Quick Picture Any Advice
 

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4033/7dsy.jpg

I took a few shots today and thought I would take a shot at photo editing well this is one I came up with.

Anyone have any advice on a wide angle macro lens or even photography advice? I'm going to play around with the lights tonight when there is no other light from outside or the room and see what happens.

Also with the settings of my LED's easier to edit with no blue/royal blue? or white?

Anyways the program is Lightroom 5, and my Camera is an Olympus E410 The lens is a 42-14mm

========Stand by the size is ridic

Here are a few basic tips:

1 - Under exposure is better than over exposure. If you take pictures where the corals are too over exposed, you will lose all the detail. If you take pictures that are a little underexposed, you can always post edit and recover the details

2 - Always use a tripod when taking macro shots. This is because you will likely be using a low shutter speed due to the need of a higher aperature setting to get a greater depth of field (so your entire subject is in focus).

4 - Try to manual focus if you are doing macro shots.

3 - If your camera has live view, use it to focus by zooming in on your subject. It is much easier than trying to focus through the viewfinder.

4 - Try to lower your blue led's. If your camera has issues with processing it, you can always add it later in Lightroom.

5 - Turn your your pumps off. The flow will cause your corals to move and will make it blurry, especially if your trying to take pictures of euphyillias

6 - Always take pictures at a 90 degree angle from your glass. If you are taking the picture from an angle to the glass, it will distort your pictures.

7 - Take lots of pictures with lots of settings. If you are relatively new to photography, you should play around with the settings. You will learn what each settings does, and you can find what looks best to you for your tank as every tank is different and your personal preferences will be as well for the look that you are trying to get.

8 - If you can, use a remote shutter release. You can reduce the chance of getting blurry photos. If you are trying to do a long exposure, this is a must.

9 - If the coral or whatever you are trying to take pictures of can be moved, do it. Move it to a desirable position for you to take pictures of it (like frags that are sitting on your frag rack etc...)

If you don't have a tripod try to match your shutter speed with your focal length. (eg. 100mm with 1/100th) of a second shutter speed. And take a few pictures in a row. You may find that your second or third picture is the sharpest. In this case you'll probably need to use a larger aperature which will reduce your depth of field (and make focusing on your subject difficult) but can create some really nice "bokeh" (blurred background). This makes your subject stand out.

And practice, practice, practice!

Greg

Thanks for the tips. I've had this camera for a long time but never really tried to master it, I will try to get some pictures later on and see what it can do.

I don't have a trip pod I try to use the back of a chair or the glass to stabilize haha!

Staples has a good cheap one for $35 stands 44" tall

Don't laugh but this is an old trick of desperation, most cameras will fit the screw where the lampshade goes onto a lamp. I have made some wacky looking tripods over the years;-)

Yea, tripods dont have to be anything fancy.

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-s...AdIdZ509892468

Just did a quick google search and found one for 20$. Im pretty sure there will be the same generic "cheapy tripod" for sale near your area as well as these are usually gifts for purchasing cameras. Just make sure you weigh it down with something heavy at the bottom to make sure it doesnt tip over.

yup I'm thinking I will go pickup a tripod in the next day or 2. Thanks again