back with sample & questions...

[bdwalley]

...a few days ago I briefly introduced myself as a rookie photographer that had just purchased a G5 to replace a S45 I've been using for a couple of years. My interest in photography has become an extension of another hobby and I may be in need of information/experience from those of you that may be able to help.

Some bacis info:
I maintain a reef aquarium that is illuminated by over 1000 watts of intense lighting and has a constant high flow rate (water currents)...I would like to be able to produce decent macro images of creatures I keep primarily for use on a saltwater related forum for informational purposes.

Keep in mind that my knowledge of photography is rather limited to the common persons point & click mentality. But...I want to improve my photography skills in order to capture lifelike reproductions of creatures I keep in my aquarium.
Below is a recent example of a shot from the G5. settings were program mode...ISO50...auto focus...auto wb...macro setting...using a tripod.
Please provide comments on the pic quality and offer any and all advice on settings and/or adjustments that may be able to improve my reproductions.
Thanks to any who respond in advance...you patience and assistance is greatly appreciated.

http://members.cox.net/dironda/g5_081204%20009.jpg

[sidebp]

Hi,

Just some thoughts:

* I would consider using a higher aperture value to prevent the "softening of the edges" shown in your pic (unless of course you are planning on cropping a section of the picture and want the rest to appear slightly out of focus e.g. to draw attention to a particular artefact?)- to do this you can set the camera in Av (Aperture Priority) mode (on the dial) and select a value of f3/4 or higher - f8.0 will ensure that everything is "in focus" but will destroy the perception of depth of field somewhat (you've captured some pretty good DOF in your photo).

* White balance - with 1000w of artifical light its always going to be relatively difficult getting the exact white balance (important if you are to capture the vivid colours of those reefs etc.). You could try playing around with the WB presets (for tungsten etc.) - just try and get it as accurate as possible and then use your favourite paint package to correct it - Autocolor in Photoshop is fairly good in my opinon (failing that - shoot in RAW mode and play around with the white balance that way to see what works).

* If you're planning on taking lots of pictures through the glass of a tank you may wish to invest in a polarising fliter to eliminate any reflections etc off the glass.

* Finally, I would consider messing around with the manual focus to ensure your subject is correctly in focus - its not as daunting as it seems and it will relieve you from the mercy of the slightly dodgy G-series autofocussing.

Dont forget to keep us posted with some of your pics! :D

Paul

PS Anyone feel free to offer constructive criticism/corrections on my perception - I'm only a novice so go easy on me! :lol:

[bdwalley]

Thank you for the reply. I'll try to apply some of your suggestions the next time I take some shots. During the day today I plan to experiment with different settings and judge by the results which will work best for getting decent photos. Later I'll post additional pics and see if there is any improvement. I appreciate the input and again...thanks. 8)

[P.Dieter]

- Use a tripod

- Manual focus

- rather than a polarizing filter which will only reduce some reflections drape (tent) the whole aquarium, camera and tripod with a black cloth to remove all reflections

- Experiment with adding some light (highlights) from an angle slightly behind the subjects (aquarium). Known as rimlighting. This could add some great interst to your shots or it could just highlight any particulate matter inthe water...I don't know but I would certainly experiement to find out.

- can you shut off the flow for brief periods for shots? Not sure if this would help anything but again might be worth a try.

Have fun
Paul