Man this is hard!

[brandyrb]

Nice aquarium. We're still yet to get the remora going, but it will get a chance to prove itself come Monday...

 

[returnofsid]

Custom White Balance is a funny thing. For me, shooting the white styrofoam plate works perfect. I've used the same technique when shooting in a gymnasium with lights that cast a really green tint onto everything. I picked something that I knew was white, custom white balanced to it and the pics turned out perfect. I think with tanks that are heavily blue, this might not work as well, though I haven't tried it.

 

[staciloraine]

Thanks Brandy...Coral is looking great! No sign of stress as of today...there is a little bit of white (not sure if it's bleaching or not) on the green pocillopora but I think it might have been that way from your tank?? Anyway, thanks again!!! Love it all! I'm sure the skimmer will work well for you guys, although will provide less beauty and more stinkyness to your life!

...I am going to try all the WB suggestions and see what works best for our tank. I will post them as soon as they are done

 

[TWallace]

Timed shutter, duh. I was taking the shots barely pressing my finger on the shutter button to avoid shake thinking to myself "I wish I had a remote for this thing!"

Just FYI, the wireless remote for the D40 costs like $15 new. It's infrared so it only works from in front of the camera, but you can bounce it off the aquarium glass from behind the camera and it will work.

I have never used custom WB. Do you calibrate with a gray/white card according to your tank lighting, then?
I set the shutter speed was as fast as I could go with each shot, but my lens is pretty slow. f5.6 when it's fully zoomed in. Fully open it's f3.5. I had to go pretty slow on the shutter speed (60) to get many of the shots but then got that little halo from shake I think. Have you ever tried any other lighting besides flash? Like (this is kinda sad, but only other supplemental lighting I can think of right now) a shop light or something? Would that irritate the fish/coral I wonder?

Your camera has RAW mode, so I'd use that instead of setting the custom white balance. I use Photoshop to adjust the white balance, but I'm unsure what other (cheaper) options there are for editing RAW images.

I avoid using the flash at all costs with aquarium photos. It washes out the colors and generally makes it look horrible, especially the built-in camera flash. If you use an external flash and point it down into the water from above, it looks a little better. Still, shooting without a flash always looks better to me.

Your lens is definitely not ideal for aquarium photography. It's too bad you got the D40, because the 50mm 1.8 AF lens is very good and very cheap, but it won't autofocus on a D40 or D60. That's one of the big reasons I got the D50 instead. I'm not sure what other cheap options there are for a good aquarium lens. You definitely don't need a macro lens to get great results. Macro lenses are not very easy to use for shooting fish in my experience. Great for closeups of corals and inverts, but not so much fish. You can try the 50mm AF lens and just manual focus it. That will work fine for all but fish photos. They sell for $110 brand new. I got mine for $60 used on Craigslist.

 

[staciloraine]

Good info
I got my D40 a couple years ago and that what my budget allowed for! Next is D300 or maybe 700 But have to save quite a bit for that body. Good to know about macro lens. I have never really tried fish / tank shots so I am learning what is really necessary. Anything I can AVOID buying for no reason is great!!! I think I will just use the auto timer setting instead of the infrared remote. I have CS2 & Lightroom so that is what I use for editing. My lens is just not made for this situation and I have ended up with mostly underexposed images. Some badly enough that they are unsalvageable. I need to readjust my thinking a little to get good tank shots.
I wish I was in Seattle...Craigs list has so much to offer there! I rarely see any photo equipment I want in the Spokane area!

Just FYI, the wireless remote for the D40 costs like $15 new. It's infrared so it only works from in front of the camera, but you can bounce it off the aquarium glass from behind the camera and it will work.



Your camera has RAW mode, so I'd use that instead of setting the custom white balance. I use Photoshop to adjust the white balance, but I'm unsure what other (cheaper) options there are for editing RAW images.

I avoid using the flash at all costs with aquarium photos. It washes out the colors and generally makes it look horrible, especially the built-in camera flash. If you use an external flash and point it down into the water from above, it looks a little better. Still, shooting without a flash always looks better to me.

Your lens is definitely not ideal for aquarium photography. It's too bad you got the D40, because the 50mm 1.8 AF lens is very good and very cheap, but it won't autofocus on a D40 or D60. That's one of the big reasons I got the D50 instead. I'm not sure what other cheap options there are for a good aquarium lens. You definitely don't need a macro lens to get great results. Macro lenses are not very easy to use for shooting fish in my experience. Great for closeups of corals and inverts, but not so much fish. You can try the 50mm AF lens and just manual focus it. That will work fine for all but fish photos. They sell for $110 brand new. I got mine for $60 used on Craigslist.