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Speedlight questions

What ISO are you using? I bump it up to 1600 for my macro shots, also they are all shot hand held, no tripod. Personally i recommend the Canon 430EX, i have been using it for all my macro photos, i just attached it to the camera and dont have any problems with reflection on the glass, tho I think to avoid reflection the photo needs to be taken at 90 degree to the glass, if I try take the photo on an angle I get reflections. This is one of my fav shots, you can see the camera settings on flickr
  • ƒ/8.0
  • 1/160
  • ISO - 1600
  • Flash (on, fired)
36641607154_9bd7b573cb_z.jpg
IMG_0645 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

Also look into focus modes, if you camera has AI Servo AF mode for focusing on moving objects that really helps
 
Nigel95 said:
I do have the canon 60mm f2.8 usm macro and photoshop. But I am pretty sure I don't get everything out of this program. Do you have any advice which tools in photoshop are great for aquarium photography?
Click to expand...
Hi,
Well it's a wide open field, and yes, one could probably spend years on PS and still only scratch the surface.
First things first; Shoot in raw and not jpeg. When you open a raw file in PS it will open the Camera Raw module where you can recover exposure and adjust color temperature. There are a ton of other sub modules in camera raw such as vibrance and saturation settings, curves...a ton of features. Then you can open the file in the main module and carry on from there. You never actually change the raw file when you manipulate it in Camera Raw. You only write an XMP type file, kind of like a filter, so you can always change your mind the next time you open the file.

Also, use layers, probably one of the most powerful tools. Apply different changes on different layers which allows you to change your mind without destroying the base image or removing all the other changes you made to the image.

Also things like Luminosity Masks and even LUTs can be applied to the image.

Just the tip of the iceberg, really...

Cheers,
 
As Clive said, RAW is they way to go, if you want to take the most of your camera!
Actually is funny to see that when you shoot raw the cheapest cameras perform very similar the €€€ ones...
The extra space that you need for storage worth every terabyte!
I try to be very simple in processing, just push 4 or 5 buttons in cameraraw!

Putting light in the right place takes time to learn, but it's the key to great images.
Blocking, reflecting and diffusing are basics to control light.
Cheap stuff is enought to do this and it's funn.
You have the gear, enjoy!
cheers
 
Nigel95 said:
Around 800 - 1600



I thought manual is the way to go? Do you guys use autofocus?

Great pic!
Click to expand...

Cheers, you could shoot manual on a fairly still shrimp but for anything moving try use AI Servo, give it a google, watch some videos, great for tracking and keeping focus on anything that moves. Tho its pretty tricky when you have 30+ micro fish all buzzing around as the camera will jump focus from fish to fish as they swim into frame.

When I take macro shots I take like 100 - 200 shots and get maybe 5 decent shots, sometimes 0, its really had to tell just how well focused the shots are on the camera and you only really can tell when you start to process them on the computer.
 
ceg4048 said:
Also, use layers, probably one of the most powerful tools. Apply different changes on different layers which allows you to change your mind without destroying the base image or removing all the other changes you made to the image.
Click to expand...

I already shoot in RAW etc. The auto focus is worth a try to but this is something I didn't think of. Gonna try it!
 
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