The New lens

[Reef Pets]

Thanks to the advice of Junior and Poseidon I purchased a Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens.Tthanks guys, I am now 500.00 poorer!
Below are some top down pictures of some of the coral that I have. There are some of my first pictures with the new lens. Therefore, I have some practicing to do. As you can see, I need to work on sharpening the photos. Any advice will help!

 

[Reef Pets]

 

[Reef Pets]

Looks like I need to learn how to resize them properly. I thought I made all of them 6 inches......

 

[Saltysteele]

they look great, for first pics, man!!

read junior's sticky.

at the seminar, junior and mike said an f stop of 9-16 is good for corals. this will get you a mid-range depth of field, which will allow you for the most part to have the whole coral focussed, but the background blurred.

my next step is to find myself a junior-special spatula :haha:

 

[BluegrassReef]

those are awesome...I really love that shroom...I can't wait to start playing with my d70 tomorrow...waiting for the battery to charge. also be picking upp my plumbing supplies tomorrow so hopefully the 900 will be back up by tomorrow evening. keep the pics coming.

 

[Reef Pets]

they look great, for first pics, man!!

read junior's sticky.

at the seminar, junior and mike said an f stop of 9-16 is good for corals. this will get you a mid-range depth of field, which will allow you for the most part to have the whole coral focussed, but the background blurred.

my next step is to find myself a junior-special spatula :haha:

Thanks! I tried several different F stops. I believe the Yuma is in focus the best, as a complete photo. I believe the F stop was at 14. The photos are taken in very dim lighting.
I plan to read through all of the stickies again tonight. I did before but its been a while.

 

[Reef Pets]

those are awesome...I really love that shroom...I can't wait to start playing with my d70 tomorrow...waiting for the battery to charge. also be picking upp my plumbing supplies tomorrow so hopefully the 900 will be back up by tomorrow evening. keep the pics coming.

Thanks Mike! You should have fun with the D70. Lets see some pictures once the battery is charged.

 

[duece bigilo]

thats a great lens, Nice first pics, I know it has taken me a bit to get the hang of a macro lens but they sure are sweet.

 

[JuniorMC8704]

are those hand held or tripod mounted?

Dont be afraid of going with a higher F-stop.

Remember, you want to focus on the area of the subject that is closest to the camera lens.

So for example on the acan pics, focus on the feeders, or the very top of the skirt which ever is closer to you. Then you your F-stop to get a deep enough depth of field to keep the mouth in focus too.

 

[Saltysteele]

Remember, you want to focus on the area of the subject that is closest to the camera lens.

So for example on the acan pics, focus on the feeders, or the very top of the skirt which ever is closer to you. Then you your F-stop to get a deep enough depth of field to keep the mouth in focus too.

sweet tip, junior! this is something that i kept meaning to ask, but never remembered when i was near my computer

 

[rarelyseriousb]

Wow that is awesome. Pic and coral.

 

[rarelyseriousb]

ps I stole this for my desktop.

 

[Reef Pets]

are those hand held or tripod mounted?

Dont be afraid of going with a higher F-stop.

Remember, you want to focus on the area of the subject that is closest to the camera lens.

So for example on the acan pics, focus on the feeders, or the very top of the skirt which ever is closer to you. Then you your F-stop to get a deep enough depth of field to keep the mouth in focus too.

They are tripod mounted photos. I messed with the F stop on them a little bit. I need to adjust my lighting so that I have more light directed toward the coral. As you know, most of the coral are in the photos are low light coral therefore the lighting is rather dim.
Thanks for the advice on the focusing. I was focusing on the mouth of the acan which of course would be the longest distance from the lens.
My lights are now out, I plan to spend the most part of tomorrow evening practicing on the photos and learning more of the adjustments on the camera.

 

[Reef Pets]

ps I stole this for my desktop.

Thanks! It is one of my favorite Yumas so far. I have several Yumas but the color combination is rather nice on this on.

 

[Reef Pets]

sweet tip, junior! this is something that i kept meaning to ask, but never remembered when i was near my computer

I do that constantly! Thats why I will ask one question then another and then another. None of them are ever in the same post!

 

[rarelyseriousb]

If you ever frag that keep me in mind. But i would not have the guts to frag something like that.

 

[Reef Pets]

That piece is or sale now and I have several more on the colony. I cropped it and made it a background on my desk top.

 

[revhtree]

Very nice bro!!! You should be very proud! I love my 100mm!

 

[Reef Pets]

Rev - I appreciate it! I do really like the lens, the ability of the lens is unreal. I would have never imagined the detail that it captures. I am like a kid the night before Christmas, I cant wait to play around with it tomorrow...... Its amazing what excites you once you get older.

 

[Reef Pets]

Even though the coral are hating me tonight, I had to tuen the lights back on to play with the camera. I messed with the F stop a little on these photos. I marked the photos with each F stop that I had it set to. I can now see the huge difference that Salty was talking about. A week ago I did not know what the dial was that changed the numbers next to the F. All I knew was that the higher the number the longer it took to take a picture.
I cant wait to get good at going this.......