I just recently got this camera and have attempted to take good pictures that I know that this camera is completely capable of but my pictures dont seem to turn out right. The color looks really washed out and dull and pictures are not sharp. I dont have a macro lense so I would be taking it with stock lense only. Any help would be greatly aprreciated.
Help with Canon EoS Rebel XT
- Thread starter Nht
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Washed out and dull? Can you post an example? It sounds like you maybe over exposing. I know fish lights are hard for a meter to correctly measure, especially if you have a white sandbed...
Because you are dealing with such a wide variety of light, textures and colors shooting objects in a normal reef tank, the P or program setting isn’t ideal. What that does is try to create an overall balance for all the different things you are throwing at the camera and this will leave some things looking less than wonderful.
Here would be a good starting point for you to get your feet wet as well as help you learn things about your camera. Pick out one particular coral that you like and try to get a good picture of it. As Goslee said, use ISO 400 and pick the Aperture priority mode. Try all the different f stops from say f4 up to f11 and see which one works best for you to get the entire piece in focus. Also, try the different white balance settings to see which one gives you the most natural colors for your coral. I suggest starting with the Shade option.
After you get a picture that you are satisfied with, try the same thing on a different coral. Then post your best one of each coral and let us take a look.
I hate to keep asking questions, to get to an answer, but in addition to the above posts, what kind of lights do you have? Please include the color temp of the bulbs too.
F9 refers to the f-stop that the lens is set at. In the old days we set the f-stop on the lens itself. With your camera in the Aperture Priority Mode there most likely will be a wheel on the camera near the shutter release button for you to change the f-stop.
What an f stop is, is a reference to how big the shutter will open which controls the amount of light that gets in. What confuses most people is that as the f-numbers get bigger (or higher) the opening gets smaller and thus lets in less light. In fact, as you move up one setting it is basically letting in half the amount of light than the previous setting. Conversely, one setting lower than the one you are using lets in twice as much light as the setting before it.
What you should be concerned about with your application is that 1. You are letting enough light in to properly expose the subject and 2. You are using a high enough f-stop to get proper depth of field so the entire subject is in focus. As the f stop number gets higher, letting in less light, the distance of objects in the frame of the picture that will be in focus (acceptable range of sharpness) will increase. That is why I suggested above that you play with various f-stop settings in the Aperture Priority Mode that you have available on the camera instead of the P mode you have been using. This will set the shutter speed automatically for the f-stop you have chosen. This is important because as the lens opening gets smaller, letting in less light, the length of time the shutter must remain open needs to increase to get proper exposure.
Doing the exercise mentioned in the prior post will start to give you a feel for how each different stop changes your finished results.
What an f stop is, is a reference to how big the shutter will open which controls the amount of light that gets in. What confuses most people is that as the f-numbers get bigger (or higher) the opening gets smaller and thus lets in less light. In fact, as you move up one setting it is basically letting in half the amount of light than the previous setting. Conversely, one setting lower than the one you are using lets in twice as much light as the setting before it.
What you should be concerned about with your application is that 1. You are letting enough light in to properly expose the subject and 2. You are using a high enough f-stop to get proper depth of field so the entire subject is in focus. As the f stop number gets higher, letting in less light, the distance of objects in the frame of the picture that will be in focus (acceptable range of sharpness) will increase. That is why I suggested above that you play with various f-stop settings in the Aperture Priority Mode that you have available on the camera instead of the P mode you have been using. This will set the shutter speed automatically for the f-stop you have chosen. This is important because as the lens opening gets smaller, letting in less light, the length of time the shutter must remain open needs to increase to get proper exposure.
Doing the exercise mentioned in the prior post will start to give you a feel for how each different stop changes your finished results.
NG, you are giving great advice! Nht, you may not be able to get good results at F9 and ISO 400, with PC lights. You may have to go back to ISO 800. Do you have the kit lens on the camera? If not, what lens is it?
Us Canon folks can use the higher ISO's all the time without worrying about noise. I regularly use ISO 800 or even more to get pictures like this:
Us Canon folks can use the higher ISO's all the time without worrying about noise. I regularly use ISO 800 or even more to get pictures like this:
It certainly appears that you are on the right track. It would be interesting for me if you would have listed the settings that were used for each of the above pictures.
