[jiggly75]

Hello,
Any tips on taking clear pics of corals?

[Reefland]

Looking for the same advice here!

We just got a new camera so the only 2 tips I can give right now are to use a tripod and to take a bunch of pictures to get a couple of really good ones.

[bguile]

Here's a great tutorial. Goes into great detail. I came across this a while ago while searching for the same answers:
http://www.ximinasphotography.com/lessons/index.html

The short of it, is to use a tripod, turn off your pumps, don't use a flash and take lots of pictures.

Since my recent purchase of a new camera and the recent upgrades to the photo gallery, I'll be posting more pics of my tank shortly.

[Reefland]

What kind of camera did you pick up bguile?

[bguile]

Originally Posted by Reefland

What kind of camera did you pick up bguile?

I'm sorry. I should have mentioned it before. I got a Canon 20D SLR. I've been taking photos for a while and decided to go professional this year so I picked it up after checking out a friends and absolutely loving it.

I saw in another thread that you were looking for camera suggestions. My other two cameras are a Canon Digital Rebel SLR (~$800 now)and an A80(~$250-350). Most of my current full tank shots were taken with the Rebel as I dont have a macro lens yet. Close ups were taken with the A80. I think the A80 is a great camera although taking pics of our tanks often requires some digital editing efforts to correctly render colors under or 10K+ lights. The 20D is the best I've seen so far at getting the colors right the first time, but it and the Rebel (in my eyes) are too costly to just take pictures of our tanks. That is unless that kind of money isnt a challenge.

[Poseidon]

GREAT Camera choice!!! That is the same camera I use! And you are right, it is a little much for tank pictures! I use it for sports and Weddings mostly! Works AWESOME for that, but put on a 500D close-up filter and it does pretty awesome on our tanks too!

[tatuvaaj]

Another tip is to use A mode with aperture between 8-16. All objectives are sharper at a few stops smaller than the maximum aperture.

And as bguile said, the most important thing to do is to use tripod

[bguile]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

GREAT Camera choice!!! That is the same camera I use! And you are right, it is a little much for tank pictures! I use it for sports and Weddings mostly! Works AWESOME for that, but put on a 500D close-up filter and it does pretty awesome on our tanks too!

That's exactly what I'll be using mine for mostly, weddings and sports. I've been interested and taking pictures for a quite a number of years now and am pretty much starting a business by force as people have requested me to photograph their weddings. So I figured if I was going to do them, then I might as well have the professional stuff.

What lenses do you work with Poseidon? I had never heard of the 500D until now, I'll have to check that out. Is the quality comparable to a true Macro lens?

[Poseidon]

It depends entirely on what lens you attach it too! I use my 70-200 f2.8 and yes I really like the result, however I don't like that the focus distance is set @ 500mm from the object. That is where a true macro would work best, it can focus at whatever distance you need.

As far as tank pictures go, I really like 70-200 with 500D and I use my 28-135 IS, that one I will be replacing with a 24-70L and I will be adding a 17-40 f4L soon too. THat will bring me to a total of 3 lenses to cover from 17-200 with most of it at f2.8.... Great for sports and weddings, bad for tank pictures due the limited depth of field. I guess if I sold some tank macros I could justify getting the Canon 100 macro, but I can't spend the $449 just yet... Maybe I could try the vivitar that Gene uses, at web resolution his pictures look AWESOME, I'll bet they look good in print too... (Right Gene?) Shoot me a PM if you would like to talk more "shop" I plan on going full time in about 18 months....