Photographer New to the Hobby

[Hugo Garcia]

Hey guys, how is t going? I’m a professional photographer based in New York New to the reefing hobby. Here is a shot of my recently upgraded Innivative Marine 30L

Shot on a Hasselblad H6Dc 100mp with the 80mm f/2.8

 

[Mark Derail]

Macro shots through the glass is a challenge. I think some people doing really nice macro of corals are placing the camera + marine housing directly into the tank.

 

[tropicalmarc]

Hugo, if you are new to the hobby take a look at my first ever post from today. Love, Innovative Marine. Consider synthetics

 

[revhtree]

Welcome and can't wait to see you photograph this hobby we love so much!

 

[five.five-six]

Welcome aboard.

Hopefully you can help me understand the circle of confusion. I find it coufusing. And I need someone’s brain to pick about MF closeup lenses.

 

[Mark Derail]

Welcome aboard.

Hopefully you can help me understand the circle of confusion. I find it coufusing. And I need someone’s brain to pick about MF closeup lenses.

You need to be close to your subject. Or you can use a wide-angle telephoto to "zoom in" from afar. This method gives you a very shallow depth-of-range (any macro has a shallow DOR), but, requires a LOT of light, and between lens & subject no light pollution or anything on the tank glass.

Marine housings, also known as underwater camera bags, come in cheap & very expensive setups. I've seen nice results with the large ZipLock freezer bags, usually doubled-up for security, and an elastic band around the lens so that the plastic is taught and won't remove from the image quality too much.
Amazon & such sell "tourist" camera bags so you can take your favorite DSLR or mirror-less camera underwater with you when you go snorkeling on your vacation.

If someone has a "frag tank", as in, water less than 12" deep, you can use those floating round glass viewing panes - and shoot through that.

Practice, practice, practice! Especially on flowers, or an apple or orange, to get your technique pat. Every camera / lens has a different "sweet spot" for macro. Find yours, measure the distances, and see how you can apply that distance to your tank buddies.

Also consider using a mirror/stand if your fish is easily spooked, and shoot your mirror.

LAST TRICK!!! PROMISE!!

Use VIDEO, in 1080p 30 fps, then on your computer you can freeze a specific frame and use that frame as a picture. It will be 1920x1080 pixels.
Also if your sensor is 12 mega-pixels or higher, in video mode, perhaps only 1 in every 4 pixels is "used".
This means low-light and color range looks much better. 4 inputs condensed into 1 input.

A video frame is basically 2 mega-pixels, versus 12 mega-pixels in picture mode. But for looking "on the web" or even printing 4x6, it will look great !!!

So those *amazing* pics you see on SPS/LPS seller websites, they usually just shoot a video in manual focus mode, and in one run take all the "shots" they want. Then you pick & choose the frame that gives the best results. 2MPix is enough for a website.

Enjoy this last trick, brought to you for free by a seasoned professional.

TL;DR Shoot video, then use a computer to select a frame, and transform the frame in a JPG image.

 

[five.five-six]

Outstanding!

I really like tha last trick

 

[PedroYoung]

Welcome to the hobby, I am almost the opposite. 20 yr hobbyist just getting into the photography side. It's a great combination!! I shoot lots of macro shots through the front glass. Just keep the lens perpendicular to the glass, or as close as possible. I also us the Avast Porthole top down lens enclosure for top down shots. It's great and they're a R2R sponsor.