Competition discussions

viper357

viper357

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Hi all, please use this thread for any and all questions or comments about any of the competition threads or pictures posted in those threads, we would like to keep the competition threads as clean as possible with only photo's being posted, many thanks. :)
 
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Ok, all 4 competitions are up and running, lets see some pics. :)
 
Hi.

1 question, on the Digital SLR competition, any lense, or standard 18-55mm ?

Some okes have way nice macro lenses, and shots can be done closer, and looking better..
 
Jeann1 said:
Hi.

1 question, on the Digital SLR competition, any lense, or standard 18-55mm ?

Some okes have way nice macro lenses, and shots can be done closer, and looking better..
Click to expand...
There are no restrictions in the DSLR competition. Unfortunately there are just far too many factors/variables to be able to make restrictions on different lenses, megapixels, focal lengths etc.
 
Jeann1 said:
Hi.

1 question, on the Digital SLR competition, any lense, or standard 18-55mm ?

Some okes have way nice macro lenses, and shots can be done closer, and looking better..
Click to expand...

oceanseeker said:
Please dont underestimate this standard stock lens - ive seen some awesome compositions with this lens

Have a look at this link Canon EF-S 18-55mm (Kit lens) Photo Gallery by Mikhail Fursov at pbase.com
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I've learnt that in all aspects of photography, your equipment is very seldom the limiting factor. It's really only when you blow photos up to poster size that you can even see a difference in quality between consumer and professional equipment.

You macro lenses only really help if you're taking a picture of a coral polyp or something very small.
 
I get better pictures with the stock 18-55 Canon lens. It is Macro enabled. Meaning you need to digitally play with picture there after. The 18-135 lens is not as good.

But proper Macro lenses, cannot comment, only got the camera last month so no funds for more lenses. :(
 
Mudshark said:
I've learnt that in all aspects of photography, your equipment is very seldom the limiting factor. It's really only when you blow photos up to poster size that you can even see a difference in quality between consumer and professional equipment.

You macro lenses only really help if you're taking a picture of a coral polyp or something very small.
Click to expand...


Any tips then? I have a Nikon D3000 - with the standard 18-55mm lens (not VR) and the sigma 50-100mm ... :p
 
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Jeann1 said:
Any tips then? I have a Nikon D3000 - with the standard 18-55mm lens (not VR) and the sigma 50-100mm ... :p
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The 18-55 lets you focus nice and close. I don't know the 50-100, but it may be good for some pics further back in the tank.

You're a little limited with ISO on the entry level cameras. I wouldn't go over 400, as the result will be very grainy and require extensive noise reduction in PS. That means that you need to use the flash on your camera for fish etc, as you won't have a fast enough shutterspeed to freeze the motion. A speedlight would help a lot here as you can angle it to reduce the shadows cast behind the fish etc. IMHO this would be a better purchase than expensive lenses. It will give you far more mileage in all of your photography.

For corals, you can switch off your pumps to keep them still, thus allowing you to use slow shutter speeds with you camera mounted on a tripod. You must switch the lens to manual focus, or it will inevitably focus on the wrong part.

If this sounds like gobbledeegook, tell me where you're stuck and we'll help from there.

Best advice that I can give, is shoot, shoot, shoot. You'll soon get that first real cracker shot, which will inspire you to shoot, shoot, shoot some more.

By all means enhance your photos in photoshop or similar. You photo should reflect what you saw.... not what your camera gave you. They'll usually need some contrast added, some sharpening, noise reduction, cropping, lightening of shadows and maybe a touch of saturation. Just always be careful not to destroy the picture with unnatural levels of any of the above.
 
To add to mudshark...

I think the disadvantage of using a zoom lens like the 50-150mm (I havent used this lens, but have heard that is highly rated) is that the minimum focusing distance is a problem - you have to sometimes stand a meter away. Some 18-55mm have minimum distances of 25cm - its normally marked on the lens.



Mudshark said:
The 18-55 lets you focus nice and close. I don't know the 50-100, but it may be good for some pics further back in the tank.

You're a little limited with ISO on the entry level cameras. I wouldn't go over 400, as the result will be very grainy and require extensive noise reduction in PS. That means that you need to use the flash on your camera for fish etc, as you won't have a fast enough shutterspeed to freeze the motion. A speedlight would help a lot here as you can angle it to reduce the shadows cast behind the fish etc. IMHO this would be a better purchase than expensive lenses. It will give you far more mileage in all of your photography.

For corals, you can switch off your pumps to keep them still, thus allowing you to use slow shutter speeds with you camera mounted on a tripod. You must switch the lens to manual focus, or it will inevitably focus on the wrong part.

If this sounds like gobbledeegook, tell me where you're stuck and we'll help from there.

Best advice that I can give, is shoot, shoot, shoot. You'll soon get that first real cracker shot, which will inspire you to shoot, shoot, shoot some more.

By all means enhance your photos in photoshop or similar. You photo should reflect what you saw.... not what your camera gave you. They'll usually need some contrast added, some sharpening, noise reduction, cropping, lightening of shadows and maybe a touch of saturation. Just always be careful not to destroy the picture with unnatural levels of any of the above.
Click to expand...
 
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