Faith's fish

T

tstaut

[I got a pic of this beautiful Eibli Angel tonight. Turns out I need to get you to sign a model consent form? :)

Congrats! This is one gorgeous fish.

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[Awesome shot. Nice depth of field. What aperature did you go with on that one?]
 
[Thanks guys.

Marc, pic was taken at 1/60 @ f/6.7 with my lens zoomed all the way to 135mm.

Wish it was f/8 or so to get a bit more DOF on the background, but I was lucky enough to get such a clear shot handholding at 1/60 so I'll take it. :)

Travis]
 
[That is one pretty Angel fish and was a real good price, especially with the 30% discount. Hopefully he wil be a good neighbor. Travis, I was trying to meet you, but missed. I told my brother-in-law (Steve) about the pictures I have seen that you take. And I guess he hired you to take his tank pictures.]
 
[Marc, forgot to add the photo was taken at ISO400. At 100-200 the shutter speed was too slow and the pics came out blurry [to continue with last night's lesson...:) ] . This was the very last shot I took before the battery went "kaput." Thank goodness I bumped up that ISO when I did! :)

Scott, picture was taken with a Canon 10D using a Canon ef 28-135IS lens.

Rick, sorry I missed you! I am in fact doing a portrait for Steve on Saturday and am pretty excited about it, especially after seeing pics of his tank.

Thank you for recommending me to him! I really, REALLY appreciate the word-of-mouth. I won't let either of you down. :)

Travis]
 
[So Travis, did you see my page of photos from last night?

I like the shot of Dallas, believe it or not. That was taken on Auto, from within a moving car, and it still was crystal clear.

Then I had to use the cloning brush to remove all the spots on Gary's windshield, his rearview mirror, and the darker blue zone at the top of the windshield. It almost looks like a postcard now. LOL (I opted against trying to erase that support frame in the lower left, because I didn't think I could clone in the building and the highway railing well enough to not be obvious.)]
 
[Hey Marc, took me a while but I managed to dig up that page. You got some really nice shots! Probably a good idea trying not to erase the a-pillar of the car... you'd still be working on it. :)

Try the healing brush versus cloning stamp if you have it in your version of PS. It's a lot less harsh, and more about blending blemishes into the background versus replacing them with something else from the pic.

Here's one more from the meeting. :)

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[Man Travis, I have got to come over there and buy one hour of your time so you can show me how you do that.

All that techno-talk isn't helping. Yet. :cry:

I want to do what you're doing! Taking great pictures, that is. Not do that for a living and cut into your business.]
 
[Marc, first of all you don't have to buy my time! I'd love to help you get more enjoyment from something you obviously have a passion for. Perhaps when Gary is ready for his portrait you can swing by and I'll put on a little workshop for you. :)

Second, don't be so tough on yourself, your shots are looking great and getting better and better!

Third, I think the aperture priority mode suits you well. I really saw big improvements in your depth-of-field and overall focus of those pics you just posted on your site. Getting that clam in focus at that angle was no easy task and I can tell you're starting to get a feel of what you need to do.

Finally, on the full tank shots, a piece of friendly advice. That first one you posted was very nice, better than you give yourself credit for. If you want to improve that shot, think about perspective. There was an obvious downward angle versus looking at the tank dead-on. Being a 28-year old with a back worse than most 50-year olds, I undersatand your reasoning. :) But drop the $40 on a tripod and that problem, as well as the hand-holding thing, will be solved. Trust me on this one, it will be a very worthy investment. As you explore aperture priority it will become more and more obvious that you need a tripod.

Finally finally :) : Looking great Marc! Keep shooting, you're really getting there. Keep in mind your camera is digital, each photo costs you nothing, so don't be so critical of yourself and remember to PLAY!

Travis]
 
[Travis, you are too kind. The camera is doing a lot of it for me. As I change to different settings, it feels more like a crap shoot that I'll nail the correct combination. I want to get to the point where I comprehend and feel comfortable switching from one mode to the next, knowing what I need for that given situation.

I'll be very happy to meet you at Gary's. He's a photographer as well, so we will both learn something in the process. I own not one, but two tripods, so that isn't an issue.

Tonight I attempted to capture a few fish in my 55g with my lens, but they don't want to pose at all! :very angry: I did get a good shot of my Six Line Wrasse that I'll incorporate onto my new ID page, but I could not get the camera to focus on my smaller mandarin, nor could I get a decent shot of the Coral Beauty. I'd drop in food to lure them out in the open, but then there'd be specks of food in the water.

Maybe I just have to sit in front of the tank for a long time until they get bored with me and go about their business.

The clam shot was awesome. I love that Maxima - had it 10 months now.

Another thing that might help my full tank shot is to get a NEW TANK! The29g is 5 years old now, and the scratches are pretty obvious to me and the lens. :very sad:

Thanks for the pep talk though. I checked out your site tonight, and found many excellent shots. You really are very good at what you do.]
 
[Marc, believe me, I have my share of bad nights where camera, tank, and fish all fail to cooperate. And some nights I turn on the camera and realize I'm just not in the right frame of mind at that particular time. And it's OK. Once again, be glad you don't have a film camera on nights like this. I brush it off and try again later.

Do yourself a favor and stick to aperture priotrity mode. I wandered all over the place and let me tell you, aperture priority is the way to go for what we're shooting. That should simplify it for you. No need to go around changing modes.

So then you're down to switching your aperture and switching your ISO speed. Don't worry about any other adjustments for now. You know when and why to change aperture now, and you understand its effects on shutter speed. If you can't get a fast enough shutter at the aperture you want, THEN it's time to bump up your ISO speed.

Check your email. :)

T]
 
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