Canon G9 help.

[James]

I am trying to learn how to tank full tank shots that actually look decent. The overall color on the photos I take now is pretty off, I have tried AV mode with the ISO button on Auto plus auto-auto mode; nothing makes the light look right. Does anyone have any specific advice (what settings and modes you have things on). I am sorry if this is so general, I have tried adjusting white balance but couldn't get it right at all. Anyone with this camera want to help a photo-newbie out?

James

 

[jerl77]

talk to alex i have the g9 and he is the man to help you out

 

[jerl77]

i set white balance to my sand in the tank it helps the color

 

[James]

talk to alex i have the g9 and he is the man to help you out

Thanks, I am going to PM him. I want to show off my tank under my new lights but the pics I took are so off I am almost embarrassed posting them.

-James

 

[Alex]

hey james, how's it going. if you want we can take this to pm's it might be easier. first lets get some info.

lighting in room where the tank is based.
lighting in your tank.
a current shot of what you have already taken.
what did you do to adjust the White balance.

shoot me a pm with these answers and we'll get you started by end of today. the G9 is an awesome camera that has some good features, once you get it going you will enjoy the camera.

BTW thanks jerl77. your pics are looking good.

 

[MO~IDOL]

some great tips from Marc Levenson...
http://www.melevsreef.com/fotos.html

 

[James]

hey james, how's it going. if you want we can take this to pm's it might be easier. first lets get some info.

lighting in room where the tank is based.
lighting in your tank.
a current shot of what you have already taken.
what did you do to adjust the White balance.

shoot me a pm with these answers and we'll get you started by end of today. the G9 is an awesome camera that has some good features, once you get it going you will enjoy the camera.

BTW thanks jerl77. your pics are looking good.

Thank you very much for the help Alex. Ok,
Lighting in the room was 2 regular bulbs overhead. I also tried with all lights in the room out.

Lighting in my tank is 12 (3 watt) 10k-12k white leds and 12 (3w) actinic leds with 2 (1w) red bulbs.

2 Current shots of the tank can be found in this thread... http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/71919-upgrading-leds-today.html

The way I adjusted the white balance is I took the shot in AC mode and used the custom 1 setting then turned the white all the way up(it was suggested to me to do this but clearly didn't work). The photos you see on the thread above are simply auto-auto. I like the closer one better but of course that isn't a FTS.
Thanks again,

-James

 

[Alex]

James the easiest way to set your white balance is to get a piece of pvc. Make sure its a nice white one, not the dirty ones from HD.....LOL. no seriously just take that pvc fitting/ pipe and place it in your tank under the lighting that you will use most, and focus in on the fitting so that its the only thing in your view finder. now adjust it so that you get white. this allows the camera to know what white looks like under your lighting conditions in the tank. once you've done this, make this your C1 settings.

every camera is set to give you an optimum exposure,sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't ( snow scene). this is why most camera manufacturers have incorporated some sort of scene adjustment in their cameras. When used it basically lets the camera know what scene you are shooting and it keeps to settings that will give you the exposure you are looking for in the photo.

The G9 has several of those settings, two of which work rather well ( underwater and aquarium). However, it has to do with the amount of lighting ( Kelvin ) in your setup.

BTW try to do this with the closeup mode also. Hope this helps

 

[Alex]

I took a look at the shots in the thread, not bad. also try a small tripod and turn the other lights in the room off.

Also left some ?

 

[James]

Thank you Alex, I am charging my battery now but I will try this asap and I will post the results. Thanks a bunch, that was a clear and concise explanation. I love this camera for just taking candid shots of my friends and various things on auto. I want to unlock its potential a bit more.

James

 

[James]

some great tips from Marc Levenson...
http://www.melevsreef.com/fotos.html

Thanks MO-IDOL. I will be reading this too. I will post once I get this right.

James

 

[Alex]

when you use the camera try using using one of the exposure modes. start with aperture setting. it will help you realize which aperture you like best with the camera when photographing the tank.

 

[James]

Ok, here is the best I could do. All done in aquarium mode. The white balance setting attempts did not go well, just used aquarium mode. A decent FTS. Not where I want to be with colors (not to mention the rocks are all going to be from my other tank and I am going to hide the powerhead in the aquascape.

Closer 1st 3rd bottom of the tank. lots of palys, a mushroom, some crazy orange and blue zoas and my ultra scolymia.

my semi-aggressive corals that all somehow stung one another. 2 of them got hit and are dying in areas.. I need to know what got what, I am thinkikng it was the frogspawn... any guesses guys?

my crazy orange and blue zoas. anyone know what they are called?

they glow under the actinics so much it is amazing.

My right side zoa patch with red chalice and acan in the back. lunar eclipse (I think) , tubbs blue, jokers and dragon eyes ( I think) All growing well since the swap.

I will post more as I do have a few more shots but I don't want to overload this page.

James

 

[Alex]

james the aquarium mode seems to represent the colors good. Is it possible that what you want to change is the density? On the cameras menu you will find something called exposure compensation. what this does is over expose or under expose a photo by a certain amount of exposure. for example if you want the photo to be darker then you overexpose the picture. and vice versa. I think what you are looking to do is darken the pic to get a more realistic photo. Try this next, start with +1 first and if it is too dark then lessen it.

If you are not sure where to find this let me know I will tell you exactly how to find it on the camera.

 

[Alex]

here's a shot I took at Macna in atlantic city.

 

[Alex]

and another

 

[jerl77]

alex you rule

 

[CancerverO]

James the easiest way to set your white balance is to get a piece of pvc. Make sure its a nice white one, not the dirty ones from HD.....LOL. no seriously just take that pvc fitting/ pipe and place it in your tank under the lighting that you will use most, and focus in on the fitting so that its the only thing in your view finder.

sorry James..I hope you dont mind that I interfer with ur lessons..:happysad: but I just wanna say that I just tried that and wooooww.. now I can take some nice pics.. ok going back to the topic...:thrash:

btw thanks Alex (dont know u but thanks..lol)

 

[jerl77]

told you people alex is like the g9 king lol:thrash:

 

[James]

Javier, even though I posted for my own interest, I am happy someone other than myself learned something. Now the next guy that comes along and has this question might find this thread and be able to take even better pics.

Thanks jerl, alex and moidol for the great info. (jerl, you mostly as the middleman)
James