new to site - photos

[mikeup6]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the site. I just got a new camera, and thought I'd post a couple pics (I hope it's okay to post more than one).





These guys live in my home aquarium. What do you think?
Thanks for your comments,

Mike

[barty]

Hi Mike, like both shots equally, i,m new also so welcome

[srobb]

Welcome to both of you, mike and barty.

I like both shots, mike. The 2nd is probably the best of the two. Everything is nice and sharp and you did a good job of not getting any glare if you used flash. Keep up the good work.

[Chunk]

Welcome Mike. I like how that blue fish fades into the dark background. What kind of camera did you get?

[julsoph]

Hey Mike...welcome! I like both shots as well...the first because the fish is coming up from the depths, so to speak. The only thing with that one is that I wish there had been less focus on the rock behind him, and more on the fish itself...
The second, I really like a lot. I like the position of the fish, and the way the fins look. Very nice.

Emily

[walterick]

These are nice, sharp, well-composed photos.

The main problem with these on my screen is they both suffer from blown out highlights. Work with that and I think you've got it!

Rick

[mikeup6]

Thanks for the comments!
Chunk - the camera is a nikon d50.

Mike

[gahspidy]

Welcome. I think both of these are fine, except as another stated the hoghlights in both are blown out. The top of the fishes head in the second and the coral? at the lower right corner of the first shot. Since this is from your home aquarium it would be easy for you to retake these and try different settings. Try setting the cameras exposure value to a -3 or -6 EV and see if it helps tone down your brightest areas. i like the effect of the first shot with what looks like the fish coming out of the darkness.Keep at it, and post us some more.

[payn817]

I prefer the blue one. Your choice of framing and use of light is strong.

Another Georgian... finally

[readingr]

Mike,

Couple of questions - are these shot in RAW? you may be able to recover some of the highlights by using the RAW editor.

Hope you don't mind but I think #1 is terrific and I played with it to see what could be done to make it better. I used a techinique Gary told me about for my swan photo and got this.


#2 is really good and again as people have said the head is a little blown out but really good attempt

Roger

[mikeup6]

This is great, thanks for the comments! I definately agree that the highlights are blown out. I use a flash from above the tank, and it seems in order to get the majority of the picture bright enough, some highlights always end up too bright. Especially that coral.

Readingr - I haven't tackled trying to figure out RAW yet. Is there a RAW editor in photoshop, or do I have to buy Nikon Capture (something I don't have the money for)? I don't mind you adjusting the photo, and I'm curious to know what you did. It looks like you adjusted the brightness of the everything but the coral. I like the photo like this, but it is not quite an accurate representation of the fish. He is very dark, pretty much has a black head. There is a blue sheen that shows up if the light is just right (I didn't photoshop the blue in). And he's also quite mean, so I was trying to make him look as menacing as possible. Here he is in a different pic:



Looks a little different doesn't he?
Thanks again for the comments. I'll keep trying, and post some more photos soon.

Mike

[Bevb]

Welcome, and love the shots. Photoshop CS has a RAW programme with it, not sure about elements or photoshop 4.

[readingr]

Readingr - I haven't tackled trying to figure out RAW yet. Is there a RAW editor in photoshop, or do I have to buy Nikon Capture (something I don't have the money for)? I don't mind you adjusting the photo, and I'm curious to know what you did. It looks like you adjusted the brightness of the everything but the coral. I like the photo like this, but it is not quite an accurate representation of the fish. He is very dark, pretty much has a black head. There is a blue sheen that shows up if the light is just right (I didn't photoshop the blue in). And he's also quite mean, so I was trying to make him look as menacing as possible. Here he is in a different pic:



Looks a little different doesn't he?
Thanks again for the comments. I'll keep trying, and post some more photos soon.

Mike

Mike

He's a majestic fish.

Try RAWShooter Essential - its free at www.pixmantec.com, you'll find it under community.

This is the technique that Gary suggested and the one I used.

"Select the entire head area and half way down the neck with your magnetic lasso tool or whatever your comfortable with. after making the selection, click the "layer" menu at the top of the window and select "new" and then "layer from copy". Reduce the opacity of the new layer to about 35-45% and set the layer from "normal" to "screen". This will open up all the shadows and bring light to the head and face. Then use the eraser tool at about 65% to gradually blend the darker untouched area halfway down the neck ( where the selection ended) with the newer lighter areas from the adjusted selection. When finished, flatten the layers and you should be done."

I selected the whole picture and then adjusted the opacity to what looked good for me; I have no idea what the fish should look like. I did not use the eraser bit on yours but did burn in the coral a small bit until it looked okay.

Hope that helps - of it doesn't get back to me and I go through it step by step.

Roger

[mikeup6]

Thanks Roger.

Mike