A few pics taken with phone camera.

[rgulrich]

Ray,

I tend to stay somewhere in the 8500 range for WB on my phone. I adjust the shutter speed and ISO till I see something that looks good, then take the shot. I also use the zoom to get up-close and personal with the subject. The RFA's I posted in the first couple shots were on about 1.75 zoom.

Once I have a few shots, I go into Lightroom and start the post processing to get things "just so". It is not an exact science, and I continually see flaws in my photos. Like anything else, practice makes perfect right?

Thank God we live in the digital age!! We can snap away without the worry that $7 roll of film that will cost $30 to develop will yield 30 pages of trash you wouldn't line a birdcage with.

I whole-heartedly agree. Even though I still have my Fujica 35mm sitting on the shelf wanting to be used...the cell cameras and apps are truly amazing.
I've found that when the pictures are clear enough on the shot, I can enlarge to pretty crazy levels with the resolution of the camera. That's where I can take a full size image like this A. horrida (here downsized quite a bit):

and then crop to "zoom" shot like this:

And there are many more dimensions to this as well.

Drop in some more shots and let's see what they look like!

Cheers,
Ray

 

[Jedi1199]

I whole-heartedly agree. Even though I still have my Fujica 35mm sitting on the shelf wanting to be used...the cell cameras and apps are truly amazing.
I've found that when the pictures are clear enough on the shot, I can enlarge to pretty crazy levels with the resolution of the camera. That's where I can take a full size image like this A. horrida (here downsized quite a bit):

and then crop to "zoom" shot like this:

And there are many more dimensions to this as well.

Drop in some more shots and let's see what they look like!

Cheers,
Ray

I will be doing some shots of my tank tonight (after sunset). I intend to both, take a few stills for posting here, as well as videos to update my YouTube channel. I will post updates tonight or tomorrow!!

 

[Jedi1199]

Is that Fujica a film camera or a DSLR?

I wish my dad was still around so I could pick his brain on this. He was the photographer in the family. As far back as I can remember he always had a really nice camera setup. Of course this was "Pre-Digital" age. I would love to see what he would do with todays cameras!!

I think he would have a field day with my tanks.. lol

 

[rgulrich]

Is that Fujica a film camera or a DSLR?

I wish my dad was still around so I could pick his brain on this. He was the photographer in the family. As far back as I can remember he always had a really nice camera setup. Of course this was "Pre-Digital" age. I would love to see what he would do with todays cameras!!

I think he would have a field day with my tanks.. lol

Fujica ST-705 35mm SLR. Circa 1977. Also have a great telephoto lens to go with it. We've a friend up here that shoots pictures for the Howard County Library as well as for fun and such. He's also an award-winning photographer. If you want some wildlife (and life in general) photography inspiration, here's a link to his website:

https://www.geoffreybakerphotography.com/index

His work is stunning, and he will "stake out" a shot for days on end for the right moment. Scroll through the galleries on the home page using the arrows on the bottom left of the screen.
I haven't got that kind of patience, but with my reef I try to pull the camera out when something catches my eye, and take numerous shots. Digits are a lot cheaper than film, as you know. I move the pics to the computer and pick and choose. I only crop and resize on the box...never tried to Photoshop a pic.
Have fun!
Cheers,
Ray

 

[Jedi1199]

Fujica ST-705 35mm SLR. Circa 1977. Also have a great telephoto lens to go with it. We've a friend up here that shoots pictures for the Howard County Library as well as for fun and such. He's also an award-winning photographer. If you want some wildlife (and life in general) photography inspiration, here's a link to his website:

https://www.geoffreybakerphotography.com/index

His work is stunning, and he will "stake out" a shot for days on end for the right moment. Scroll through the galleries on the home page using the arrows on the bottom left of the screen.
I haven't got that kind of patience, but with my reef I try to pull the camera out when something catches my eye, and take numerous shots. Digits are a lot cheaper than film, as you know. I move the pics to the computer and pick and choose. I only crop and resize on the box...never tried to Photoshop a pic.
Have fun!
Cheers,
Ray

Most of my earlier pictures were taken with simple Point and Shoot settings. I did a little post editing on a few that came out nice using the built in software on my laptop. Adobe Lightroom, has a ton of features that will allow you to take a shot and get it right.

That said, the better the original is, the better the post edit is, Overexposure for instance is nearly impossible to edit out. This is where understanding of your camera settings comes into play.

Always utilize the RAW format for your shots. My Galaxy S10+ saves both RAW and JPEG. Simple to set. Go to camera settings click "Picture Formats" and turn on "RAW copies". Every shot you take will save both RAW and JPEG format. You can then use the RAW images for your post editing.

 

[Jedi1199]

The most fantastic thing about cell phone photography is you can see on the screen a pretty good idea of what the final shot will look like.

You can adjust your settings, ISO, aperture, Evo focus, ect ect, before you even snap the shot.

This allows you to take a quality photo right from the gate.. then a few minor touch ups in post edit and voila.. you have a professional quality photo to post that will have others drooling...

