# Couple of photo tips



## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

Noticed that a few people have posted photo questions in this section. So as a full time photography student (studying for a degree in the uk) and portrait photographer, who knows alot more about photography than fish keeping, i thought i would post a few tips on taking photos to say thanks for all the help setting up my tank.

1) camera bodies do NOT really matter, lens's do. Good glass will do more for your photography than any body ever will.

2) Macro lens's are great for fish they bring out all the details on account of the fact they focus really close. Try and get one with a reproduction ratio of 1:1 if you can.

3) If you are getting reflections of the water surface or the side of your tank, get a circular polarizing filter, they take off glare. They are not expensive and readily available. Just be sure to get the right size for your lens( it is denoted on the lens by the ∅ symbol.

Note: using a polarizer may make you loose some light, if your shots are blurry you may want to use a tripod

4) If you can use off camera flash, it stops the picture looking flat.

5) Check the colour temperature of your lights (it will be something like 5600k) and set the white balance of your camera to it (your instruction manual will tell you how to set wb in kelvin)

6) Expensive camera gear wont make you a good photographer in the same way an expensive fish tank wont make you a good fish keeper.

Hope this helps someone, have fun


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Well seeing i'll be rolling in cash i might get a new camera thanks for the tips.


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

a problem with 3. is that you lose light which alot of the time is low in tanks that your photographing.

that and 6 isn't purely true.
better equipment allows for better photos to be taken thus allowing the user more space to grow without being limited by equipment


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Ownt. So guppy you should totally hook me up with a camera that is off the chain


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

You would only lose 1 stop max with a polarizer, so there shouldn't really be a problem. ive only got 36w and can shoot fine a f8.(plus you can lower iso)

and yes better equipment does allow you to take better photos as long as you know how to use it.(ive spent thousands on my kit) but the point i was trying to make is that going out and buying a hasselblad wont make you ansel adams


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

ok, just tried tested it out lost 2 stops on some occasions i will ammend the post accordingly


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## gil_ong (Apr 15, 2008)

speaking of which, i'm in the market for a circular polarizing filter. needs to be 62mm. recommendations?


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2008)

Ohh...I've already decided to get myself a circular polarizing filter, but not for fish pics.  I'd also be interested in what brands are good.


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

Hoya is about your best bet, little more expensive sometimes but the quality is second to none.


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

Baby_Baby said:


> Hey I'm a photography student as well, currently looking at Rochester Technical College and OSU Institute of Technology (both US of course) for my full time aspirations as a student.
> I've recently been studying portrait lighting  What a coincidence that you're a portrait photographer. I'd love to see some of your work!
> 
> As for 6, better equipment can get you better *quality* pictures, but it can't create brilliant composition for you or make brilliant and unique designs or think up new angles. It can't tell you when to take the photo, when to wait, or anything else. I've seen people take photos that have won them hundreds of dollars and/or awards with low end dSLR's and even point and shoots while the people with the hundreds of dollars in lenses and expensive dSLRs are left out in the dust. So I think expensive camera gear can make you a "good" photographer if you take cliche shots and know all the technical jargon, but what makes you a great photographer is being able to take a great picture without the good photographer's camera.
> ...


Couldn't agree more with your comment about gear. I have a lecturer who often leaves his slr at home and takes a compact in favor of lightness. He still comes back with amazing results. But when quality/control matter he uses an slr.

heres couple of pics that are to hand (they are of amanda)


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

Folks:

This Forum is chocked full of good lookin honeys.

It is obviously due to the experienced (translated as old dinosaurs) presence of fellers like Ron, John and TOS.


JA:

I have a D200 but have not yet been able to get a decent fishie photograph.
(I also have a 600 local flash and an 800 remote flash with diffusers.)

What type of closeup and/or wide angle lens do I need to purchase.

TR


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

i would diffuse the 600 as much as possible ( even put a bit of unexposed infrared film in front of it so only ir light gets through) and use this to set the 800 off from the side( or play around with positions to see what you get, generally the further from the lens the better)

as for wideangle/closeup. IMHO the best wide angle lens you can get is 2 steps backwards.( tho is you want to get close to glass to get the whole tank in get the smallest focal length you can. A d200 has a 1.6 crop factor so if its 28mm its actualy 44.4mm) As for closeup pics of fishys a good macro around 60 or less will give you closer focusing and really bring out the details.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

jamesandmanda said:


> 1) camera bodies do NOT really matter, lens's do. Good glass will do more for your photography than any body ever will.


