Watch Him Grow: My male Green Terror named Kai
- Thread starter philipraposo1982
- Start date
There is not much you can do with the cell phone in terms of settings at least with my note 3 there isn't. I normally keep iso at 100 or 200 and I drop the exposure level near the lowest setting. Darker is better for my as I can lighten up the photo after in post.
The largest factor is available light. I always wait till late at night to take photos. Kai is less hyper than too so he is still a bit longer compared to during the day.
The rest of the room.needs to be very dark to avoid reflections. Blacked out is best if possible. The tank should be lit up nicely though and play around with light position to find what works for you.
Another huge thing to consider is stability of your.phone. make a tripod or use something as a rest for when you taking photos. Could be anything like a stack of books or whatever. Just a flat surface to rest the phone on to help keep things from.shaking too.much.
Sometimes I even push my phone right to the glass. When away from.the glass I like to take pics on a slight angle to avoid seeing many reflections.
Another thing to pay attention to is that each park of the tank will product a different photo because of the lighting in that area and what else is around to shade it. So experiment with different areas and use food to help get him into the spot you want.
Finally you need to have some sort of post process software aka editing app. I like aviary app. I use it in this order:
1. Sharpen the image - don't overdue it or it looks really bad
2. Adjust brightness
3. Adjust contrast
4. Adjust exposure
5. At this time you can make small tweaks to things like vibrance, shadows, saturation, and things like that. But generally I like to not mess with the colors as I want to keep it looking natural and mimic what I see irl.
I forgot to mention that you would or may want to crop the photo before beginning to edit.
That's all I can think of for right now. Hope it helps
The largest factor is available light. I always wait till late at night to take photos. Kai is less hyper than too so he is still a bit longer compared to during the day.
The rest of the room.needs to be very dark to avoid reflections. Blacked out is best if possible. The tank should be lit up nicely though and play around with light position to find what works for you.
Another huge thing to consider is stability of your.phone. make a tripod or use something as a rest for when you taking photos. Could be anything like a stack of books or whatever. Just a flat surface to rest the phone on to help keep things from.shaking too.much.
Sometimes I even push my phone right to the glass. When away from.the glass I like to take pics on a slight angle to avoid seeing many reflections.
Another thing to pay attention to is that each park of the tank will product a different photo because of the lighting in that area and what else is around to shade it. So experiment with different areas and use food to help get him into the spot you want.
Finally you need to have some sort of post process software aka editing app. I like aviary app. I use it in this order:
1. Sharpen the image - don't overdue it or it looks really bad
2. Adjust brightness
3. Adjust contrast
4. Adjust exposure
5. At this time you can make small tweaks to things like vibrance, shadows, saturation, and things like that. But generally I like to not mess with the colors as I want to keep it looking natural and mimic what I see irl.
I forgot to mention that you would or may want to crop the photo before beginning to edit.
That's all I can think of for right now. Hope it helps
Another thing you probably already know is that it takes sometimes hundreds of shots to find 2-5 that are good.
Good luck in your picture taking, post some up when you got a chance I would love to see them.
Good luck in your picture taking, post some up when you got a chance I would love to see them.
Just a quick update on Kai. as of this evening he has completed his hex shield treatment. He is doing great btw and I think if they was anything wrong its not an issue anymore.
He wasn't too pleased with the food to be honest. I would drop it in the tank and he would put it in his mouth and spit it right out. If i left in there for a bit once it softened up a bit he would reluctantly eat it. My fish has a huge appetite but not for the nls hex shield. It has a very strong smell too.
Anyhow, I will get some new photos and video in a month or two.
He wasn't too pleased with the food to be honest. I would drop it in the tank and he would put it in his mouth and spit it right out. If i left in there for a bit once it softened up a bit he would reluctantly eat it. My fish has a huge appetite but not for the nls hex shield. It has a very strong smell too.
Anyhow, I will get some new photos and video in a month or two.
Thanks so much for this thread as I have said before. Kai is looking amazing and I love your pics. Like the leaves in your scape as well--its nice to get to see part of the tank in background as opposed to pics that black out everything but the fish. Also, thanks for tips shared on pic taking. My calvus are still so small--have yet to get any good shots....but am going to try with my Nikon instead of phone. Hope to have my own GT one day!
Thanks for all the kind comments, very nice of you.
Bigger fish are easier to photo forsure, I always had trouble taking pictures of smaller county type fish.
I love watching him grow up but I can't wait for home to push 10-11" mark. I feel like he has alot of potential to me an amazing GT.
Bigger fish are easier to photo forsure, I always had trouble taking pictures of smaller county type fish.
I love watching him grow up but I can't wait for home to push 10-11" mark. I feel like he has alot of potential to me an amazing GT.
Here are some photos from tonight. Does he have potential to be a stunning adult GT? I think he is great, hope he can reach 11 inches
Forgot to give a little update.
His little mark on his head (still unsure what it is) is definitely getting better. I have been doing daily 70% water changes with 2 small feedings in the morning and night. Also making sure to siphon any poop in the tank and doing a bit of substrate vacuuming each water change.
His attitude has really exploded the last few weeks. He thinks he is a dovii or something, lol. None who comes within 1-2' of the tank he tries to attack. He has become a real glass banger lately, no idea if it will last though. Funny thing though, when I do water changes he stay clear and just waits in his cave till I am done.
I guess that's it for now, thanks for following along
His little mark on his head (still unsure what it is) is definitely getting better. I have been doing daily 70% water changes with 2 small feedings in the morning and night. Also making sure to siphon any poop in the tank and doing a bit of substrate vacuuming each water change.
His attitude has really exploded the last few weeks. He thinks he is a dovii or something, lol. None who comes within 1-2' of the tank he tries to attack. He has become a real glass banger lately, no idea if it will last though. Funny thing though, when I do water changes he stay clear and just waits in his cave till I am done.
I guess that's it for now, thanks for following along
