I have a Nikon D40 purchased to primarily take pics of my fish tank. My goal is to be able to take some truly spectacular shots of my Corals and Fish to build an album. My outside shots seem to be great shooting in Auto mode. MY Reef Shots are CRAP! I use a Vivitar Tripod and I only have the lens that came with the camera kit. I'm going to try and pickup the 55-200mm lens and a Macro lens eventually. What settings should I be shooting my reef in?
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Nikon Tips if anyone has any!
- Thread starter asonitez
- Start date
greates tip I can give you...buy a Canon! :-X Just kidding of course! Just love the Canon versus Nikon debate!
Extension tubes are the way to go! Buy off brand tubes since there is no glass element in them, you will love the results and they are fairly cheap! Good luck!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/375238-REG/Kenko_AEXTUBEDGN_Auto_Extension_Tube_Set.html
Rod
Extension tubes are the way to go! Buy off brand tubes since there is no glass element in them, you will love the results and they are fairly cheap! Good luck!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/375238-REG/Kenko_AEXTUBEDGN_Auto_Extension_Tube_Set.html
Rod
that's why my camera sucks...! 
:-X
:-X
before the Expert Phyl reply, I would like to charm in a little bit.
my suggestion are following:
Lightning - The fish tank has different lightning in compare to day light. therefore, you most likely need to adjust your WB (white balance) to match or close to match your fish tank light in order to capture what you see. you can use Photoshop to post process the picture. WHITE BALANCE is most likely the key here.
Equipment - macro lens is a must however, extension tube is ok as well but you will lost quite a bit of light for 1:1 macro shot (lifesize). for anything that moving, in order to capture the picture in focus, you need speed to freeze the motion. light, speed is proportionally related. more light fast speed. with extension tube, you still lost light there for low speed. low speed will blur picture. there is an equipment compatibility as well. if you plan to buy the extension tube, make sure you buy the one that work with your nikon D40. Nikon D40 as far as I know does not allow you to use manual camera lens therefore, extension tube that does not have electronic contacts will not work with D40 and might cause damage to your camera body (short circuit).
Camera setting - most nikon camera has setting of M, S, A, P, portrait, macro, sport, auto. at this point, you most likely use Auto setting. with auto setting and your picture come out wash out (too much white, lost of detail), try to adjust your WB or use exposure compensation by increase it by 1/2 stop at a time. I would recommend you to set your camera mode at either portrait or sport mode and adjust your exposure compensation. if your camera has a exposure bracket function then use it. the camera will take 3 or more shots each time you taking picture and each pictures is automatically adjust to +1 stop or what ever stop you set. open your camera manual and look for BRACKET, EXPOSURE COMPENSATION and practice the function
Composition - up to you what ever your eyes see/think. reposition to avoid background cluster, reflective object in background, etc. basically you want to capture of what you see and you want other viewer see the same thing so you need to lead the viewer to where you want their eyes to go to.
try these little step first and post picture. when you get more comfort with the camera, exposure, bracket and WB, try to set camera in A, and M mode. they give you more flexibility to control your composition such as DOF (depth of field), contrast (light fall off) etc.
why get the 55-200mm lens? why not shoot for 18-200 VR lens? the 18-200 VR lens is a very very good lens. the sharpness and light fall off at long end is better than the 55-200mm. add to the benefit, 18-200 VR can be your all general purpose walk around lens. Macro lens for fish tank, i would go with anything in the range of 60mm macro lens to 150mm. Sigma make nice 150 f2.8 macro lens. nikon make good 60mm f2.8 macro lens and 105mm vr lens
my 2cents
Olivier
asonitez said:
my suggestion are following:
Lightning - The fish tank has different lightning in compare to day light. therefore, you most likely need to adjust your WB (white balance) to match or close to match your fish tank light in order to capture what you see. you can use Photoshop to post process the picture. WHITE BALANCE is most likely the key here.
Equipment - macro lens is a must however, extension tube is ok as well but you will lost quite a bit of light for 1:1 macro shot (lifesize). for anything that moving, in order to capture the picture in focus, you need speed to freeze the motion. light, speed is proportionally related. more light fast speed. with extension tube, you still lost light there for low speed. low speed will blur picture. there is an equipment compatibility as well. if you plan to buy the extension tube, make sure you buy the one that work with your nikon D40. Nikon D40 as far as I know does not allow you to use manual camera lens therefore, extension tube that does not have electronic contacts will not work with D40 and might cause damage to your camera body (short circuit).
