My journey into photography (formerly "Newbie questions")

[freezetyle]

I have recently come across a canon 5d. it has a canon 28-105mm lens on it. in order to get some of the close up shots i used a few of the magnifying filter on it. i can't seem to snap a decent pic in the water. Could there be too much distortion from going through both the magnifying filter (hoya 1+, 2+, 4+). I know i have the shakes a bit so a tripod is the next investment.

here is kind of the best i can get.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/IMG_1055.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/IMG_1053.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/IMG_1031.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/_MG_1061.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/IMG_1056.jpg

[Sunee]

Hi. I am not familiar with the equipment you are talking about but from the pictures it looks to me like a depth of field problem. It appears that small parts of your pictures are in focus. To get more of your subject in focus (front to back - depth) you need to increase the depth of field or the f-stop (5.6 and higher should give you better results). I don't have any links but if you do a search for depth of field I bet you will find alot of helpful articles/tutorials with better explanations than mine.
A tripod will also help if you are shakey.

[don.ald]

progressive has meantioned a photo taking workshop in the works for the near future. waiting for that:wink:
for me, i cant figure out the white balance thing??

[Sunee]

I have taken numerous courses in photography and they really help. White balance I understand but being able to set the white balance on my camera is another story. I only have a point and shoot since I stopped using my 35mm camera. It is supposed to be a "one push" setting Ha Ha so I just use the Auto white balane for now. If the course is good they should go over white balance and how to set it with your camera. Good luck!!

[SmallFry]

I think like Sunee said it's a depth of field issue. I've got a close up filter too but haven't tried it in the tank. Still, outside the tank, I get similar results to you - the depth of field is just insanely shallow (it's a 4+). The only thing you can do really is take the shot at the highest f-stop you can and with the shortest focal length lens you have (or a zoom at it's shortest setting) both will give you a greater depth of field. The trade off with the f-stop is exposure time, so a tripod would help lots with those longer exposures, though it's amazing what you can do with a beanbag, books or any other random stuff you have lying around, if what you're photographing doesn't move around too much.

There's a setting on my ancient eos 350d that has the camera try to get you the best depth of field automatically (labelled A-DEP on the main rotating selector dial on the top right of mine) - may be worth a try...

Failing that the old faithful solution is to pretend that's what you wanted! :mrgreen:

I think the ultra short depth of field looks quite good when you use it to highlight the particular part of the shop that is of interest. Just be careful about selecting your AF points to make sure the camera is focussing on the exact area of interest since there's little latitude if the camera picks the wrong place.

For what it's worth I really quite like some of your shots.. If only there was enough light in my tank to take some shots that didn't look really dim or have blurred fish..

[freezetyle]

Thanks for all of the help. I think part of my issue is getting the idea of one or two good shots out of a group of 100. Practice, Practice, Practice... Patience.

[freezetyle]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/_MG_1118.jpg

[Snaz]

A tripod, bookcase or a dead elephant is must to keep the camera steady for macro shots. Also for aquariums turn off the pumps ten minutes prior to shooting but don't forget to turn them back on after!

[freezetyle]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/IMG_1127.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/IMG_1126.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/freezetyle/IMG_1125.jpg

Not fish related but who doesn't like hydrangeas

Looking at these photos, I think the magnifying filters i bought add a little too much distortion. If you look at the edges in the above photos you can see it slowly gets worse and worse. And in my mind/vision not in a typical way you normally see in photos.

Time to start looking into a budget macro lens...

[jzz30tt]

You can find good macro lenses occasionally for really decent prices. I managed to come across one such deal and it's amazing how much nicer to use a purpose-built lens is. I'm over on the nikon side of things but i'm sure the same is true for deals on canon lenses. The tamron 90mm in canon mount has a great reputation as does the tokina 100mm

One of my first macro's after getting it. It being the Nikon 105mm 2.8 AF Macro lens.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/5460600658_317d5d4ff6_b.jpg

I love how much easier it is to work with when compared to extension tubes and the like.

[freezetyle]

You can find good macro lenses occasionally for really decent prices. I managed to come across one such deal and it's amazing how much nicer to use a purpose-built lens is. I'm over on the nikon side of things but i'm sure the same is true for deals on canon lenses. The tamron 90mm in canon mount has a great reputation as does the tokina 100mm

One of my first macro's after getting it. It being the Nikon 105mm 2.8 AF Macro lens.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/5460600658_317d5d4ff6_b.jpg

I love how much easier it is to work with when compared to extension tubes and the like.


Great photo, Thank you for sharing. I have always been a nikon point and shoot fanatic. I imagine there dslr's experience would follow suit.

I have been cruising ebay for some cheaper ones. I have a bunch of Film SLR's that were my grandpa's i might just have to dive into those ones and play around with some of the lenses there. I wish i had the same appreciation for camera's like he did. There are some really neat camera's (exakta, Leica, rollei, etc)

[jzz30tt]

I would if i were you. There's bound to be some great glass in there and great equipment in general. I still shoot film as well as there are certain places where you really cannot beat it. A good digital scan at 4000dpi and you've got a very high resolution digital image to play with after.

[piusma]

It's a function of amount of light (ISO) and aperature for your depth of field. You want to have as much light as possible. So,

Set your ISO settings to as high as you can (as long as it still gives you reasonably clean images).

Step your lens down to f/5.6 or f/8, you're going to loose light as you stop down the lens but that's the only way you can gain depth of field.

Now your depth of field actually includes some space in front of your focal point and some space behind it. So you should set your focus point so it'll maximize your depth of field. (i.e. choose a focal point that is a little behind the closes point)

Also remember your focal plane is parallel to the sensor in the camera. So by tilting the camera you could get more of your subject in focus. (The only problem is if you shoot at an angle, the glass from the tank might give you distortions)

Now hold your breathe and roll your finger over the shutter button instead of pressing it and pray for the best results.

White balance is a little more difficult and you'll have to check with your manual and should allow you to adjust it. If you shoot raw, you should be able to change your white balance in the software. Good luck.

[DisneyCoralReef]

Tanks are hard to photography eh. I should post some of my photography. I'm into equine photography tho, a bit left field for this forum. I will try to make time later to post some of my most recent sessions.

Beautiful photos!