Full Tank RSM Photos~

[Reefmack]

Nice pics of nice tanks everyone! Glenn - I see your scooter posing for the camera.

[Sapphire]

looking good Glen - your corals all look very happy - well done!

[redsea reefer]

Hey Sapphire, how about a FTS of your tank. I don't believe we have seen one recently.

[Sapphire]

OK - I've got some sps frags to place etc today so will take a couple of photos after that. So you'll have to excuse the awful white epoxy look!!
It is about time I posted a photo!

[redsea reefer]

Originally Posted by Sapphire

OK - I've got some sps frags to place etc today so will take a couple of photos after that. So you'll have to excuse the awful white epoxy look!!
It is about time I posted a photo!

great, will be waiting...

[mbdave]

Chimo I'm sure your tank will look great with dedication. Nano reef its looking good!!

[Sapphire]

Well I finally took a couple of photos today....

I'm just starting to add some sps frags which is a bit of a change for me so it's going through a bit of an awkward phase.... (also note the 2 brown pocillpora - ordered unseen as pink stylophora!!To add insult to injury they came with basal tissue recession - yay!).

Tank is still recovering from circualtion pump issues where I lost lots and lots of my zoas and my poor sun corals receded badly, but getting better slowly!











I like this one!....

[Sapphire]

PS how do so many of you get such great clear photos?? I can't seem to do it...I've tried macro on and off, flash on, off and 'as required'....it still doesn't look like the tank actually looks if you know what I mean??!

[Nowellsy SNR]

Looking good

[nanoreefing4fun]

Sapphire - tank look great - thanks 4 sharing !

ps - my pics improved with the addition of a new camera cannon 450 xsi & this is a great link too... how can we specifically improve our reef tank photography

[Reefmack]

Originally Posted by Sapphire

PS how do so many of you get such great clear photos?? I can't seem to do it...I've tried macro on and off, flash on, off and 'as required'....it still doesn't look like the tank actually looks if you know what I mean??!

The tanks looks great and your pictures look nice & clear to me! It's not easy to get macros with everything in focus - it depends on what the lens wants to focus on. Increasing the f stop can increase the depth of field, but using a tripod and and remote shutter switch help a lot. The Pocillopora may get pink as they get used to the tank - pink corals often tend to be brown unless under high intensity lighting.

[Reefmack]

Glenn - I got these instructions from a guy named Rick, forwarded to me over a year ago by MAXreefer, who has now disappeared from the RSM scene. They were based on the Rebel XT, but should be helpful for the XTi, XSi, or some of the hints for any digital camera:

"First off, don't use the auto settings at all. Stick to Av, Tv, or full manual and ALWAYS shoot in RAW format. Jpegs are generally useless and RAW files are essential for post-processing. The Canon 100mm F/2.8 is an excellent lens and will give you great results. I used one for quite a while with my XT before I went to my 30D and Sigma 150mm and Canon 60mm. That being said, lets get to the settings.

General setup:
-I set my WB to 10,000K. I don't know if you have that option on the XTi or not. I also process my RAW files with Adobe Lightroom which fix any color issues so the WB isn't that big of a deal for me
-Turn off any other lights in the room to avoid reflections
-Always shoot perpendicular to the glass. Glass distorts if you shoot through it at an angle. This is very import and often overlooked.

For coral/macro shots here are the general rules that I follow.
-Use aperture priority
-A good tripod is must
-Use a shutter release cable w/mirror lock-up enable in the custom functions
-Generally F/8 or higher but don't go above F/16
-Turn off any pumps in the aquarium so the coral doesn't "sway" in the current
-Shutter speeds will be slow (I've gone up to 30 seconds) but that shouldn't matter if you are on a tripod and pumps are off
-I generally use autofocus unless it hunts too much, then I'll switch to manual

Fish shots are much easier, IMO.
-I use shutter priority (Tv) and adjust it based on what fish I'm shooting. Clownfish are slow and stupid and easy to shoot at 1/60 or 1/80 of a second. A fast Tang needs 1/150 or faster to freeze the action. This also depends on the lens. Generally, you want to stay faster than 1/focal length of the lens to eliminate any camera shake. That means you would want to set the shutter speed at a minimum of 1/100 for shooting fish no matter what it is.
-The f-stop will be pretty open but that's okay. You want to isolate the fish from the rest of the background so a shallow depth of field is desired. When I shoot fish, my f-stop seems to fall around F/2.8-F/5.6 or so. Adjust your ISO so you can properly expose based on the shutter speed and let the f-stop fall where it will. This takes quite a bit of trail and error but you'll get the hang of it."

The link to the Ximina site is also a good one that I had forgotten about.

[nanoreefing4fun]

Great tips Terry - thanks for sharing !!!

[Sapphire]

Originally Posted by Reefmack

The tanks looks great and your pictures look nice & clear to me! It's not easy to get macros with everything in focus - it depends on what the lens wants to focus on. Increasing the f stop can increase the depth of field, but using a tripod and and remote shutter switch help a lot. The Pocillopora may get pink as they get used to the tank - pink corals often tend to be brown unless under high intensity lighting.

Thanks - I hope they colour up - they've only been in 2 days so have time yet! I'm more concerned abou the tissue recession, however it hasn't become any worse since I got themm so that's psoitive - I'llporbably end up fragging them anyway.

[redsea reefer]

very nice tank sapphire...thanx for sharing