# Finally picked up a speedlite, some shrimp shots



## rodcuda (Jul 25, 2012)

What camera are you using?


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## SpecGrrl (Jul 26, 2012)

Blue Planet!


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Nice. Yes, what camera?


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

T3i I got early last year. I can't justify spending $500 on a macro lens atm just to take pictures of shrimp, even though I really want to  maybe later when I trade up.

Some of the blur could have been alleviated if I used a tripod or something stable, one hand w/ speedlite and one with a 2lb camera+ long extender tube = wobbly. Still trying to balance the speedlite brightness & exposure settings, right now I mostly have the lite at lowest, and exposure at -2 external flash compensation and -3 exposure (don't know why there are 2 separate exposure settings).


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Try to close the aperture down to something like f8 for a tad more DOF. It will be trickier to see the subject, but if you take lots of shots some will turn out focused just right.


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## DennisSingh (Nov 8, 2004)

Your T3i takes better pictures than my t3 with macro lens. Or its just the camera man.
Awesome sulawesi


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## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

very out of focus. Macro shots need a tripod to balance the long lens and weight. If you can use that bump up the ISO, Exposure, or shutter speed. Other than that, great subjects.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

You've got beautiful photo subjects..!


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

I'm gonna try a lower f stop later, I think I have to manually use the kit lens to set aperture, hold down the remove lens button while exchanging it for the extender tube or something weird like that.

I don't know what it was set at when I took these, probably pretty high cause I had to do ~-5 exposure. DoF is like... 1/10th an inch if you look at the cardinal leg photo.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

It is probably set to f3.5 (wide open). Dial in the aperture you want, then press the DOF preview button and while keeping it pressed, remove the lens.


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## Sd760 (Apr 25, 2011)

Beautiful.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Any idea why my remote flash only goes off in viewfinder mode? I like taking shots using the LCD screen but it doesn't trigger the flash  

And lower aperture makes it hard to see through the view finder.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Kit lens f/16

















Macro f/12









Better dof, can see algae on glass and most of legs, and a scud









PFR baby recently hatched, size of a piece of fluval stratum


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Much better results!!! Now things are coming into focus.



xenxes said:


> Any idea why my remote flash only goes off in viewfinder mode? I like taking shots using the LCD screen but it doesn't trigger the flash
> 
> And lower aperture makes it hard to see through the view finder.


Try setting the "Silent Shooting Mode" to disabled.


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

make sure you don't drop it into a tank, i have done this TWICE now- le sigh


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## Big Dog (Nov 4, 2009)

Great pictures.


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## Fdsh5 (Jan 3, 2012)

Great pics. I need to invest in a new camera set up. Your pics have inspired me


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Wasserpest said:


> Much better results!!! Now things are coming into focus.
> 
> Try setting the "Silent Shooting Mode" to disabled.


TY again Wasser  I did some Googling and "... the EOS 600D / T3i doesn't inherit the Silent Shooting Live View options of the EOS 60D..." Bummer, I'll just swap live view then swap off to trigger the flash.




msjinkzd said:


> make sure you don't drop it into a tank, i have done this TWICE now- le sigh


Lol I dipped the speedlite in the water a few times, didn't go too far so it's still good. I take the plastic lid off my Fluval Spec and use it to hold to lite now.


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## bitFUUL (May 14, 2010)

Sweet looking shots xen!


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Awesome pictures!


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

I like these two, but something is still off, maybe just ugly substrate and dirty glass.


















A lot are overexposed like:

















Post effects edits make it look washed out / overcontrasted, or it makes black look purple. Maybe if I took it in RAW? Do I get more to play with? I'm just taking jpegs.

With a top flash, I find that I can turn the shutter speed up really high and not lose any light, no more blurs due to handshakes and don't really need a tripod.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

With jpegs, it is more important to get the exposure correct. I am too lazy for RAW, so I try to offset that by putting more thought into the beginning of the process. Reviewing the histogram, for example, if your camera allows it. Take a few extra exposures at +1 and -1.

In the first picture, reducing the Flash exposure one more notch would have been better to prevent the blown out highlights. The eyes of the shrimp to the right are not completely in focus. Algae on the glass... Also while cropping is good, leave a little more empty space in the direction they are looking at (right margin in this case cropped too closely). You could crop a bit more of the substrate (lower margin) making it look panoramic in the process, not a bad thing.

Second image is ok, exposure is perfect, even though the food is blown out, it isn't the main subject. The eyes are not 100% in focus. I try to not put the subject smack in the middle... golden rule, 2/3 etc. Cropping off the right side of the image would make the composition a bit more interesting.

Flash from above always accentuates dirt/particles/stuff in the water and on glass. Clean your glass, perhaps turn off the filter 10 min before taking pictures to reduce the floaters.

Work on your post effects... avoid color changes, but master the levels. For ex, cropping the last image and moving the shadows from gray to black would make some improvement. As long as the highlights are not blown out you can salvage a lot in post.

Just some feedback & ideas. :smile:


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

TY Wasser, great info! 

