My first attempts at taking some photos with a nice camera

[jacobB89]

Took my sister dslr d40x and tried taking some photos mess with setting not a clue what im doing lol took a ton of pictures most were really blue in color or just not crisp. Tried to read up on some settings to use but they are talking in a different language to me with all the stuff they said.

 

for the pics

 

open to tips or tricks or just a base settings to use maybe lol.

Edited November 7, 2013 by jacobB89

[Coral Hind]

Does the camera have a macro setting, was it on?

[Squishie89]

Using a remote with a tripod can help with the shakiness.

[FrankieGee]

I'm terrible at pics but you did well

[jacobB89]

Does the camera have a macro setting, was it on?

yes it does but when I used that setting it was more blue and washed out colors.

 

Using a remote with a tripod can help with the shakiness.

 

yea i wish i had one lol

[Origami]

Using a remote with a tripod can help with the shakiness.

+1. It's hard to see if anything's really in focus - even the rocks. My first thought was that the camera was shaking a little during the exposure.

 

Try shutting down the pumps and stabilizing the camera on a tripod or something. That'll be a good start. After that, you may want to play around with setting a custom white balance to fix the blue issue. Play around some. That's the beauty of digital cameras today: There's not film to waste and there's enough memory that you can play around for days without having to actually go back and delete the poor shots.

[TheyCallMeMr.703]

Yup, Boost more white... But Nice Tank, Goin' to really cooll to see it grow over time, then look back and reflect back to these, and remember how small they were. Cool pics.

Edited November 7, 2013 by TheyCallMeMr.703

[jacobB89]

Yea I ran out of battery before I could play around more so if I get time tomorrow I want to try and take more. I'll take all that into advice appreciate the tips

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk now Free

 

 

[jacobB89]

still not any better i adjusted a lot of setting tried all the different modes and changed are the iso white balance under all the different options from daylight, shade,flash,florescent. I gave up 

[Origami]

White balance is a pain in the butt, but it can be made easy. According to this page, the d40x has a number of settings from 3500K to about 8000K - none of which will probably be good for taking pictures of your tank. But there is a "preset" white balance setting  that allows you to manually customize the white balance on something that's known to be white. You'll want to read up on that and use that mode. Get a PVC fitting or a bright white piece of plastic and set it in the tank, taking the white balance off of a well lit part of it. After saving those settings, use it for taking tank pictures.

[howaboutme]

From my monitor, your white balance is not too far off. It's your focus. If you don't have a macro lens, you have to pull your camera further away because your lens is not capable of focusing on something that close. Alternatively, you can try manually focusing.

[jacobB89]

White balance is a pain in the butt, but it can be made easy. According to this page, the d40x has a number of settings from 3500K to about 8000K - none of which will probably be good for taking pictures of your tank. But there is a "preset" white balance setting  that allows you to manually customize the white balance on something that's known to be white. You'll want to read up on that and use that mode. Get a PVC fitting or a bright white piece of plastic and set it in the tank, taking the white balance off of a well lit part of it. After saving those settings, use it for taking tank pictures.

 

 

From my monitor, your white balance is not too far off. It's your focus. If you don't have a macro lens, you have to pull your camera further away because your lens is not capable of focusing on something that close. Alternatively, you can try manually focusing.

 

 

yea i found another guide tried some of there setting going to post some of the pics i just took trying to get better may have to buy a macro like you said and what i read on some.

[jacobB89]

here are some of the pics.

 

Funny ones for me in there are my bicolor blenny goes into the outlet of my pump when i turn it off for feeding and eats stuff from it then lays in there.

Pictures of my clown that look like its hosting(I wish) he/she is just trying to grab the shrimp out of the anemone...

 

 

 

 

[jacobB89]

[monkiboy]

those last couple are definitely getting closer - keep working on it!

[howaboutme]

Nice new pics! Do you see how much truer, sharper and more in focus your shots that are taken a bit further away are compared to the closer in shots? That's the product of a non-macro lens, which doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. Macro lens aside, I noticed there are some good suggestions already posted to help w/ getting more in focus shots.

[jacobB89]

those last couple are definitely getting closer - keep working on it!

 

Nice new pics! Do you see how much truer, sharper and more in focus your shots that are taken a bit further away are compared to the closer in shots? That's the product of a non-macro lens, which doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. Macro lens aside, I noticed there are some good suggestions already posted to help w/ getting more in focus shots.

yea its weird i tired a lot of setting playing around im in manual mode when i use macro it wont focus good and comes out blurry. A macro lens would probably help. with the lens that i have on here now i have to be back away some then zoom in it seems to focus in good just lines are not sure crisp not sure what to do there. 

 

settings im running are

image quality-fine

image size large

white balance was on auto seems to do best

focus mode AF-A

flash comp-0

iso 100

1/125s

5.6 shutter

 

those last couple are definitely getting closer - keep working on it!

thanks!

