Par38 Photo help

[Julian_blnc]

Trying to get a nice fts of my tank, however the par38s make it really hard to take photos.

Any tips, I using a sony a230, it is a DSLR, i have a 38-55mm lens and a 75-300mm lens.

heres an example photo, you can barley see my wellso.

Theres more pictures in my tank thread,

One of the Par38 is a Reefbreeders, the other a rapid led. They are 10in above the tank

[ZX6Reefer]

The photos is a bit over exposed. If you are shooting in auto that is your problem. If that is the case I would look at some youtube vids regarding the manual modes for your camera. I usually under exposea bit in order to get good color representation when shooting under my LEDs.

[Julian_blnc]

should i reduce exposure by lowering by shutter time or by another method?

 

The photos is a bit over exposed. If you are shooting in auto that is your problem. If that is the case I would look at some youtube vids regarding the manual modes for your camera. I usually under exposea bit in order to get good color representation when shooting under my LEDs.

[ZX6Reefer]

This is the exposure you are looking for straight out of the camera.

 

You should be increasing shutter speed, lowering ISO, or closing the aperture.

 

[Julian_blnc]

Sorry that what i meant regarding shutter speed, this one was taken iso200, 1/20th of a sec, not sure what you mean about aperature

This is the exposure you are looking for straight out of the camera.

 

You should be increasing shutter speed, lowering ISO, or closing the aperture.

 

[ZX6Reefer]

Try increasing shutter speed incrementally until it looks good to you. Another good thing about a faster shutter speed is you'll get rid of the blur from moving objects (fish).

 

Edit: check this out

[Julian_blnc]

thanks, will mess with it later, ah, i love leds but they are quite hard to get color rendition

[Bishop]

You should be shooting in RAW and editing with something like lightroom. I normally use a flash above my tank then edit to bring back the color. Setting up a bunch of supplementrary lighting over the tank to really brighten it up can go a long way. Some 6500k Household CFL's might help you out a lot as well.

 

[Julian_blnc]

ive never shot in raw, though i know my camera does it,

 

i dont really have it in my budget for photo software,

I used to use Paint.net before i switched to mac for photoshop applications

[pj86]

Also, you have to adjust the white balance. Usually I adjust it to a 8,000-9,600K M2 to get the correct color rendition.

[Lalani]

Free photoshop: Gimp

[Julian_blnc]

Free photoshop: Gimp

I actually have that, i use it for graphic design and such, didn't think to use it for editing photos, thanks lani

[ZX6Reefer]

Another free program that works great for RAW processing is RawTherapee.

 

I use Lightroom, but if you can't afford it (~$80 for students) then this is a great alternative.

[Julian_blnc]

Thought Lightroom was more expensive, at 80 i might give it a shot, usually when things carry a price tag there is a reason.

But ill pronely try rawtherapee first

Thanks

[Tenor]

No need light room or other software for it if you set your camera correctly. Here I would try for your camera: set your camera dial to macro shot, shoot picture as the rock next to your wellso and go to menu set it for white balance. Now you can shoot wellso after the white balance has been corrected.

 

Same method if you want to shoot with AV. ISO around 100 is good enough for fish and corals pictures.