. However I love to talk photography. I usually shoot iso of 200-800 and rarely go to 1600. My camera is relatively new and handles much higher iso with little noise. And I usually shoot at 1/60 of a second but go up to 1/200 for fish pics and typically f2.8, sometimes there is enough light to get up to about f4. For most of these pictures, I was using a Sony 50mm 2.8 macro lens. My camera is a full frame 42 megapixel camera (Sony A7riii) and the lens is a sony lens as well. So with all the gadgetry, I should have little to no noise. However, I also crop pictures as well. Still, one would think I should be ok. I think part of the problem is that photobucket doesn't let me transfer high resolution so I often resize the photos to 1 megabyte or even smaller. I presume it is the resizing that may be part of the issue. But even so I may not have the sharpest focus to begin with because..well just because that is the best I can do. I also hand hold all my pictures so movement artifact adds to the problem. And I don't know how to do noise reduction in lightroom. Some days my shots seem so good and then other days less so. I never really understand that. I sometimes use a Sony 90mm f2.8 macro lens but often it is just too close. I think perhaps if I used the 50mm macro on the higher up corals and the 90 mm macro on those closer to the bottom corals, that may improve things. I take virtually all my pictures top down because I have a bowfront tank which causes significant distortion when trying through the front glass shots. It also makes using a tripod impossible. I stand on a ladder to get the top down photos.

I enjoy photography quite a bit so I am always open to ideas, suggestions and criticism.

 

[bubbaque]

You take beautiful pics but they are a little bit "noisy". You really shouldn't get too much noise with those iso levels. If you look at some of your pics they have a bunch of of little dots all over. There is a slider in lightroom under the detail tab called "noise reduction". Sliding that up a little helps get rid of the noise but it does slightly blur the pic.
If you look at the pics on a phone its hard to see the noise.

Here is a before and after of one of your pics with the noise reduction turned up a little.
Before

After

 

[McPikie]

You should try FlickR for photo hosting, they don't seem to compress as much as Photofuckit

 

[watchguy123]

I have been enjoying this hobby for a long time. One of the many fun things is to note the progress of a coral that just seems to be thriving.

Z's Pink Granny (under blues)

 

[drawman]

I have been enjoying this hobby for a long time. One of the many fun things is to note the progress of a coral that just seems to be thriving.

Z's Pink Granny (under blues)

I love it beautiful coral watchguy!

 

[watchguy123]

I love it beautiful coral watchguy!

Thanks, Tim

Here is a comparison of Z’s Pink Granny with the first shot has t5’s only and the second with reefbrites only. Fascinating how the mummy eye chalice to the lower right doesn’t change color regardless of what lighting is used for the photo



Z’s Pink Granny (reefbrites only)

 

[justingraham]

Who is this z guy
U make his Corals looks amazing

 

[bubbaque]

That is a beautiful coral! I think I like that particular coral better under the t5's.

The noise in the pics has disappeared. Did you use the slider or adjust something on the camera?

 

[watchguy123]

Who is this z guy
U make his Corals looks amazing

Z is the best reefer that I’ve ever seen. Somehow he gets acros to explode with color. He is truly a coral whisperer. He is also my 5 year old grandson

That is a beautiful coral! I think I like that particular coral better under the t5's.

The noise in the pics has disappeared. Did you use the slider or adjust something on the camera?

Photobucket requires me to resize my photographs before I try to load them on their site. I may have been reducing the size too much previously. Now I’m taking a 42 megabyte file down to about 3-5 megabytes.

I have two colonies of RRC Orange Passion, one up high and one fairly low and both have identical
color. This is the one up high because it’s easier to get a picture of it.


Reef Raft Canada Orange Passion

 

[watchguy123]

This colony was a frag for two years and just wouldn’t grow. It had wonderful polyp extension but no real growth to speak of. Well it finally has taken off and is a small colony now. The colors are extraordinary

Z’s Knees

 

[bubbaque]

Love the name on that one!

 

[watchguy123]

Jf flame

 

[watchguy123]

It’s not growing fast but it is a looker

Reef Raft USA rainbow blossom

 

[watchguy123]

I have both versions of this, Reef Raft Canada wolverine and Reef Raft USA Wolverine. They are very different. The USA version has been slow growing for me in my tank but the Canada version is fast growing for me.

Reef Raft Canada Wolverine

 

[Phelipe's Ocean]

I will never get over your stuff haha simply amazing. Pardon me if you have answered this before but are you using a gel filter? If so which one? I am so frustrated trying to fix white balance for the past few months that I just want to stop taking pics all together. I don’t know if the gel filter is the problem or just the camera.

 

[watchguy123]

I will never get over your stuff haha simply amazing. Pardon me if you have answered this before but are you using a gel filter? If so which one? I am so frustrated trying to fix white balance for the past few months that I just want to stop taking pics all together. I don’t know if the gel filter is the problem or just the camera.

Dont be discouraged. Photographing reef tanks are challenging particularly with blue lighting. A lot depends on what you want in terms of the quality of the photo. Cell phones, in particular, Samsung is pretty good at dealing with reef lighting. Apple phones I think are not so good at it. There are a variety of filters and programs designed for phone cameras but I use a digital camera so I am not familiar what is available for cell phones. Digital cameras struggle with reef lighting. Canon has seemingly the best ability to white balance blue reef lighting. Sony and Nikon are not very good at white balancing the blue light. They generally can white balance well up to around 10k.