[YHSublime]

Nice shots, thanks for sharing. I know you probably love those brown palys and that purple mushroom, but be warned, if you planned on sticking in the hobby for a while, they will take over quick if not controlled. Something to think about!

[lnevo]

I wish my clowns would "not host" my anemone like yours did...nice colors!!

[jacobB89]

Nice shots, thanks for sharing. I know you probably love those brown palys and that purple mushroom, but be warned, if you planned on sticking in the hobby for a while, they will take over quick if not controlled. Something to think about!

yea i only have a few of the brown pallys in there there not bad yet more thats taking over some is the purple xenia. I don't mind if the mushrooms do something as of right now there are just 2 had for about a month just sitting on sand bed i have a lot of local people that want them when they grow lol so i hope they do take off.

[jacobB89]

I wish my clowns would "not host" my anemone like yours did...nice colors!!

wish mine would host he just tried to steal its food.... lmao

[howaboutme]

yea its weird i tired a lot of setting playing around im in manual mode when i use macro it wont focus good and comes out blurry. A macro lens would probably help. with the lens that i have on here now i have to be back away some then zoom in it seems to focus in good just lines are not sure crisp not sure what to do there. 

 

settings im running are

image quality-fine

image size large

white balance was on auto seems to do best

focus mode AF-A

flash comp-0

iso 100

1/125s

5.6 shutter

 

thanks!

 

Image size and quality won't affect "the shot", just your ability to print. I agree that auto white balance is the best unless you spend time to do custom like Tom suggested. I have a D80 and just recently got a D5200. I almost always use auto and then adjust in Lightroom. The D5200 can be further refined under "auto" for whatever color spectrum the shot has (in our case, blue). But like I said, I don't think you have a white balance issue. For me, I can't justify splurging for a macro at this moment so I'm just using some "kit" lenses and a 50mm 1.8 that I've accumulated over the years. Luckily, my camera is not really for taking tank pictures. In my opinion, a good lens is more important than a good camera (with all things equal like the person's ability and knowledge).

 

Your 1/125 number is your shutter speed while your 5.6 number is your aperture. The higher your aperture number, the more will be in focus in your shot (think landscape photos). You can try focus setting AF-S as that is used for stationary objects. I would also bump up your ISO so you can get better shutter speeds unless you're using a tripod. The lower the ISO (the better the quality but....) can affect your shutter speed. This is important in low light shots. We're often not printing our tank shots anyways so ISO is not a huge factor in terms of creating "noise".

[rocko918]

You guys should shoot in RAW mode. Much better quality and ditch the Auto mode on the camera. Shoot in AV mode.

 

Dont forget to turn off all pumps and wait 5 to 10 mins to let the water settle. You will get cleaner pics. Also use the 2 sec delay shutter release mode.

 

Shoot straight on, not at an angle.

Edited November 15, 2013 by rocko918

[jacobB89]

Image size and quality won't affect "the shot", just your ability to print. I agree that auto white balance is the best unless you spend time to do custom like Tom suggested. I have a D80 and just recently got a D5200. I almost always use auto and then adjust in Lightroom. The D5200 can be further refined under "auto" for whatever color spectrum the shot has (in our case, blue). But like I said, I don't think you have a white balance issue. For me, I can't justify splurging for a macro at this moment so I'm just using some "kit" lenses and a 50mm 1.8 that I've accumulated over the years. Luckily, my camera is not really for taking tank pictures. In my opinion, a good lens is more important than a good camera (with all things equal like the person's ability and knowledge).

 

Your 1/125 number is your shutter speed while your 5.6 number is your aperture. The higher your aperture number, the more will be in focus in your shot (think landscape photos). You can try focus setting AF-S as that is used for stationary objects. I would also bump up your ISO so you can get better shutter speeds unless you're using a tripod. The lower the ISO (the better the quality but....) can affect your shutter speed. This is important in low light shots. We're often not printing our tank shots anyways so ISO is not a huge factor in terms of creating "noise".

Cool thanks I'll mess with that next time.

 

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[howaboutme]

You guys should shoot in RAW mode. Much better quality and ditch the Auto mode on the camera. Shoot in AV mode.

 

Dont forget to turn off all pumps and wait 5 to 10 mins to let the water settle. You will get cleaner pics. Also use the 2 sec delay shutter release mode.

 

Shoot straight on, not at an angle.

+1 to this. Definitely RAW is the best. Use Nikon's View NX to make adjustments and export to JPEG. Or you can use something like Adobe Lightroom, which I use, with even more features.

 

The AV setting is Aperture priority, I agree with that too. AV is a Canon term, I believe, while the OP is using a Nikon.

Edited November 15, 2013 by howaboutme