Photographing Your Reef

[sherman]

Wow you carry so little lens. I aways Kia Su.Carry everything

[w3ish3ng]

Wow you carry so little lens. I aways Kia Su.Carry everything

carry too many lenses. by the time i reach the place, die already no strength take photo already.

[peacemaker]

We should sticky this.

[sherman]

carry too many lenses. by the time i reach the place, die already no strength take photo already.

That is why I found nowaday travelling become very light.

[Vlamingi_cont]

Wow you carry so little lens. I aways Kia Su.Carry everything

Well plan ur shots say if you want to get close ups a zoom will do well and if u're taking say a birthday party a wide angle will also do the job ... So Juts bring those u think will get ur shots if u wan close up but have a wide angle lense mounted go closer to the subject however if the subject move away (shy) try agn with a zoom lense or zoom in as close as u could...

[comycus]

I also believe in primes due to their superior optical performance. My legs can act as zoom More stuff to add to my xmas wishlist!

I really seldom find the need to go beyond 100mm, unless I'm going to zoo or sungei buloh, then 200mm also not enough. Off topic abit, I would love to get my hands on a WA. 10-20mm! wootz

been really lazy this weekend for this thread, more to come tonight!

[comycus]

Feel free to add in your own tips!

Improving Camera Phone photos

1. DON'T ZOOM!

Our camera phones do not have optical zoom. Therefore, zooming in / cropping your photos will degrade photo quality.

2. Choose the highest quality setting possible

Don't degrade photo quality. Camera phone photo quality aren't great to start off with.

3. Keep your lens clean

Some camera phones do not have a lens cover. Clean your lens before taking photos with a soft cloth.

4. Experiment with White Balance

Most phones have limited functions, if you have control over white balance, it will be good to adjust to compensate for the blue lighting.

5. Don't fidget

Lean against the tank wall if you can't keep your hands stable, or prop the phone against a table/stool.

6. Allow for camera lag

Most cameras have a lag period from pressing the shutter and the actual shot. Do not move till the process is completed.

7. Take multiple shots

You can never get enough shots. Take at different angles, different lightings, different composition. Be creative!

8. Don't use flash

This is true for any aquarium photography. Flash creates a blownout, flat and unflattering photo.

9. Post process your pics

Do simple editing on your pics to correct colour and exposure problems. Most cell phones come with photo editing software or you can use photoshop, picasa, gimp etc.

10. Treat yourself to a better camera. UPGRADE!

In today's world, P&S cameras come cheaply. If you have the budget, go dslr!

[comycus]

Just some photos taken using my 3.2mp nokia phone... I think I should just switch to camera phone... so ashamed tt I'm producing lousy photos using my dslr.

Camera phones aren't tt lousy eh?

[teebs]

Just some photos taken using my 3.2mp nokia phone... I think I should just switch to camera phone... so ashamed tt I'm producing lousy photos using my dslr.

Camera phones aren't tt lousy eh?

Camera phones can take so called "better" images because their sensors are so much smaller than DSLRs. And since HP manufacturers are squeezing so many MPs into such a small sensor, the image looks much sharper and has greater DOF when it is reduced to a small size. If you were to view a HP camera image taken at full size compared to a DSLR's, you will find that the HP image is very noisy and lacks a lot of details compared to the DSLR.

[comycus]

Camera phones can take so called "better" images because their sensors are so much smaller than DSLRs. And since HP manufacturers are squeezing so many MPs into such a small sensor, the image looks much sharper and has greater DOF when it is reduced to a small size. If you were to view a HP camera image taken at full size compared to a DSLR's, you will find that the HP image is very noisy and lacks a lot of details compared to the DSLR.

I agree. Anyway, megapixel counting is really just a sales gimmick unless you are blowing up poster sized photos. These are just some examples for those still using camera phones that you can still take beautiful photos of your tank for all of us to enjoy!