That may have been true ten years ago. Unfortunately in the digital world the camera body is now key. It's a little device called a CCD. No lens can compensate for a poor CCD.

Good idea on the filter.


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

quality wise yea(most of the time), but a better lens will give you more creative scope.
a d40 with a cracking lens will easily outperform a d200 with a bad lens in most cases


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

D40 - 6.1mp consumer line camera. D200 - 10.2 mp pro camera. Unless you're buying cheap junk lenses for a D200, there is no way to produce a better picture with a D40. Furthermore, the D40 line is designed to use the new Nikkor lens system which is a powered system, which will create noise in the pictures. And it is not backwards compatible with any older Nikkor lens. No thank you.


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## Guest (Oct 1, 2008)

COM said:


> D40 - 6.1mp consumer line camera. D200 - 10.2 mp pro camera. Unless you're buying cheap junk lenses for a D200, there is no way to produce a better picture with a D40. Furthermore, the D40 line is designed to use the new Nikkor lens system which is a powered system, which will create noise in the pictures. And it is not backwards compatible with any older Nikkor lens. No thank you.


I am in 100 percent agreement here. D40 is a great camera for many peoples uses, but in no way would i consider it to produce better pictures than a d200. You would have to be using a lens with a crack in it or something .


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

ok bad example, all im trying to say is that with a cheap f.4.5 or slower lens with really bad distortion, bad bokeh that is'nt sharp wont give you a good quality image weather you put in on a nikon d3 a cheap d40 or a hasselbald for that matter.

Btw dont believe what camera manufactures tell you about megapixels, more is not always better nikon proved that with the d3.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

pics of amanda look almost 3D..beautiful..
you can spend tens of thousands of dollars on a camera.while it may give you more versatility and certainly better sharpness and clarity;it will not make you a great photographer.
you can go to school and get a degree too.but that may only make you a better photographer than you were..
truly great photographers are relatively rare.not everybody can be ansel adams..
god gives that "eye" to just a few.


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

jamesandmanda said:


> As for closeup pics of fishys a good macro around 60 or less will give you closer focusing and really bring out the details.


JA and Folks:

I found a *60mm* and a *50mm*.

The web pages indicate that these are for SLR (ie. not DSLR).

Will they work for my D200?

If they will work which do you recommend for my fishy photographs?

TR


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

jones57742 said:


> JA and Folks:
> 
> I found a *60mm* and a *50mm*.
> 
> ...


yes they will work with your d200, the 60mm macro shown there is the older model rather than the latest one (witch imho is one of the best specific macro len's around) there is the Nikon 60MM/ED(f2.8G)-AF-S (Micro-Nikkor) witch is the lastest model. the 50mm is not a macro lens but imho is one of the sharpest and best lens's nikon make. The reason it is cheap ( mine was £70 gbb) is because nikon has been making it the same way for years)


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

JA:

The D200 was purchased in order to include nice photographs (as in comes off a HP 7000 plotter) in forensic reports. It works beatumously for the folks I work with. I have had no joy with fishy photographs.

Programming from 808x assembly language to the current high level Windows languages is no problem compared to reading and understanding the D200 manual as well as several "how to CD's" along with the subsequent implementation.

The following is intended humor only (and is the manor in which I speak to clients) but:
would you just please tell me what to purchase and if possible provide a web page?

TR

BTW: Amanda in the 2nd photograph you are right smooth up there with BB and one of her blackboard photographs as well as virtually all of the good lookin honeys in West Texas.


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

what are you using with the d200 at the moment ?


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

jamesandmanda said:


> what are you using with the d200 at the moment ?


The camera is currently being used by the staff but I believe that one lens is the Nikon AF Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f 3.5-5.6 G ED II Lens and the other is the AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6 G ED Lens.

TR


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

i would work with the 18-55 for a while, its not a macro lens but it focuses so close its not that far off


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## Pareeeee (Jan 22, 2005)

i luv photography. I have a Fuji Finepix S5000 which is really great to use.


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