New Coral Photographer Looking for Critiques

[ZalesLight]

Hi Everyone! I'm a bit nervous to be posting here, but I know seeking help from professionals will help me in my journey. For a bit of background, I've found myself helping a local saltwater fish store in their social media. I've done hours of research on how to properly take photos, decided to buy a Sony a7rii and a Sony FE 2.8/90 Macros G OSS with some extension tubes as well. Being that these photos are for his website & socials, I want to make sure I am staying as true as possible to everything, especially with my inexperience in the saltwater hobby & this being my first camera ever + first time shooting with it. My point being is that for any camera users, do you have any critiques of the photos themselves? How they look post editing, or anything that stands out with ISO / Aperture or anything else? If needed I can give the specifics for each photo. Originally an orange filter was used when taking photos as well, but in the photos below these were without any orange filter and just post editing in lightroom. I know my biggest struggle is understanding how manual focus works, so these were all also taken with autofocus. Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for taking the time to read this. The person I'm working with is a great guy and I really want to do his store justice after taking on this responsibility

 

[dakoop]

Pics look good

 

[Reefer Dan]

Welcome ! I applaud you for asking as this is a pretty “niche” area of photography. The pics themselves look great and I think for a first shot you are doing awesome. I am by no means a professional and I don’t get paid for my photos, so take that into account, but for what it’s worth here is my feedback/personal preferences:

• Some places show the coral under actinic (blue) and daylight (whiter lighting), I love this because it covers both major players in the hobby.
• My preference is for pics to be a littler brighter (increase exposure) as I feel it is harder to see some of the coral features with it as dark as it is.
• Assuming these corals are for sale, these are more artsy pictures (they don’t really show me what I would get if I purchased it. For example how big is that chalice frag? There is no “relative” size gauge”)

 

[ZalesLight]

The pics themselves look great and I think for a first shot you are doing awesome. I am by no means a professional and I don’t get paid for my photos, so take that into account, but for what it’s worth here is my feedback/personal preferences:

• Some places show the coral under actinic (blue) and daylight (whiter lighting), I love this because it covers both major players in the hobby.
• My preference is for pics to be a littler brighter (increase exposure) as I feel it is harder to see some of the coral features with it as dark as it is.
• Assuming these corals are for sale, these are more artsy pictures (they don’t really show me what I would get if I purchased it. For example how big is that chalice frag? There is no “relative” size gauge”)

Ahhh I love this feedback, I didn't consider using both lightings! I'll definitely see if I can figure out how to increase the exposure besides relying on post editing & look into more 'generic' photos for updating the coral to showcase their full look and size on his website eventually. All things I didn't really think of yet, so thank you truly. I know about close to nothing when it comes to the saltwater hobby, I'm a freshwater gal, so if anything else ever comes to mind please don't hesitate to reach out.

 

[KrisReef]

Pic 1 & 6 look to be duplicates? At the high prices this site charges for posting stuff,
Nice pictures. way better than I can manage.

 

[Steven Garland]

Amazing skills reefer !!! I don't think you need anymore advice,you just need to take more pics and post them lol. I love it.

 

[Doompastew]

some corals such as torch corals need some sense of scale. When i am shopping, I want to know the actual size. I can gauge the size from experience, others may not. I feel as though what you have shown could be questionable in actual size. Beautiful pictures!!

 

[ZalesLight]

some corals such as torch corals need some sense of scale. When i am shopping, I want to know the actual size. I can gauge the size from experience, others may not. I feel as though what you have shown could be questionable in actual size. Beautiful pictures!!

Absolutely! I think I'm going to invest in some better / proper isolating cubes to get full scale pictures for the website. So far everything has been trial and error, but it's been fun regardless! Thank you!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

those pics are amazing! so beautiful!! for me the main thing im looking for when ordering coral , is if the color of what i get looks like the pic. and like the other guys said- something to show size

 

[maroun.c]

Beautiful shots yet I'm jot sure if the low key pictures serves the purpose for coral sales. Maybe more pop and showing more of the corals so people can see it better. Like the euphilia pics we don't see the colors of the stalks....

 

[SmolGoby]

Beautiful pictures and even more beautiful corals!

 

[exnisstech]

If this is your first camera I think you are a natural and definatly should keep at it. The images are very nice but more artsy than stock items for sale. Maybe a shot like these along with a full shot of the coral might compliment each other. The auto focus is doing a very good job. Manual focus takes some practice. In addition to turning the focus ring I've found I can fine tune the focus by moving the camera. A focus rail on a tripod is nice but to be honest I don't low that I would bother. Are you shooting Raw? If not I would suggest trying it. I've managed to save a few once in a life time shots in post that would have been trash if if I had been shooting jpeg only. Thanks for sharing

 

[xitsmike]

The 5th image is my absolute favourite. Absolutely stunning shots!