Fishful Thinking Posted January 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Thanks, Patrick. Thankfully, I enjoy the practice a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Lookin really really great Greg. I love that blue dolphin pic also, great job! How are you focusing on the fish? Auto focus or manual? Are you focusing on a spot in the tank and then waiting till the fish comes in that same range, or are you focusing on the fish as it's moving? Your getting great results. As you said in my post, mine are getting better but you can see that some are still very out of focus! Boom :boom: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 I have been trying a few things (like taking 200 pictures so far!). I have it on autofocus and I choose a fish that I want to get a shot of and then track them with the lens zoomed out. In the 150 if they move to the other side of the tank I wait because the distance is too far. When it gets close enough to the front or at an angle I like I zoom in and take the shot. Before I would just take lots of shots of the group and crop the pics so I could keep the fish I wanted in the shot. I prefer what I am doing now. Right now I am also using the flash, which means that after a little while I have to wait for it to recharge, but until I get a tripod I don't have much of a choice. The only other thing I've learned is to take LOTS of pictures and throw out a lot in the editing process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 (edited) I started experimenting with shooting in RAW format. Here is an Altolamprologus compressiceps. Edited January 7, 2009 by GregL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slough Shark Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Nicely done, you are getting good fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Thanks, Taylor! I really love the photography hobby. There is so much to learn, both the picture-taking and the editing process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Still playing around with editing the RAW images. I love the freedom it gives when editing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go4Long Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 I'm impressed with the high iso quality on that XSi I've gotta say...that last shot is very good. just his face is a little soft. gorgeous fish, nice shot. the compressiceps shot is also very good, but he's against a background that doesn't make him stand out as much as he could, wich is really the only criticism I can offer on either...I'm by no means a pro photographer though, so take it with a grain of salt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Yeah, the last shot is not my favourite, but I do like it because when I look at the first shot of the fryeri I took his color is so washed out because of the flash. Here the detail is better but you are right, the face is soft. Any suggestions on how to improve on that? I am thinking the camera possibly focussed on the algae on the glass by his head, but I am not sure. As for the compressiceps, beggars cannot be choosers as to where he felt like swimming for me, lol. These fish can be hard models to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go4Long Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 (edited) using auto focus it will occasionally do that to you for sure...might try working with manual. also keep in mind that as the aperture gets smaller the DOF effect will get more and more pronounced, and the in focus area will get smaller, and going to the upper limit of your focal length range(I'm assuming you're shooting with an 18-55mm lens) further magnifies the effect. in this case it appears to have chosen the body of the fish as the focal point. I'm assuming these are cropped down quite a bit? I can't see sitting close enough to the glass to make a 47m focal length be that much of a close up of a fish :P also are you doing a lot of post process sharpening of some kind? often things like unsharp mask and the sharpening tool in adobe lightroom will leave you with little halos around your subjects...just something to watch for. another thing that you may wish to consider is faster glass...it's an investment I know...but often you can find good deals on glass if you look around. here's a tamron that actually tests really well when compared with the canon equivelant http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-c...QQAdIdZ90774678 and another REALLY nice lens to have is a 50 mm prime, nikon makes a 50mm 1.4 but I'm not sure if canon makes an equivelant...here's a link to canons 50mm 1.8 which boasts some EXCELLENT image sharpness results even when used wide open. these lenses are excellent for portraiture of the non fishy variety too, as the 1.8 aperture is going to allow you to shoot MUCH faster, and as such you can turn the iso back down a couple steps to really bring out that color definition and image quality that lower iso gives you. http://vistek.ca/store/CameraLenses/107416...18-ii-lens.aspx hard to beat it at that price. keep in mind as well that lenses can continue to be used on the upgraded camera bodies as well, so buying your first dslr can actually be viewed as investing in a camera system. Almost all of the accessories you buy for the XSi can be used on everything up to a 5D, so even if it currently seems silly to spend up to the value of the body of your camera on a lens, it eventually can come to make sense. I'm renting a 70-200 mm 2.8 for the bike show this weekend, I'm hoping to have some time to take some fish shots with it too Edited January 7, 2009 by Go4Long Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Wow, thanks so much for the help, including the PM with those sweet racing pictures. If I get time tonight I will start trying out the manual focus. That canon lens seems like a really good deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MbunaFan Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Thanks. Those synos are hard to keep in one spot long enough to take a picture, though! The fish with the red stripe is a Haplochromic sp. "flameback" or at least that's what I think it is. I bought it as a flameback. I like it because it can be hard to find a lot of red in the rift lakes outside of the red empress. Any idea where one could find such flameback for sale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Not at the current moment. Maybe post in the buy/sell livestock forum that you are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Mahe Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 wow nice pics, and fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Thanks, Ryan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.