Experimenting with camera

Discussion in 'Show Off Your Fish Tanks!' started by Peredhil, Mar 12, 2009.

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  1. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    I am experimenting with my hp R717. This thread is for this self education project :)

    Also I use Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9. So far, I've only cropped with it as I don't really know how to do anything else useful yet.

    These are the constants

    • Flash is off.
    • Timer used to rid self of shakes.

    These are the things I was experimenting with.

    • In these I have all lights on in the tank. Will try again with the 10k's off.
    • White balance changed from auto -> Fluorescent
    Next I will try with just actinics.

    After that I'll experiment with manual white balance.

    Not looking for pro quality, just better than I've been doing. Once I get to this point, the plan is to start experimenting with photo shop to make them even better. But I want to muck with my white balance stuff first.

    Here's first round of pics


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  3. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    They look great!
    Maybe just a hair overexposed. What is your ISO and F settings? For coral shots, I generally use an ISO of about 60-80 with an F5.6 aperture setting. I get much better results with the actinics off, daylights on.
    Oh, and a tripod is a must!
     
  4. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    ISO is auto. My options are 50, 100, 200, 400.

    As far as I can tell I do not have an option for F. Another name maybe?

    Daylights on? Really? My eyeballs prefer actinics on, daylights off... figured camera would agree with me... I will try that way too then. But my daylights are 10k and kind of yellow.
     
  5. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    Try both 50 and 100 and see what you like.

    The "F" or "F#" is the aperature (sp?) setting.

    Is this a point-and-shoot or DSLR camera?
     
  6. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    DSLR = Digital? It is 6.2 megapixel.

    Random link from google - it is this: HP Photosmart R717: Digital Photography Review

    As far as I can tell, I have no F or aperature setting - I know what you are referring to (I recognize the terms anyway) but I can't find it on this camera. I know there are advanced settings if you do the trickery to enable them but that is beyond what I'm after here (enabling all that).
     
  7. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    DSLR= digital single lens reflex. Kind of like the digital version of the professional film type cameras. Will have interchangeable lenses, tons of manual settings, etc:
    This is the camera I use, its a DSLR:
    Nikon D70s Digital Camera - Yahoo! Shopping

    Your camera is a "point-and-shoot". That being said, dont worry then. Those are AWESOME pictures for one. I could never get my old Sony or HP to come close to that. Good job dude!
     
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  9. Godbert

    Godbert Montipora Capricornis

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  10. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    This is with

    • White Balance set to Fluorescent
    • ISO speed Auto
    • Just Actinics running

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  11. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Only difference here is ISO is set to 50. I do not like the way these came out compared to ISO auto. I am including a couple, but not all because I don't like them as much.

    This is with

    • White Balance set to Fluorescent
    • ISO speed 50
    • Just Actinics running


    I will try ISO 100 tomorrow.

    I do think I am preferring it with Actinics over daylights though...


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  12. MTips18

    MTips18 Purple Spiny Lobster

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    the higher you set your shutter speed the quicker it will take the pic just in case you didn't know its good for snapping pics of your fish