So from my perspective, the best choices are either a Canon camera or gel filter on a Sony or Nikon. There are lots of orange colored plastic filter rolls that you can buy but I think the best gel filter is an 85 screw on glass filter. The 85 gel filters also come as "A", "B" and "C". Each shifting the colors slightly differently. I should clarify that I use a Sony mirrorless camera but perhaps should have considered a Canon camera instead for my last purchase. Gel filters do not result in perfect pictures though. You still need to use a program like lightroom to refine the picture for more color accuracy. And to be clear, a photo that has not been "color corrected" is not a better nor more honest or accurate. Anytime a photograph requires color correction, there is some give and take such that the color rendition can be close to perfect or simply exaggerated. But the tern color correction means just that correcting the color, not exaggerating. Using a filter to help control lighting extremes is also imperfect so there can be color shifts that are not necessarily perfect. It is about trying to get the most accurate color that you can.

I have come to enjoy the look of blue lighting in a reef tank and so I use an 85B gel filter lens and then I color correct in lightroom. I am a hobbyist level photographer so undoubtedly whatever I do is far from perfect photographically. Nonetheless my goal has always been to get the colors right for the light that I am using for the photo. If I could look at my tank all day long with the blue reefbrites on, that is exactly what I would do. So I take the vast majority of my pictures under that light. I also take top down pictures which is with out a doubt the most colorful angle for most coral. And in fact, I enjoy using a top down viewer to look at my reef.

I share so many of my pictures for many reasons. Certainly it provides an interesting history of both growth and color transition. Plus, I also get occasional bragging rights of something beautifully colored. And I find it inspirational. When I first started in the hobby about 20 years ago, my fantasy was a beautifully colored tank of sps. Lighting was much whiter then. Photos gave me something to aspire to. As the years have gone by, I critically look at other reefers photos to see what some have and can accomplish. The internet allows all of us to look into someone else's reef tank living anywhere in the world and see all these gorgeous creatures. If people didn't share pictures, then all we would know is what our LFS had on stock. There is a long list of reefers that I have always waited for them to post every new picture. I have always wanted my special acro to turn out as beautiful as the special acro that someone had shared. So I post pictures to inspire others as well. Photos often lead to discussion and lots of interesting information as well. Lastly, I have come to find reef photography extremely fun and a wonderful hobby as well.

 

[najer]

Dont be discouraged. Photographing reef tanks are challenging particularly with blue lighting. A lot depends on what you want in terms of the quality of the photo. Cell phones, in particular, Samsung is pretty good at dealing with reef lighting. Apple phones I think are not so good at it. There are a variety of filters and programs designed for phone cameras but I use a digital camera so I am not familiar what is available for cell phones. Digital cameras struggle with reef lighting. Canon has seemingly the best ability to white balance blue reef lighting. Sony and Nikon are not very good at white balancing the blue light. They generally can white balance well up to around 10k.

So from my perspective, the best choices are either a Canon camera or gel filter on a Sony or Nikon. There are lots of orange colored plastic filter rolls that you can buy but I think the best gel filter is an 85 screw on glass filter. The 85 gel filters also come as "A", "B" and "C". Each shifting the colors slightly differently. I should clarify that I use a Sony mirrorless camera but perhaps should have considered a Canon camera instead for my last purchase. Gel filters do not result in perfect pictures though. You still need to use a program like lightroom to refine the picture for more color accuracy. And to be clear, a photo that has not been "color corrected" is not a better nor more honest or accurate. Anytime a photograph requires color correction, there is some give and take such that the color rendition can be close to perfect or simply exaggerated. But the tern color correction means just that correcting the color, not exaggerating. Using a filter to help control lighting extremes is also imperfect so there can be color shifts that are not necessarily perfect. It is about trying to get the most accurate color that you can.

I have come to enjoy the look of blue lighting in a reef tank and so I use an 85B gel filter lens and then I color correct in lightroom. I am a hobbyist level photographer so undoubtedly whatever I do is far from perfect photographically. Nonetheless my goal has always been to get the colors right for the light that I am using for the photo. If I could look at my tank all day long with the blue reefbrites on, that is exactly what I would do. So I take the vast majority of my pictures under that light. I also take top down pictures which is with out a doubt the most colorful angle for most coral. And in fact, I enjoy using a top down viewer to look at my reef.

I share so many of my pictures for many reasons. Certainly it provides an interesting history of both growth and color transition. Plus, I also get occasional bragging rights of something beautifully colored. And I find it inspirational. When I first started in the hobby about 20 years ago, my fantasy was a beautifully colored tank of sps. Lighting was much whiter then. Photos gave me something to aspire to. As the years have gone by, I critically look at other reefers photos to see what some have and can accomplish. The internet allows all of us to look into someone else's reef tank living anywhere in the world and see all these gorgeous creatures. If people didn't share pictures, then all we would know is what our LFS had on stock. There is a long list of reefers that I have always waited for them to post every new picture. I have always wanted my special acro to turn out as beautiful as the special acro that someone had shared. So I post pictures to inspire others as well. Photos often lead to discussion and lots of interesting information as well. Lastly, I have come to find reef photography extremely fun and a wonderful hobby as well.

Very well put, photography is a companion hobby for me as well.

 

[Velcro]

So from my perspective, the best choices are either a Canon camera or gel filter on a Sony or Nikon.
.

My sony a6000 does a better job with blue light (without a filter) than my canon did. I had an older rebel, but unless they've changed something drastic even lightroom wasn't enough.