In the first one, it looks like you have plenty of DOF but I would have preferred the focus point to be closer to the front of the coral as that portion seems not as sharp as the rest of the coral. Colors look natural which is nice.
The second has really nice sharpness.
I think you are nicely on your way to getting spectacular pictures.
In the first one, it looks like you have plenty of DOF but I would have preferred the focus point to be closer to the front of the coral as that portion seems not as sharp as the rest of the coral. Colors look natural which is nice.
The second has really nice sharpness.
I think you are nicely on your way to getting spectacular pictures.
Yup those look good from here too. Do they look better then what you had before? What was the shutter speed for those, did you have to use a tripod?
I'd say that is a good start, just keep playing with different settings in Av or M mode, and keep a log as to what works!
I'd say that is a good start, just keep playing with different settings in Av or M mode, and keep a log as to what works!
Yes they definately look better than my previous attempts with this camera. And nope, no tripod just steady hands with elbows resting on knees.
Now my next pursuit of picture taking is....Full Tank Shots. ANy suggestions on settings or should I essesentially use the same settings as the up close shots?
Now my next pursuit of picture taking is....Full Tank Shots. ANy suggestions on settings or should I essesentially use the same settings as the up close shots?
Personally, I think the secret to good full tank shots is exposing the brightest part of the tank properly and letting the rest show up as it may. In many cases there is such a wide variety of light coming at the camera that it is quite easy to have certain parts of the reef show up over exposed. This is purely a matter of personal taste, but I just hate pictures with parts of them overexposed.
This would be a good opportunity to try shooting in full manual mode. This is where you select both the shutter speed and aperture without interference from the camera. If you have fish make sure to keep the shutter speed fast enough to freeze their movement. I am assuming that you will have to be a fair distance from the tank to do a full tank shot so depth of field shouldn’t be a big issue.
This would be a good opportunity to try shooting in full manual mode. This is where you select both the shutter speed and aperture without interference from the camera. If you have fish make sure to keep the shutter speed fast enough to freeze their movement. I am assuming that you will have to be a fair distance from the tank to do a full tank shot so depth of field shouldn’t be a big issue.
As FTS go, this one certainly isn’t bad. Most people would be happy with it. I do think it can be improved on a bit.
As is the case with many FTS there are some parts of the picture that are over exposed. Two of the things you could concentrate on are the “hot†spots on your candy cane and the sand bed. Notice how parts of the sand bed just look bright white with no discernable texture and how parts of the candy cane look the same way. If you take steps to have these two items look natural it will change the look and feel of the entire picture.
I’m thinking that you could have used about two more stops up, and maybe even a bit faster shutter speed. But without knowing what settings you used this is only a guess on my part.
As for the “sharpness†issue, I’m not sure that what you are unhappy with can’t be solved with the correct exposure. The slight bow in the front of your tank will always provide a bit of a challenge with distortion, but much of that can be lessened with a proper crop and a bit of post processing.
I also am getting a bit of a top-down feel to this shot. By that I mean the shot looks to have been taken with the lens of the camera above the horizontal center plane of the tank rather than providing a head on view. This is nothing but personal preference, but I think a head on POV looks more natural.
Hope I'm not sounding to "preachy".
As is the case with many FTS there are some parts of the picture that are over exposed. Two of the things you could concentrate on are the “hot†spots on your candy cane and the sand bed. Notice how parts of the sand bed just look bright white with no discernable texture and how parts of the candy cane look the same way. If you take steps to have these two items look natural it will change the look and feel of the entire picture.
I’m thinking that you could have used about two more stops up, and maybe even a bit faster shutter speed. But without knowing what settings you used this is only a guess on my part.
As for the “sharpness†issue, I’m not sure that what you are unhappy with can’t be solved with the correct exposure. The slight bow in the front of your tank will always provide a bit of a challenge with distortion, but much of that can be lessened with a proper crop and a bit of post processing.
I also am getting a bit of a top-down feel to this shot. By that I mean the shot looks to have been taken with the lens of the camera above the horizontal center plane of the tank rather than providing a head on view. This is nothing but personal preference, but I think a head on POV looks more natural.
Hope I'm not sounding to "preachy".
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