SeahorseDreams - Introduction and 'Baby Photos'

[seahorsedreams]

Hello everyone.

My passion for photography came frommy Dad who has the best eye around. I recently upgraded my camera and no longer can seem to pull a shot off like I once could. All the little changes I made with my older cameras do not work well for this one. I figured I needed to "get back to the basics" and here I am. I love taking pictures with my macro lens of all the little critters in our tank.... wouldlove to get stonger in that area.

Okay sorry... I'll stop now. But I love showing off the "children".

 

[BCinYa]

Hi SeahorseDreams;

Nice 'Babies'.

What type of things are you having issues with, with your new camera, that you weren't with your old one?

BTW, Macro photography is a great interest of mine as well. As you're going to see in the example photos we are using in class.

Welcome,
Chris

 

[seahorsedreams]

I can't get it to focus to save my life.... even when I know it was in focus. I've had to return one because it was improperly shimmed and then I had to have the second one recaliborated by canon. I still had a better success rate with the 20D. Now I also believe I may have tapped my favourite lens.... the Canon 50mm 1.8. Santa is bringing me the 1.4 for Christmas.... so, we'll see.

I don't know what is going on with my white balance but it comes up with the craziest colours. And then some pictures are SO dark in some areas and then so overexposed in others. I never had this problem before. I could walk up to any of my tanks, fix the settings for that tank and come away with a 90% success rate. Now I could just cry.

 

[IslandCrow]

Very nice photos. What type of fish is that second one?

 

[BCinYa]

seahorsedreams;

Your color looks really good in the above photos! We will be spending some time going over color balance techniques in a couple of weeks. For the most part the color balance instructions that come with your camera and it's pre-programed color settings, just don't work when shooting subjects through glass/acrylic, colored water lit by a bewildering array of color temperature light bulbs/fixtures. There are a few things we'll go over that'll help.

It sucks to hear about all the focus problems you've been having with your different cameras. Looking at the photos here, I see that you tend to have your lens's aperture very wide (2.8, 2.8, 2.8, 3.5, 5.6, 2.8, 2.8 & 2.8 respectively) which innately leads to a narrow depth-of-field (DOF) or a very narrow of acceptable focus. The closer you get to your subject (macro), the narrower your DOF gets for any given aperture setting.

Shooting subjects as close as you are in the photos above, I'd say try apertures of f8 or smaller and see what you think. You'll still have those nice blurred backgrounds but a little more of your photo's subject will be in focus.

Yes, that means you'll have to increase your ISO, slow your shutter speed or increase the amount of light hitting your subject (or a combination of them) to compensate for less light coming through your lens.

f1.4 & 1.8 lenses are great for low light and fast action, but you need to keep in mind that the DOF is going to suck at those wide open apertures, especially when you get up close to your subject.

You may well already know all of this, but I thought I'd mention it as some of it might help and it's useful information for all your classmates.

Cheers, Chris

 

[seahorsedreams]

Very nice photos. What type of fish is that second one?

I'm sorry, I didn't see this earlier. It's a fuzzy dwarf lionfish.

 

[seahorsedreams]

You may well already know all of this, but I thought I'd mention it as some of it might help and it's useful information for all your classmates.

I will try that.

Years ago my Dad taught me all about how a camera worked. Having the upgraded version of the same model over and over again I haven't really thought of my settings... just a little twist "here and here" and it's all set for a certain type environment. Now that this camera isn't performing up to par, I realize I need to relearn how to handle my camera.

I'm going to be following along and reading/saving all of the homework, but I'm going to be without a camera. Canon is going to take it back and have a serious look at it.