Howdy :-)

[gatotsu77]

Hello guys, this is officially my first post on this site. I've been into film photography for several years (I have a Ricoh Super 10 with a 50mm 1:2.0 lens) and I recently bought myself a Digital Rebel. (just the 300d... I couldn't afford a 400d) Right now I'm using a Canon 28-90 F4.0-5.6 lens (its a pain not having the larger aperature like my friend's Tamron 28-75 F2.8) and its limitations aside, I kinda like it. I've gotten some decent pictures of my fish thus far, and I'll be posting them on here soon. I am on a somewhat limited budget at the moment (hence my buying a used camera) but plan to have $500 or so set aside for a new lens in the next month or two. I'm really into macro and telephoto photography, which is mildly frustrating, as the two don't really seem to overlap, or at least not well. My buddy's Tamron is pretty sweet, but I'm not sure if I want to buy the same lens or go for something different. I'm contemplating asking my folks to help me out with getting a lens for my birthday (I turn 21 in 2 months) so perhaps I'll be able to afford 2 decent lenses, say perhaps $300-350 each. I'm sure I'll be on this forum quite often, as I almost always have my camera on me nowadays.

 

[alanhill]

Welcome to APF Andrew. We will look forward to seeing some of your photos. I started digital photography less than 2 years ago after decades using film, so I know how much you will be enjoying the experience.

Alan

 

[gatotsu77]

Thanks Alan. You are right, it really was exciting to dive into digital photography. I've owned my camera for a week and I've already taken over 600 pictures with it. I decided to upload a few so you guys could check 'em out and let me know what I'm doing right/wrong. All I have used photoshop for thus far is to resize and to stamp my pictures, but other than that, they are untouched. I know that the clarity of my lens isn't the greatest, but it was all I could afford at the time. I'm hoping to get the Canon 50mm F2.5 Macro lens (and lifesize converter) and possibly a mid-range telephoto lens in the next 2-3 months. Well, here's a few samples of what I've done. Hope you all like them.

I'll start off with a full tank shot and a few pictures of some of my fish.

I know that the body of my male Opaline Gourami is underexposed in that 2nd one, but I liked the effect of the lights shining through his fins. (none of the pictures I'm posting today were taken with a flash... all were done with the lighting of the environment)

Next I'll post some pictures I got at a lfs. (the one of the lionfish is hazy because the water in his tank was murky... this was the sharpest shot of him I could get)

Just because I can, I'm going to post a picture of my dog too. She's a 3 year old mix between a fox terrier and a beagle.

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures. There will be plenty more in the near fugure.

 

[Schnauzer]

Hi Andrew. You are off to a good start.
Your pictures seem to have an orange cast to them. That is caused by the type of light and the white balance of the camera. If you shoot in RAW instead of jpeg with your camera that isn't very hard take care of in the RAW converter. You can try the various white balance settings in the camera also until you find one that is more natural but it will still vary with different lighting.

Is this closer to the true colors of the nice dog?

 

[gatotsu77]

I did realize that some of the pictures looked a bit orange. The full aquarium shot is because there is ambient light which is a MUCH different wavelength than my flourescents (from my incandescent desk lamp) so it it kinda illuminates the background, (though, what I can tell in the tank seems natural... perhaps my eyes are not as tuned for this as yours are) and the in-tank shots (at least as far as I can tell) have a pretty bad reflection of the orange tree branch decoration, which kinda messes with the image too. I know this sounds crazy, but my dog really is that orange too. I could probably have gotten a slightly more accurate white ballance on that shot, as I was using one I'd taken from a slightly different environment. On the screen on my camera it looked natural, so I stuck with it. I'll play around with getting a better white ballance (I've used my buddy's 18% grey card and it really does bring out some wonderful colors) and see if I can get some better shots up for you guys. Thank you for your feedback.

 

[gatotsu77]

I also realize I had a spec of dust that was probably on my sensor in some of those shots... I'll have to clean that out. I think my dog really is that orange... I'll have to look at her in the sunlight again tomorrow afternoon to know for sure. I know the white in her fur looks a bit off in my picture... hmmm... seems I have more work to do.