1. Lol never used the histogram before, just watched a YouTube video on it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcgk5lSjKL8, lots of things I never bothered to learn
2. The eyes are good to look for when I'm focusing, I didn't even notice
3. Hmm yes, auto color / auto tone tend to do more harm than good, it keeps turning my black to purple, and red look faded, I do use the shadow/highlight feature a lot to help adjust exposure, it's amazing. Selective color helps sometimes too, but I can't quite get it right without messing up another color

I need to trade up to the 7D just so I can trigger the flash in Liveview, I hate the viewfinder. Dark, small, can't see much, and strains my neck! I'll wait for the next swivel screen version.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Xenxes, here's a little tip I use -- use live view mode and use the digital zoom (I can do this on my Nikon, and I'm pretty sure the t3i does it too). Use manual focus to get it just perfect, and then take the shot. Works best obviously if your camera is on a tripod, but another thing I do is press the lens right up to the glass (or the lens hood) and use that to stabilize my shots.

Keep in mind I take mine without flash, and with an extension tube. Built in flash + extension tubes = crap most of the time. Same could be argued with regards to using no flash, but when you get results, you get good ones. If you don't mind, I can post a few shots of mine I've taken with this method up here.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Here are just a couple. Sorry if in hijacking, let me know and I'll remove them.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

I took all my old pics the same way you did Kiran, no speedlite on top, pressed up against the glass, 1 in 10 shots would come out almost perfect. The problem though is you literally have no depth of field. Your first pic turned out great because the PFR is flat across the screen, so everything is in focus, and I think you had a lot of light. Any depth variation will cause blurring though, problem is much much worse in lowly lit places.

A lot of my older pics actually look better, I think I need to turn the aperture down even more, darker images hide more imperfections. I always liked this old shot, despite all the algae:


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## SaltyNC (Jun 26, 2012)

You may already know this, but a nice trick is to set a timer delay of a second or two. That way, you press the shutter fire button, take all hands off the camera, then let the camera fire automatically a couple of seconds later. Of course, this requires the camera be mounted on something. It can allow you to take a steady shot without a tripod in a pinch.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

SaltyNC said:


> You may already know this, but a nice trick is to set a timer delay of a second or two. That way, you press the shutter fire button, take all hands off the camera, then let the camera fire automatically a couple of seconds later. Of course, this requires the camera be mounted on something. It can allow you to take a steady shot without a tripod in a pinch.


Never even thought about doing that, that's a great trick for the tripod! Cause I always move it ever so slightly when I press the button.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Okay so, I think I found the sweet spot, f/22 on the telephoto lens + extension tube, at -2 exposure, flash set to level 3, shutter speed 1/50, no need for a tripod at all.

These first photos were overexposed and edited down:

































These were underexposed / in shadows and edited up:









































This one was just.. out of the flash:









Other randoms, exposure just right:

























I find that I can't get the sharpness that I want, unless the subject is right infront of the glass. I think it's more a matter of equipment than settings, using the zoom on my cheap telephoto lens to capture a farther away target = some blurring no matter what.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Also it seems that going back to edit the exposure messes with the color too much, seems washed out (all the cardinal pics above). The white claws always catch too much light.

Need more practice I guess, macro is hard :/


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

xenxes said:


> I took all my old pics the same way you did Kiran, no speedlite on top, pressed up against the glass, 1 in 10 shots would come out almost perfect. The problem though is you literally have no depth of field. Your first pic turned out great because the PFR is flat across the screen, so everything is in focus, and I think you had a lot of light. Any depth variation will cause blurring though, problem is much much worse in lowly lit places.
> 
> A lot of my older pics actually look better, I think I need to turn the aperture down even more, darker images hide more imperfections.


Is is very true. I guess what I was trying o say was are you taking your shots like this but he only difference being that the flash is above the subject? You should be able to get some crisp shots and that nice black background, too.

What lenses are you using? If the kit lens produces sharper images at a lower magnification than your telephoto, you're likely better off just using the kit lens and doing a tight crop (depending on just how crisp you can get them with the kit lens).

Also, have you tried the live view trick?


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Yea it's a great trick for a tripod, I'm using my hand now at a very fast shutter speed, so I just snap a few consecutive photos moving inward or outward slowly, one comes out in focus 

I think you're right about kit lens giving sharper images, but with the kit + tube I can only take photos close to the glass, whereas w/ the telephoto I can "zoom" with the tube attached all the way to the back of the tank.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

xenxes said:


> Yea it's a great trick for a tripod, I'm using my hand now at a very fast shutter speed, so I just snap a few consecutive photos moving inward or outward slowly, one comes out in focus
> 
> I think you're right about kit lens giving sharper images, but with the kit + tube I can only take photos close to the glass, whereas w/ the telephoto I can "zoom" with the tube attached all the way to the back of the tank.


Nice. I envy the high shutter speed, as that's something I can't really get even at ISO 800 (that first picture you liked was ISO 800!). That's a nice trick moving in and out. I don't know if Canons have this equivalent function but I know my Nikon has a function where you can do a 10x digital zoom in playback mode and then use the main command dial to quickly switch between pictures while still zoomed so you can decide in a snap which photo(s) is/are sharpest. 

This is true but also take into account that with a farther working distance, shifting your camera just a couple of degrees in any direction can shift your focus (think trig!). Of course this isn't that big a deal if you can get a good DOF, but if you're using a high shutter speed (I don't know how high you're using) you're having to open up your aperture and lose DOF... just food for thought. That could be additionally blurring your photos.


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