 

[mcgallagherc]

After reading some of these tips on using cam phone and pro mode I had to try it out. Thanks for the help

 

[Jedi1199]

After reading some of these tips on using cam phone and pro mode I had to try it out. Thanks for the help

Looks good.. I think you still have a bit of blue washing out your pics. What settings are you shooting with? Did you edit the shots at all aside from cropping?

 

[mcgallagherc]

Looks good.. I think you still have a bit of blue washing out your pics. What settings are you shooting with? Did you edit the shots at all aside from cropping?

10000 wb and played with EV setting some. Also downloaded abobe light room to edit.

 

[MaxTremors]

I upgraded my phone today, and was messing around with the camera, here are a couple of the pics (I edited a couple of them a little bit just using the basic iPhone photo app).

 

[Jedi1199]

After reading some of these tips on using cam phone and pro mode I had to try it out. Thanks for the help

For example.. using your stock photo...

 

[Jedi1199]

I upgraded my phone today, and was messing around with the camera, here are a couple of the pics (I edited a couple of them a little bit just using the basic iPhone photo app).

WOW Max!! Those are FANTASTIC photos!!! Very well done!!!

 

[mcgallagherc]

For example.. using your stock photo...

This is stock pic

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Huawei Mate 20 Pro

 

[Jedi1199]

@mcgallagherc

Dial back the WB to between 7500 and 8500. Did you shoot using RAW format? Shutter speed and depth of focus has more to do with quality shots than simple white balance.. Key word here Balance.. A slow shutter speed will create overexposure. No post edit can really fix that.. you can adjust it some, but the subject will never be what you desire.

Underexposure can be fixed more easily, but you will lose most of the "texture" of the subject.

Depth of Field or aperture is your "f-stop" Read here:
On your camera, you’ll find aperture represented by numbers called “f stops.” An f-stop will look like f/1.4 or f/2.8 or f/11. As you might expect, selecting an f-stop of f/2.8 will produce a shallow depth of field, while an f/11 f-stop produces a deep depth of field. If you need more perspective on the f-stop depth of field relationship, you can consult an f-stop chart, which you can find with ease online. -Photonify https://photonify.com

 

[mcgallagherc]

@mcgallagherc

Dial back the WB to between 7500 and 8500. Did you shoot using RAW format? Shutter speed and depth of focus has more to do with quality shots than simple white balance.. Key word here Balance.. A slow shutter speed will create overexposure. No post edit can really fix that.. you can adjust it some, but the subject will never be what you desire.

Underexposure can be fixed more easily, but you will lose most of the "texture" of the subject.

Depth of Field or aperture is your "f-stop" Read here:
On your camera, you’ll find aperture represented by numbers called “f stops.” An f-stop will look like f/1.4 or f/2.8 or f/11. As you might expect, selecting an f-stop of f/2.8 will produce a shallow depth of field, while an f/11 f-stop produces a deep depth of field. If you need more perspective on the f-stop depth of field relationship, you can consult an f-stop chart, which you can find with ease online. -Photonify https://photonify.com

 

[Jedi1199]

So in essence, Depending on your subject, and where it is in your tank, you will need to adjust White Balance, shutter speed, and aperture for each individual photo. Then, once you have an acceptable image, go into Lightroom, or whatever editing program you choose, to touch it up.

 

[mcgallagherc]

So in essence, Depending on your subject, and where it is in your tank, you will need to adjust White Balance, shutter speed, and aperture for each individual photo. Then, once you have an acceptable image, go into Lightroom, or whatever editing program you choose, to touch it up.

Thanks for the tips.. some of you guys have so much knowledge in every aspect of this and it's impressive.

 

[Jedi1199]

Thanks for the tips.. some of you guys have so much knowledge in every aspect of this and it's impressive.

I wish!! I am as much a novice at this as you or anyone else!!

My Dad was the photographer in the family. I wish he was still around to see my tanks and apply his knowledge to getting good photos. I wish I could pick his brain to learn what he knew... Unfortunately, life is not always compliant to what we want.. I have to learn the way he did.. with the advantage that with todays digital imagery, I do not have to waste hundreds of dollars to take, and develop pictures only to find out I messed up.

 

[Jedi1199]

Ok guys... You have seen me here and in other posts, state the need to shoot in "RAW" format... Undoubtedly there are some who ask "why" "what is RAW" "What difference does it make"?

In simple terms, RAW is just that.. absolutely exactly what the camera sees with absolutely no other "embellishments" applied.

Why do we want that? Again, in the simplest terms, we want that because it allows us the most flexibility to transition between what the camera sees and what WE see!

With todays digital photography, many of the fine tuning is done for us automatically. This is great for Point and Shoot photos of our kids birthdays, or the dog playing with a ball... When it comes to aquarium photography, that automation can not understand the difference between its programming and what we wish to portray in our photos.

Check out this page on Why we want RAW format: https://photonify.com/adobe-camera-raw/