I think I was able to achieve some ok looking bokeh because of the relatively short focal length of the camera phone lens, relatively close 'critical focus'. Can the pros correct me if i'm wrong? Again, goes to show that with some careful thought and experimening, you can still recreate shallow (limited) dof even on camera phones.

[jackywongto]

Just some photos taken using my 3.2mp nokia phone... I think I should just switch to camera phone... so ashamed tt I'm producing lousy photos using my dslr.

Camera phones aren't tt lousy eh?

wow .... not bad for a handphone shot. I am sure my iphone definitely cannot take pics like this

[comycus]

Ever since joining SRC, I have gotten to know many other great reefers. Not everyone has a dslr. Sometimes ppl say: "I need a dslr to take good photos!" Others say: "I can't even take nice photos with my dslr, so cheeeeeem!"

Sometimes, a little post processing helps. Photos taken by cameras are not always WYSIWYG. Colour may be off, it might have been under exposed, white balance was off etc. This is where post processing comes in. In my opinion, good post processing brings the viewer closer to what we intend to show them. It helps us to portray a true-er photo than what the camera did. However, post processing can also be misused, for example like over-saturating colours to get better colours to sell off a dull looking coral frag. I consider it an art to beautify the photo further, but only to the extent of correcting it to how my eyes perceive it.

I have used photoshop.com as an example of minor photo editing in this example. There are many other photo editing software in the market that can do the same job, this is just a quick 101 lesson to get everyone started.

After uploading your photo to your library, go into editing mode to open up the editor.

The first thing I always do is to check if my photo needs to be cropped. Take note: when you crop your photo, you are actually 'magnifying' the area to be cropped. Therefore, if there are not enough pixels (like in a camera phone), you end up with v. pixellated photo (you see lots of squares instead of a fine photo).

Drag the corners to crop the image. Take note of the grids on the lines. These are v. useful in helping you compose your cropped image. I will talk more on the rule of thirds and other 'rules' in photography another day.

As technology improves, Auto correction gets more advanced. For quick correction, I will always use this first. If I am satisfied with it, I can end off right here, and the whole process only took me 10s!

If more work needs to be done, I continue on with adjusting the lighting. I seldom use "exposure". A better option would be to play around with "Highlight" and "Fill Light". While the former accentuates bright areas, the latter 'fills' light in shadows. This gives me more control in controlling the lighting not only in dark areas, but also in bright areas.

Sometimes, there is a need to play around with 'sharpen' and 'soften'. Sharpen actually helps to bring out detail in the photo while soften... softens detail. For example, by softening the image, you can see less detail in the fins. The downside to sharpening your photo too much is it becomes too grainy. Play around and you will know what I'm talking about

I always leave adjusting colours till the end. This software has saturation and white balance corrections. So go ahead and tweak the colours! Remember not to overdo it, or it will just look fake.

Finally, remember to save a web copy of the photo to post online. This helps to reduce the size and resolution of the photo to more manageable dimensions.

That wasn't v. hard was it? With a proper software, and some practice, you can edit your photos within minutes for sharing with your friends at src!

Oh yes, just to compare, the original pic and the edited one.

[poomoon]

Thought I should share this great tip I learnt that's useful for reef photography: the lens from an old cd or dvd player can be recycled, and used as a macro lens attachment for your camera phone.

Macro photos shot with cell phone camera:

Very simple mod with great results all with a cell phone camera!

Also see this interesting article from Life Hacker:

Top 10 Ways to Get More From a Cameraphone

wow !!! great tip binosage thanks ... now to find a reason why my sis' dvd player broke ....

[comycus]

Found this great tip while browsing through SRC.

Top-down photographing techniques and equipments for corals in a reef aquarium

This article will explore some of the cheaper options that will allow an aquarist to take stunning top down pictures of corals in the home aquarium with both simple point and shoot cameras and the more expensive SLR cameras. The common denominator in these options is to provide the ability to shoot pictures from below the water surface, thereby eliminating the effects at the air water interface that lead to picture distortion.

