Photography - Cephs, Tanks and Fossils

Cool Tools for comparing photos

DPReview as a cool tool for comparing the same (almost) photos taken with different cameras. You can change the different ISO setting and display the same picture taken with a wide range of cameras. This was particularly helpful to me for eliminating numerous cameras when I had to replace mine. I set the base using a very high end DSLR and then chose groups of three others to see how well different speeds compared with capturing details.

Firefox has an easy to use, easy to install plug-in that will expose the EXIF data attached to any photo viewed locally or on the web
 
Even though I don't use Firefox as my main browser, I have it available and installed the plug in. I looked for an equivalent for some of the others but the FF code is by far the best (albeit a bit slow) and I will use FF as a quick way to see photo shooting parameters when I take the time to analyze my better (or worse) pictures. At this stage of my learning curve the information I am most interested in trying to establish is the ISO, F-stop and white balance for shooting the tanks that will give me the least grain and the closest true color. I don't have a separate light meter (and probably would no use one if I did, too much work ruins the enjoyment of trying to capture the animals and I am NOT a photographer hobbyist). If you are having issues with trying to get it to work, PM me. It loaded really really easily on my system but Neal has an add-on that complicates adding it and it did not work on his.

So far I am please with the pictures I kept (threw tons away but that is normal) of my new critters but need to take a lot more and then sit down with them. Since the exif data includes the date/time it will be helpful for determining settings with the outside lighting as well as when I only have room light. I have 3 presets available and the goal is to set those up for the tanks and lighting conditions so I don't have to remember :old:.
 
At this stage of my learning curve the information I am most interested in trying to establish is the ISO, F-stop and white balance for shooting the tanks that will give me the least grain and the closest true color.

Exactly what I'm trying to do, except obviously for fossils. I take a lot of pics. and spend hours going over them to see what I'm doing wrong or right.

About the plug-in though, I think I have that (please forgive me I'm really slow with this stuff) It gives me the data along with time and date for each pic. is that what we're talking about? :oops:
 
Yes, it is likely you already have the same one. If you click on FF Tools in the main FF window (it does not mater what is displayed) You should see Exif Viewer as an option. Clicking on it will pop-up a little program that will let you pick pictures from your computer or the internet. Once you select a picture you have to press Display EXIF Data to actually see the info. I believe it may also work more automatically for already displayed pictures but this it the mode I like using.

The selection box at the top right give you some options and I have Basic information only, Suppress image display and Use tables rather than lists checked so I see minimized, nicely arranged information.

Here and here. I am finding that the Canon's display was closer to the actual picture than the Nikon's. Fortunately, the pictures are better than the display but it makes it hard to adjust for light and color. The very yellow light in the in-bucket shots were NOT yellow in the display and this is going to be a challenge for acclimation. For many of the in-tank shots I used the bracketing and, of the ones I kept, the first or second photo was the preferred so I think I am getting somewhere in my setting choices. Most everything looks way over exposed in the display so I think studying the histogram (displayable) is something I need to take time to learn and be comfortable using. It has been a long time in coming but I may need to force myself to spend more time getting "automatic" with how to set the camera :roll:. I CANNOT focus a camera to save my life (this one does have a diopter setting to help with :old: eyes but I have never been able to focus well. The display on the Canon was much sharper (maybe even sharper than the images) where the display on the Nikon is not as crisp but the end result is at least as sharp. Fun stuff.
 
Which buttons do I push

Not so much a topic but a theme of discussion for those of us trying to take pictures, have access to a decent camera and don't quite know what to do next. For general topic concept :bugout:, I am starting with a partial dialog that evolved through seveal of the journals:

sirreal:
As far as photographs of my tanks I have an olympus e10 with about every lens made for it."It was my dads and he passed" I havent played with it much yet but I will. My phone takes some pretty nice pics, even you had said the pics very nice and could not believe they were from a phone. I had an older olympus e5 "passed down when dad got the e10" and I have taken some great pics with it of my coral tanks. but the coral doesnt move so its easy lol

DWhatley:
One of the requirements for my newest camera was better low light focus and a remote firing button


sirreal:
So I brought the SLR in today. I have 3 macro lenses so I will be experimenting a lot to find out what works best. Is it best to slow the shudder speed for low lighting. I will admit this camera does waayyyyyy more then I understand

sirreal:
I brought my SLR camera to the shop to try to get better pics of my 2 octos But no promises about pic quality Damm camera has way to many buttons and lenses. I thought I had 3 macro lenses and come to find out I have 6. I downloaded the manual for it and its 203 pages. LOL

DWhatley:
Lovin' it (the camera confusion) . I HIGHLY suggest a tripod. As much trouble as they are (less if you can use a table top model but I find I can't) finally breaking down and using one has made a huge difference in the quality of focus in my pictures.

sirreal:
D I will have to dig through the garage to find the tripod. I do have a mono pod with the camera but I think I would like to leave the camera set up ready to shoot. My camera does auto focus but once again I am not to sure how to do it. lol Its funny I am kind of a techy guy. Love computers and electronic gadgets but this camera is crazy. My dad used this set up to take closeup pics of buttons. Yes I said buttons!!! My mother is the president of the fl button society. Hard to believe but they are very collectable.
 
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I keep wanting a half decent "wet" camera and after losing my Canon I looked again for something that could at least take a splash and still give me better than the photographer photos. I had started looking for such a thing before HAVING to replace my primary camera and saw several possibilities for a "second" camera for outside but nothing that I could afford that I could use as a primary (an put it inside the tank). I gave up on the wet idea when I broke the Canon. There are some decently priced wet models for a secondary, outside only use that are not for diving but many have leak problems when actually submerged at depths less than they are expected to stay dry. I will look again in a couple of years I expect but staying with the new Nikon for the tanks for now without buying (as I did for the Canon) a housing. The "snorkel" cameras (basically .5 - 1 pressure change - 15 - 32 feet) SHOULD work well for splash wettings though so report on what you pickup and how you like it. Do be sure to get something that has stabalization if it is in the budget as boats don't stay still even more than octopuses :biggrin2:
 
How to get an octopus to cooperate at his photo shoot
Rebecca Jacobson 2014 article

pbsOcto_image.jpg

In 2002, photographer Kent Treptow first picked up a $10 two-gallon aquarium, a hand-held light, and his camera and headed to Newport Beach’s rocky tidepools to capture the sea creatures there.
But as photo shoots go, sea cucumbers, sea slugs and octopi were not the most cooperative of subjects. For one thing, try getting a good shot when your subject is the size of your pinky nail, Treptow said. There was the octopus that kept climbing out of the tank. And the many critters that hid under the plastic sheet, skittering away as he adjusted the light.
“It’s just ridiculous watching this grown man on his hands and knees trying to get this slug to turn the right way,” Treptow said.
After seeing his photos, the city of Newport Beach hired Treptow to snap portraits of life in the tidepools and intertidal areas for a traveling exhibit, a sort of moving aquarium called the Interactive Sealife Outreach pod or ISOpod, designed to teach beachgoers how to properly interact with their ecosystem. So this past year, Treptow scaled up the project. ...
 

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