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Aquarium photography 101


CA2OR

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I can get them to work with the ETTL if I'm creative with which flash I use for the master. The 420 EX doesn't work as a master so I actually need to use one of the Sigma 500's on the camera. (Which is how I set up the flash shot's on page 2 of this thread)

 

I can use the 420 off camera with no master unit. It's been a long time since I used the 420, but I do this almost daily with the 580, and did so with a 550 for years as well.

 

It is a bit easier with the Nikon's and newer canon's that have the internal radio slave trigger. the new 580 II also has the mini plug which saves the hot shoe adapter, which is convient.

 

I have never used a Sigma anything so, I have no real opinion there.

 

The light I use most often off camera is a Paul Buff 3200. The thing is huge and bright. On full power 50 feet away I can get F11 at 100 across a 30-40 foot plain. It's kinda nutty.

 

JME

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I can use the 420 off camera with no master unit. It's been a long time since I used the 420, but I do this almost daily with the 580, and did so with a 550 for years as well.

 

I should have been more specific. I was referring to ETTL Wireless. The 420 EX will not send a wireless signal to fire a slaved flash unit.

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Okay, this is cool. I just figured out how to compensate for the light temperature using my camera settings and the supplied Canon software.

 

Note: This deals with more advanced settings that go beyond the basics so you may wish to skip this if your still trying to figure out the basic stuff.

 

As I mentioned earlier in this thread the Canon supplied software only goes to 10K Kelvin. Someone else mentioned theirs going to 9999 Kelvin. Whether this will work for other cameras or not I don't know. (It will work with the Canon T1i and T2i) What needs to be done to get the correct color temp without using the custom white balance or another program like Photoshop is to set the "White Balance Correction". On my camera I have 9 possible steps (up and down) that shift the MIRED value 5 points per step. I.E. -1 step (towards blue) shifts the MIRED value by -5.

 

MIRED is micro-reciprocal degrees Kelvin.

Or put simply it's One Million divided by Kelvin.

 

So to start with we need to figure the MIRED value for our lights. Not knowing the exact temperature of my lights I'm guessing them to be about 13500 Kelvin. (While they are supposed to be 14K I believe they are actually a bit lower) Now I take 1 Million and divide it by 13500.

1000000 / 13500 = 74 (Just round to the nearest whole number)

 

Next we need to figure out the target MIRED value. If I go with any of the default camera settings the numbers will require settings that are too high. Instead I will use 10000 Kelvin as the target since that is obtainable using the Canon provided software. (If you can only go to 9999 then just figure 10000) So now I take 1 Million and divide it by 10000.

1000000 / 10000 = 100

 

Now we take the original Mired value (our lights) and subtract the target Mired value (the highest obtainable value using the provided software) to reach the amount of MIRED shift required.

74 - 100 = a shift of -26 (Notice this is a negative value)

 

Since the settings in my camera change the value 5 points for each step I take -26 and divide it by 5.

-26 / 5 = -5

 

Now it is a simple matter of shifting the white balance correction in my camera -5 steps (5 steps towards blue). This will not be enough to completely correct the white balance in the LCD preview but it will now allow me to choose the Kelvin in the Canon provided software (Digital Photo Professional) and then set it to 10000 Kelvin to get pretty close to the correct white balance.

 

Here is a sample picture using this method to correct the white balance.

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=7833

 

And a cheat sheet that will work with the Canon T1i and T2i. It may also work with other cameras but you need to reference the owners manual to determine if the settings are available. Look for white balance compensation or white balance shift. (Might also be found with the Custom White Balance information)

 

11000k Bulbs

-9 Mired

2 steps towards blue

 

11500k Bulbs

-13 Mired

3 steps towards blue

 

12000k Bulbs

-17 Mired

3 steps towards blue

 

12500k Bulbs

-20 Mired

4 steps towards blue

 

13000k Bulbs

-23 Mired

5 steps towards blue

 

13500k Bulbs

-26 Mired

5 steps towards blue

 

14000k Bulbs

-29 Mired

6 steps towards blue

 

14500k Bulbs

-31 Mired

6 steps towards blue

 

15000k Bulbs

-33 Mired

7 steps towards blue

 

15500k Bulbs

-35 Mired

7 steps towards blue

 

16000k Bulbs

-37 Mired

7 steps towards blue

 

16500k Bulbs

-39 Mired

8 steps towards blue

 

17000k Bulbs

-41 Mired

8 steps towards blue

 

17500k Bulbs

-43 Mired

9 steps towards blue

 

18000k Bulbs

-44 Mired

9 steps towards blue

 

18500k Bulbs

-46 Mired

9 steps towards blue

 

19000k Bulbs

-47 Mired

9 steps towards blue

 

19500k Bulbs

-49 Mired

9 steps towards blue

 

20000k Bulbs

-50 Mired

9 steps towards blue

 

Remember you still need to post process and set the white balance temperature to 10000 Kelvin in Digital Photo Professional for the correction to match. Also be sure to set the white balance correction back to zero in your camera before shooting normal photos.

post-5811-14186775434_thumb.jpg

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So I invested some time and installed Elements on my computer because one of my goals is to keep the colors as accurate as possible to the "true" colors as they sit in my tank. Here is a good comparison of two programs that are options to you

 

Picassa (Free from Google)

 

Elements (not free from Adobe)

 

 

This first pic was cleaned up in Picassa by clicking on the "I'm feeling lucky" button

4-26-1027.jpg

 

This one was cleaned up in Elements by clicking on the "Auto" for smart fixes

4-26-1027copy.jpg

 

 

You can see quite easily that the Elements is far more accurate to the true appearance of the corals in my tank.

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Hard to draw many conclusions from a single picture. Picasa works fine for 90% of my pics, the other 10% get the Photoshop or Photopaint treatment. Try playing around with some of the manual controls and don't expect a single get-lucky button to do your work for you :-)

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So I invested some time and installed Elements on my computer because one of my goals is to keep the colors as accurate as possible to the "true" colors as they sit in my tank. Here is a good comparison of two programs that are options to you

 

Picassa (Free from Google)

 

Elements (not free from Adobe)

 

 

This first pic was cleaned up in Picassa by clicking on the "I'm feeling lucky" button

4-26-1027.jpg

 

This one was cleaned up in Elements by clicking on the "Auto" for smart fixes

4-26-1027copy.jpg

 

 

You can see quite easily that the Elements is far more accurate to the true appearance of the corals in my tank.

 

Have you tried Digital Photo Professional? It should be free for you as well. With it you can use the eye dropper for the white balance and click a neutral color in the picture. It may take a few clicks before you find a spot that looks the way it should. Just keep in mind that whatever program you use with your current camera you will degrade the saved picture some since it is a JPEG to start with (Be sure to save a copy to preserve the original). For pictures posted here it is doubtful it will be enough to see though.

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