[peacemaker]

Any advice on setting the correct white balance? I find that my current setting is unable to capture the real blue colour. Someone told me to focus on a white object in the tank and set the white balance, but it didn't give me the true colours.

[comycus]

Any advice on setting the correct white balance? I find that my current setting is unable to capture the real blue colour. Someone told me to focus on a white object in the tank and set the white balance, but it didn't give me the true colours.

Someone once told me when I first started out: Shoot RAW at all times! That way, you can correct exposures and white balance later.

I never quite followed his advice... found it a hassle to shoot photos that were 7-8mb big. Guess I should start doing it.

[peacemaker]

If you're into editing photos, that's fine, but for me, I would prefer to get it right the first time. Lazy lah!

[comycus]

If you're into editing photos, that's fine, but for me, I would prefer to get it right the first time. Lazy lah!

lol it really depends alot on your camera's metering/sensor ability. In auto mode, my gf's 350d has v. good saturation on blues, but has lackluster reds and greens. While my d60 is the opposite. Even after playing around with all the white balance modes, you might not get the perfect shot you want.

Tt's why I posted a v. quick introduction to post processing. Following this workflow, it takes me on average 5-10min to load my photos (typically take 30-50 shots at 1 go), pick the ones I like, and eventually post process all of them. A v. simple flow that isn't too time consuming nor hard to learn! I'm sure an extra 10min of your time isn't too troublesome right? I actually take more time posting them on the forum than editing the photos...

[RockyBoy]

Someone once told me when I first started out: Shoot RAW at all times! That way, you can correct exposures and white balance later.

I never quite followed his advice... found it a hassle to shoot photos that were 7-8mb big. Guess I should start doing it.

I always shoot RAW. Nowadays memory card size so huge and good prices.

[peacemaker]

I actually got a Photoshop software lying around, but haven't installed it yet. I'll see what I can do with it.

[sherman]

Shot in RAW give you plenty of ground for editing

[comycus]

Composition 101

The next series of tips I would like to share will be some composition tips to create more natural looking photos of our mini reefs. (or photos in general)

1. Center is not better

One of the most basic rules in photography is the Rule of Thirds. It basically says center is not always better.

Many cameras have this function of providing gridlines on the preview screen. This actually helps you practice the rule of thirds. You can either choose your main focal point at the 4 intersection points (such as the eye of your fish), or place points of interest along the grid lines so that the photo becomes more balanced and enable viewers to interact with it more naturally. A v. good example of this by bro w3ish3ng (hope you don't mind me reproducing your photo bro!):

Tip: you can try to recreate the rule of thirds in post photography through cropping, but photo quality might deteriorate if you crop too much away.

Of course, this rule can be broken. But try mastering this grandfather of photography rules first, and see some improvement in your photos taken!

[poomoon]

Just some photos taken using my 3.2mp nokia phone... I think I should just switch to camera phone... so ashamed tt I'm producing lousy photos using my dslr.

Camera phones aren't tt lousy eh?

wow ... envy envy your nokia pic bro.

just trying, taking one with iphone 3gs, used digital zoom though (maybe not good idea), and this is what i got.

[comycus]

wow ... envy envy your nokia pic bro.

just trying, taking one with iphone 3gs, used digital zoom though (maybe not good idea), and this is what i got.

yeah, for hp try not to use zoom. Digital zoom works the same way as cropping. They take away pixels from the photo and stretch the remaining ones. That's why the picture quality deteriorates.

haiz, my nokia phone going bonkers on me. Light no longer working, and cannot detect memory card... looks like I need to buy a new one soon... I drop it too many times le.

[Vlamingi_cont]

Why not hav a photo of the month contest??? :eyebrow: I'll den submit this photo... This shows that rule of thirds can be broken but yea agree with bro comycus that try to follow it until you figure out how composition works...