Camera setting - most nikon camera has setting of M, S, A, P, portrait, macro, sport, auto. at this point, you most likely use Auto setting. with auto setting and your picture come out wash out (too much white, lost of detail), try to adjust your WB or use exposure compensation by increase it by 1/2 stop at a time. I would recommend you to set your camera mode at either portrait or sport mode and adjust your exposure compensation. if your camera has a exposure bracket function then use it. the camera will take 3 or more shots each time you taking picture and each pictures is automatically adjust to +1 stop or what ever stop you set. open your camera manual and look for BRACKET, EXPOSURE COMPENSATION and practice the function
Composition - up to you what ever your eyes see/think. reposition to avoid background cluster, reflective object in background, etc. basically you want to capture of what you see and you want other viewer see the same thing so you need to lead the viewer to where you want their eyes to go to.
try these little step first and post picture. when you get more comfort with the camera, exposure, bracket and WB, try to set camera in A, and M mode. they give you more flexibility to control your composition such as DOF (depth of field), contrast (light fall off) etc.
why get the 55-200mm lens? why not shoot for 18-200 VR lens? the 18-200 VR lens is a very very good lens. the sharpness and light fall off at long end is better than the 55-200mm. add to the benefit, 18-200 VR can be your all general purpose walk around lens. Macro lens for fish tank, i would go with anything in the range of 60mm macro lens to 150mm. Sigma make nice 150 f2.8 macro lens. nikon make good 60mm f2.8 macro lens and 105mm vr lens
my 2cents
Olivier
Olivier said:
+1
I shoot with a 60mm macro lens for EXTREME closeup shots, but for general tank shots, the 18-200mm is what I use. Key thing is the White Balance. You'll need to set your white balance otherwise, your pictures will have a tendency of being bluer than normal especially if your tank's lighting range is in the 10K and above average. Do a search on white balance calibration on an item inside your tank (like a piece of white PVC in the tank with your lights on)-
Great replies.
#1 Tripod
#2 White Balance (either in camera or post via PhotShop)
#2a Set colro temp in camera if possible. I sometimes use this feature and set it for 10k.
#3 Macro lens (usually fix focal length). I use a Tamron 90 with my Nikon D90
#4 Bracket the shot (auto bracket for +½ stop or more) to get proper exposure
#5 Composition. Easy to do for non-moving objects, again PhotoShop is your friend to crop unwanted items.
#6 Turn off the powerheads and pumps to still the water and avoid the floating particles from ruining an otherwise great shot.
#7 And the most important tip. Get a pro to shoot for you or teach you <g>
#1 Tripod
#2 White Balance (either in camera or post via PhotShop)
#2a Set colro temp in camera if possible. I sometimes use this feature and set it for 10k.
#3 Macro lens (usually fix focal length). I use a Tamron 90 with my Nikon D90
#4 Bracket the shot (auto bracket for +½ stop or more) to get proper exposure
#5 Composition. Easy to do for non-moving objects, again PhotoShop is your friend to crop unwanted items.
#6 Turn off the powerheads and pumps to still the water and avoid the floating particles from ruining an otherwise great shot.
#7 And the most important tip. Get a pro to shoot for you or teach you <g>
LOL on getting a pro to shoot for or teach you. Personally I am self taught. As is Brian, AFAIK. Your best friend during your learning curve is to shoot HUNDREDS of photos. Keep trying things. Manual mode. Not automatic. You want to be the one controlling the F-stop. The shutter speed. The more you play with these the more you'll understand how they're related and how to make them do what you want.
Practice Practice Practice.
Or hire Brian.
Practice Practice Practice.
Or hire Brian.
Phyl,
what do you mean by "... Shoot hundreds of photos"? I shoot thousands of photos and still short in perfect.
Everyone else not Phyl and Brian,
I live in Somerville. If anyone who need help in photography and want to learn an introduction to photography such as F stop, shutter speed, exposure compensate, colors adjustment, etc. I can always help you in person (no charge)for an hour or 2. Just PM me and we can meet at a location such as QuickCheck on Union Ave. or Border Book or Barn and Noble. I bring my camera, lens, flash, tripod. You bring your so we can teach each other. My shooting gear is Nikon (digital - film) and Leica (film). If you don't have an digital camera yet and want to test out DSLR, let me know, I can let you play with my camera and lens so you can get a feel of it.
Olivier
what do you mean by "... Shoot hundreds of photos"? I shoot thousands of photos and still short in perfect.
Everyone else not Phyl and Brian,
I live in Somerville. If anyone who need help in photography and want to learn an introduction to photography such as F stop, shutter speed, exposure compensate, colors adjustment, etc. I can always help you in person (no charge)for an hour or 2. Just PM me and we can meet at a location such as QuickCheck on Union Ave. or Border Book or Barn and Noble. I bring my camera, lens, flash, tripod. You bring your so we can teach each other. My shooting gear is Nikon (digital - film) and Leica (film). If you don't have an digital camera yet and want to test out DSLR, let me know, I can let you play with my camera and lens so you can get a feel of it.
Olivier