Hubba! Hubba! My First Night with my SLR!!!! Feedback???

[txmaverickmh]

Hey guys,

I took my first stab into digital photography tonight of which I know nothing. I purchased my wife a Canon Xsi SLR digital camera for Xmas and after seeing Eve and Ace snapping photos all weekend, I figured I needed to add this element to my love for this hobby. Anyways, check out my shots from tonight!

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/tailspotbeauty.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/coolness.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/starhanging.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/starsplendid.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/walkingdendro5.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/walkingdendro2.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/seahorseprofile.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/SeahorsePeaking.jpg

[txmaverickmh]

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/Acan1.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/Acan2.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/Starwithzoas.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/Zoacluster.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/frogspawn.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/DraculaGoby.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/DraculaGoby.jpg
http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/velvetwrasse.jpg

[txmaverickmh]

FTS

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/Photography/FTSJan20105.jpg

[bjgf15]

Nice! But you better delete those pics of your "wife's" camera when your done, lol!

[txmaverickmh]

I know, she is already giving me the line, "I knew it, you bought that fancy camera for your fish tank!" "I thought it was my present!"

Oops, sorry baby, cant we enjoy a hobby together this time?

MH

[ErikH]

LOL, I have the same problem. My wife hates how many fish pictures I put on her stuff. Now she just deletes it if it's on there. If I didn't upload it, my bad! :)

Those zoas look shockingly familiar. :)

Love that wrasse pic, so hard to get. You got a tripod yet?

[txmaverickmh]

haha, Scorpino, I thought you would like that little pic of your zoas, and speaking of current conversation, those are my wife's favorite zoas in the tank!

That was a really great thing of you to frag all those things and send them down south with Dana! Greatly appreciated!

no tripod yet, still total amatuer, tonight was actually the very first night I have picked it up and played with it....watching all the MAAST folks this weekend on the tank tour got me hungry to take pics myself!

MH

[kkiel02]

Man I want one soooo bad but I cant justify the cash right now as I only would use it for the aquarium. But then seeing your pics.... it makes me want one again.

[hobogato]

you took those without a tripod? wow. great pics, you seemed to learn that camera pretty quick

[corruption]

you took those without a tripod? wow. great pics, you seemed to learn that camera pretty quick

Agreed -- there is a definite art to DSLR photography.. Even more so when shooting as intense-light of a scene as most reef aquariums are. Those are some fine quality shots there! :)

-Justin

[fishypets]

Nice pictures but just a tip, try taking the same pictures without the flash, the colors in the corals will really "pop"

[DrMark]

Its a great camera, same as mine, good taste.... ;-)
Tripod, no flash, custom white balance, 50mm macro, 100mm macro lenses all help.
Lenses so important, but the kit lens does very well for us rookies...
mark

[Kristy]

Love the tail spot blenny photo. We have one of those guys and somehow I've never been able to get a decent photo, because as soon as I approach the tank he is moving around in excitement to be fed! Our spends most of his time hanging out in an abandoned coco worm tube, with his head popping out front and center to keep track of all the action.

[Pennies2Cents]

Those are some great pics Michael. :) The clarity is awesome.

[GoneReefing]

The orange star in the first set of pics looks like his is posing for 'cliffhanger'

[txmaverickmh]

Without the flash, the white balance is kicking my butt!!! Everytime I take pics under MH and actinics without flash it comes out way too blue, and drowns the colors:-(

any tips?

[hobogato]

read the manual and figure out how to do a custom white balance. to set it, point at the sand and that should help. or, some cameras (like mine) will also allow you to choose a color temp - the highest mine will go is 9900k. if that is the way you go, chose the the one that matches your lights. the good thing about digital is you can play around with all of those settings without burning a bunch of film...