Canon Rebel Xti

[Yankee I Am]

I have an awesome camera...well, I bought it for the wife. It's a Canon Rebel xti. I have the standard lens and the telephoto.

Takes great pics but I know it takes better...any ideas on how to improve taking reef pics??

The flash is the standard flash that pops up.....

Im Listening...I have taken these today

rao21462/24 Nano - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

[Poseidon]

Those are pretty good! Have you already read the stickies at the top of this forum? Is there some specific that you are looking to improve?

BTW, you are right, the XTi is a very capable camera!

[Yankee I Am]

Im reading it now Camera is only as capable as the person snapping the pics...I AM NOT THAT CAPABLE lol But I have fun trying...Wife is much better.

Im learning....

[Yankee I Am]

Ok...I do have a tripod...what would be the best settings for pics..I want close ups to do a collage type frame...My wife may also ask for suggestions..its her camera and she does well with her flowers...any help is appreciated and needed...The best Ive taken is a few posts up..

thanks!!

[charlie]

Me thinks you are doing pretty good. The only thing I can add is to take a whole bunch of pics. The delete button is not far away, so you really have nothing to lose. Practice is the best thing.

[Yankee I Am]

will keep on clicking.... thanks

[charlie]

We will be here

[Samper]

I notice Yankee hasn't logged in for a while. Is anybody else here using this camera? I just got my hands on one to try out. Any pointers? Its owner had no idea how to use it. I can't figure out how to turn the flash off in custom settings especially in macro mode.

[charlie]

It has to be in the menu somewhere. If all else fails, take it to a camera shop, and they should be able to help you out.

[Samper]

I've been messing with it all day. I can't for the life of me figure out how to do what I need to do with it. Will find a camera shop and see what I can come up with.

[charlie]

I did a little bit of looking around on my canon to, and I will be darned if I can figure it out either. Have you tried getting in touch with either Gene or Mike?

[gregr]

Try aperture priority, shutter priority, or manual exposure mode- in those modes the flash will only pop up if you tell it to (by pressing the button).
If you're doing close-ups I recommend aperture priority as a starting point. For close-ups, if you want a lot of the coral in sharp focus you need to use a small aperture- it's hard to say exactly what aperture but like Charlie says- it's easy to delete. So start with something like f11 or so and see how the pics turn out. If you want more of the coral in focus go smaller (bigger f-number, like f16 or f22 even). I say "go smaller" because the actual aperture gets smaller as the f-number increases, and the depth of field increases as the aperture gets smaller. Confused yet?!
Take a look at the shutter speed when you use tiny apertures and you'll see why a tripod is so important.

[charlie]

Hey Greg, thanx for checking in, and you actually cleared something up for me too, thank you!!!!

[gregr]

Glad to help

[charlie]

I really wish my top down viewing box had a camera mount on it!!!!! The last bunch that I took turned out pretty good, but man, it is hard to hold that thing all stretched out!!!!

[gregr]

Top down is not easy- the reflections are what kills me.

[charlie]

You have a top down viewing box don't you?

My wrists are shot when I get done taking them. That last bunch was about 100 pics, I needed the adult beverage when I got done.

[gregr]

Actually I don't. I'm thinking of getting one made that clips on to the camera somehow. Still mulling it over. I figure with all the old hardware and flash brackets I have laying around I should be able to rig something usable.

[charlie]

Wow, I am sure if you could catch on to one you could turn out some neat stuff!!!! If you want, I can send a pic of mine tomorrow.

[gregr]

That would be awesome- thanks!