[Reefland]

What do I need to do to get my pictures to come out right? Of the images attached here, the ones that look very blue were taken without a flash (obviously this looks nothing like the tank in person). The other was taken with a flash and looks much closer to the actual appearance, yet I am stuck with the flash reflection in the tank.

Mike, Gene, how the heck do I correct this?

[zhenya]

Hi Scott,

There are few things that you coud do to correct colors in the first image. First off, it looks like it wasn't exposed long enough( shutter speed too fast), hence too dark of the appearance of the picture overall. You can correct the blue in the tank if you set your white balance manually. Either using a expo disk or piece of pvc in the tank and taking a shot of it under the tank's lighting and setting your white balance. I have an old CP885 and I used to set my wb to manual and take picture of something white in the tank. Look in the manual for complete guidance to how to set wb maually.

The flash reflecting in the glass problem could be corrected if you point your camera slightly downward so that light from the flash doesn't bounce back into the lens. You can't really do it if you shoot close up's because of the refracting qualities of the glass, but from a distance it is doable and I've done it few times without any problems.
Another question, were the lights in the room off or on? And, what settings did you use?

[Poseidon]

Hey Scott, Gene has pretty much got you covered. One thing that I will point out though is the difference in light between your tank lights and the room lights.

Try this, use a tripod, and repeat the same picture as above, but turn your exposure compensation up to +2. You should see an improvement in the color of the wall, but you will see the tank will be way over exposed. Ufortunately what you are trying to take a picture of has a dynamic range that is just to great to capture easily. (Dynamic range is the difference between the brightest brights, and the deepest blacks.) You could always combine the two images in photoshop, just make sure they are taken from exactly the same place!

[Reefland]

Here is a new picture that I was able to get. I took this using one of the white balance presets on our camera. The preset is "shade". The tank is much truer to color in this image, but the wall is no where near the same. Taking a close up of the tank (with only the tank in the viewer) is very, very accurate to color with this preset.

[Poseidon]

20K bulbs?

[Reefland]

14k Phoenix, which are as blue as some 20k I have used. This picture of a rock in teh tank is very true to color using that preset on for the white balance.

[Poseidon]

Very cool!

Check out this link, I'll bet it will help you understand white balance better/

[zhenya]

That is a sweet article, Mike.
Scott, unless your walls are that tan/beige color I can't see how it is possible to correct it without actually setting a wb for it. I think the problem may be in that the walls are not illuminated enough,hence when you use your flash the color appears more accurate.

As far as rock is concern, what;s up with all that algae on it?

[Reefland]

As far as rock is concern, what;s up with all that algae on it?

I guess it has something to do with nitrates over 100! Gotta love fresh rock.