Photo Help

[Reef Pets]

I took the picture below with a Canon Rebel XTi. The lens is a Canon EF-S 18-55mm .28m Macro Lens. The pictures were taken with a tri-pod and I used the timer on the camera when I took the picture and it was taken under 14K Metal Halides. The ISO setting was at 100 and the White Balance set on shade. I tried other ISO and White Balance shetting and this picture seems te be the best. But, they are no where near as clear as they should be.

From what I have read I have a good camera and a pretty good lens. I
set the camera settings to what I have read for taking reef pictures.
Its a decent picture but far from the quality that some of you guys and gals take. The coral looks so much better than the picture does. I am not wanting to alter pictures to make them look like something the coral is not. I just want accurate pictures and cant seem to make it happen. Trust me, this is not the first attempt of playing around. As you can see, they are decent pictures but not as clear and full of the true colors like I think they should be. Any suggestions??

 

[gparr]

A couple of things that might help:
--Your white balance seems to be off. It's best if you can shoot in the RAW format and adjust the white balance in the RAW converter. If you can't do that, you need to set a custom white balance (there will be instructions in the user manual) to get the color right. None of the camera's built-in white balance settings will give satisfactory results.
--Your meter is getting fooled by the white egg crate and the dark substrate. Get your meter reading from the coral itself and bracket your shots, i.e., three shots: one at the meter reading, one that is one stop overexposed, and one that is one stop underexposed. Then choose the best exposure.
--Your images are a bit soft. If you're not using manual focus, do so. It's the only way you'll get sharp shots, particularly if you are shooting top down. Your water surface also must be absolutely still to get clear top-down shots. Any movement in the water surface will cause blur/distort the image.
--When processing your images, crop out all of the egg crate and background you can so that Photoshop/Elements isn't making decisions that include that unwanted area of the image.

Here are two of your images that I worked on a bit. I was able to help them some by adjusting levels and sharpening, but you'll get much better results if you work on the original files.

Gary

 

[Reef Pets]

Well that ticks me off! Just joking. I have tried to get that quality and my knowlwdge of photography is slim to none, and slim just left!

I have tried reading the manual and it seems as if it was written for people that know what it all means. It would be like a beginners reef book written in advanced terminology.
Whatever you done with them gave the results that I have been looking for. Again, I want the coral to look the way they actual look.

Would you recommend an acrylic photo box to take the pictures?
What program did you use to sharpen the pictures and to get the results that you show on the pictures.
Back to the drawing board!! I am going to work on this until I get it right.
I greatly appreciate the information!

 

[gparr]

I use Photoshop CS3. I'm doing a webinar tonight to demonstrate how I process photos, if you want to participate. I'm doing it to test software for my paying job and figured I might as well help people out while doing the testing. It won't be very polished. If you want to participate, go to the link below and sign up. It's at 7:30 central time.
Gary

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/362197461

 

[Reef Pets]

I will be there! I greatly appreciate it!

 

[Reef Pets]

I suppose the next step is to get PhotoShop.
I have a program called Fire Works. Have you ever used it? It is suppose to be a professional grade program. I have not taken the time to use it. It was given to me by a friend.

 

[gparr]

Don't buy Photoshop. Buy Photoshop Elements. It's considerably less expensive and will do everything you need. I tried FireWorks once and got a headache.

I've tried a couple of acrylic photo boxes and found them to be a lot of hassle. I've not tried Melev's design, which looks pretty good. I've been able to get more than satisfactory results just shooting through the water surface with a horizontal arm on my tripod. Everything stays dry that way, too.

One of my favorite top-down shots, shot through the water surface:

 

[Poseidon]

Hey Reefer! Looks like Gary has you covered quite well!

Gary, that top down shot is OUT OF THIS WORLD!

 

[Reef Pets]

WOW that picture is sick!! So much detail!!
Thats what I have heard about Fire Works. It was given to me becasue a buddy of mine could not figure it out. I played around with it a little and figured that if editing pictures was that difficult then I would continue taking crappy pictures....
I will look into Photo Shop Elements right away.
Thanks for the help

 

[gparr]

Anyone is welcome to participate in the webinar tonight. You have to register, though. It's pretty basic stuff, but might be helpful.

Thanks, Poseidon.

Gary

 

[Reef Pets]

Gary, one final question.... Is this what I need. I registered and cant wait.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Photoshop-Elements-6-0_W0QQitemZ230300358587QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item230300358587&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[gparr]

That's the right software, but the latest version is 7. If someone in your family is a student, look into educator pricing.

 

[Reef Pets]

Good to know. Is there a huge difference in 6.0-7.0? I am not wanting to do much except to make the picture more clear, crop and sharpen.
Thanks again

 

[Reef Pets]

The information provided by Gary on Webinar was great. It helped a lot. I purchased 6.0 from Staples and so far just the auto setting make a huge difference.
Thanks again!!!

 

[saltwaternewb]

Yeah, I caught the end of that and it was very cool. Maybe we can get him to do a very beginner "class" because a lot of what he was talking about was foreign to me. I have played very little with my PS Elements though.

 

[Reef Pets]

Maybe a show on Elements in the future?? I just got it and it does not seem very difficult but not as advanced as the version that Gary was using. The auto setting seem to do a great job. But, I cant advance by just using auto settings.

 

[cparka23]

There are some Photoshop Elements podcasts on iTunes. I haven't watched them since I'm on the CS3 suite, but the guy I'd recommend is Corey Barker. I've seen him on some other Adobe product podcasts, and he's been entertaining to watch. He's a clear instructor and takes the time to explain various techniques.

Even if a portion of the tip goes over your head, you can quickly pick up how Elements works just by watching. Best of all, you can rewind it and it's free.

 

[Acro76]

Reefer,

These are supposed to be a great supplement to your manual:

http://www.shortcourses.com/store/canon-xti.html

They come with lots of visuals and good explanations. I do things the hard way so I didn't buy it! :squigglemouth:

I think the biggest thing that helped me was listening to others (poseidon and juniormc were both a source of inspiration and help!) and lots of patience and practice.

If you also are out to get great macro shots, check out this lens. It is worth every penny and a huge step up from the kit lens you have:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/194451-USA/Canon_4657A006_100mm_f_2_8_USM_Macro.html

 

[Reef Pets]

I appreciate the information. I have been playing with the program for a couple of hours. So far its not to bad to figure out. I will be taling a ton of questions tomorrow and messing with it some more. If I can figure it out I will purchase the information from the link that you sent.
That is the lens that I have had my eye on. I have two other lens and plan to sell them to make up for the cost. I figured I never use the others and this way there would be no additional money from my pocket....
Thansk again.

 

[gparr]

Reefer, saltwaternewb,
Glad you got something out of the presentation. As I stated at the beginning, there are a ton of ways to do things in Photoshop. I don't claim to be an expert and certainly don't suggest that the process I use is the only way. It's just one way, but it has worked for me.

I don't know about the podcasts. I tend to prefer having a book by my side when learning how to do this stuff. I've only used Elements a handfull of times so can't recommend an author. Scott Kelby's books have been the biggest help for me, in addition to simply posting images on photography forums and getting more-skilled people to help me. Ultimately, there is no substitute for practice, in terms of taking pictures and processing them in whatever image-processing program you choose to use.
Gary