# Help for improving this picture



## parotet (25 Oct 2015)

Hi all

I have just updated my journal with this picture



This time I have devoted more time to the shot: I have used black cardboard for covering the light and the sides of the tank, dark room, I have used all the light I had (2x24w + 11w led light), a DSRL camera on a tripod, a reflector to improve light in the background, 20 shots with different setups... I think I've done my best with what I had at home and my photography skills.

However (and I guess this is what usually happens), the layout looks much better than in the picture. This thread is for asking how to improve the edition of the picture (I know the shot could be improved as well as the composition, but I want to focus on picture editing). I use to have Photoshop but I have changed to Mac and I don't have it anymore. I use a very basic software... so, I would like very basic advice about exposure, contrast, temperature, sharpness, etc. I'm pretty sure that this, in experts' hands, is more than enough for improving any picture.

Things I don't like and I'd like to improve:
- the background looks sad and greyish, although it is more whitish (translucent paper attached to the back)
- the texture of the sand is lost
- the texture of mosses in the foreground is great but awful for the plants in the background (more light from above to improve depth? or, light in the background from the bottom? or both?

(if you want to play a few minutes with the picture to improve it, feel free to download it or ask for the original one... I would appreciate it very much!)


Cheers,
Jordi


----------



## Edvet (25 Oct 2015)

background: can you add a light behind it? maybe even a color.
Lots of contrast in that pic, thats the hardest thing in digital photography ( maybe best to do 2 exposures, one for the light parts and one for the dark parts and merge them)
dont know excactly what you mean with the texture. I would improve sharpnes , especially for screenviewing i like the pics a crispy as possible

ps small apertures give the best overall sharpness, are you using a tripod?  does the camera have a mirror lock?


----------



## Dantrasy (25 Oct 2015)

Lower the water to 1-2cm above the tallest stem, there's too much empty space in an otherwise awesome scape.  + increase the hairdryer adgitation 

The sand line across the front needs to be level. In the pic some of the sand across the front disappears.


----------



## parotet (25 Oct 2015)

Edvet said:


> background: can you add a light behind it? maybe even a color.
> Lots of contrast in that pic, thats the hardest thing in digital photography ( maybe best to do 2 exposures, one for the light parts and one for the dark parts and merge them)
> dont know excactly what you mean with the texture. I would improve sharpnes , especially for screenviewing i like the pics a crispy as possible
> 
> ps small apertures give the best overall sharpness, are you using a tripod?  does the camera have a mirror lock?


Thanks Edvet

The picture specs are:

ISO 800, speed 1/50 (using tripod and 5 sec delay to avoid vibration), f/8, focal length 27 mm. Should I use a smaller aperture? I would need quite a lot more light. Sharpness is increased nearly to the maximum during edition.

I have shot many pictures so I would be able to merge different ones... Any free software which can be used for doing it? Is it done by just overlapping two pictures?

Jordi


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (25 Oct 2015)

Jordi, please check your sand is not overexposed. Try to change exposure to darker side: either shorter shutter time - up to 1/100 - 1/200 and/or smaller aperture. Or you can try smaller iso down to 100-200.


----------



## Edvet (25 Oct 2015)

parotet said:


> smaller aperture? I would need quite a lot more light


no, ypu'll need longer, but that's no problem on a tripod. Still there is a lot of contrast in the pic. taking two exposures, one for the sand and one for the dark parts, and merging them (HDR or merge 2 cutouts) wil give the best result. Or you can just expose for the sand and try to PS it.
http://digital-photography-school.com/7-ways-to-handle-high-contrast-scenes/


----------



## hadul (17 Nov 2015)

I'm not such a photographer, but from my experience I think you can improve something.

firs of all you need to give more depth to your tank. 
like I drew here:


for that you have to shoot at a lower focal distance. 
and I think that you can use a smaller aperture due to set a smaller iso too. in that way you will prevent noise   
texture of sand is lost because of too much light.  
your photo is burned out  because of hight iso and/or small shutter speed. sand and the water surface are just "very white" 
you can make a hdr image using exposure bracketing, and then later, merging them in a photo editor - most of dslr have exposure bracketing.

for the backgrund I often use an external flash placed above the tank, or as said a light behind

you can also try to shoot step by step darker ...


----------



## parotet (18 Nov 2015)

Wow, thank you for your advise and for taking your time!

Jordi


----------



## hadul (18 Nov 2015)

for example one of mine layout's at 3 focal distance:

at 70mm (tamron 70-300mm lens)


at 26mm (sigma 18-250mm lens)


at 4.2mm (smartphone) 



you can easily see that the background looks more far away.

but you have to be careful at the distortion of the lens. every lens have a distortion at a "x" focal length

pincushion or barrel distortion - look here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distortion_(optics) -


----------

