Hey Junior and Poseidon

[JuniorMC8704]

you dont really need either if you have substrate, rock or eggcrate in the pic.

i use a gray section of rock, or some of the substrate

a lot of times white is hard to use because it easily becomes over exposed. Also, you cameras light meter, depending on wht mode you have it set to, is going to take all that white into consideration, and assume the over picture should be exposed to properly expose the white. When in fact the coral is actually going to way under exposed in this instance.

did that make sense? if not ill re-word it.

 

[Poseidon]

Jr is on the right track, but the camera meter tends to make the white 18% gray unless you tell it otherwise.

Evaluative metering is the cause of this, if you remember that your camera wants to make everything 18% gray, you can use that to your advantage.

 

[Ron S.]

Well I used white because the food lid was handy. What color/shade of grey would be best?(light, med, dark) Junior you use your black background for pictures, can the white balance be set off of that?

Thanks
Ron

 

[Saltysteele]

Jr is on the right track, but the camera meter tends to make the white 18% gray unless you tell it otherwise.

Evaluative metering is the cause of this, if you remember that your camera wants to make everything 18% gray, you can use that to your advantage.

i'm sorry to seem like such a moron, guys, but how can i take advantage of this? (i'm not good at learning stuff i want to know now, unless i'm shown)

may i ask another question? (i guess if you say no, stop reading now )

which is better, to buy a macro lens, or to buy a telephoto and zoom in?

i've been reading up on macro lenses, and that was a suggestion on another site. it would seem like you get more abhoration by using a telephoto and zooming way in, and just seems like the pic would be more crisp and focussed in general, by using a macro where you can get up real close.

how close can you get with a macro and focus? an inch, two inches??

thanks for your photo expertise

 

[Poseidon]

I'll try to make this make sense....

You can use the camera meter to your advantage by knowing what it will make white look like. If you know that it will make white look gray, then you will know that you need to over expose what the camera says to make white "white" again.

Yes, you may!

For tank use? Macro lens, no question!

Every macro lens has different minimum focus points, so that question I can't really answer, but suffice it to say that the Macro would be a better choice.

 

[Ron S.]

I should have both programs to try Monday. Till then I have some more practice photos.

Ron

 

[Reef Pets]

Now you are just showing off!!
I have read through the thread and I cant give advice... But from your beginning pictures to the last pictures there has been a huge improvement. So, you are doing something right!