what am I doing wrong?

[Ah64av8tor]

I just cant get the colors to come out right. I have neon green ghosts.

[gregr]

Honestly I don't think there's anything you can do. Probably it'd be best if I came out there and helped you break down the tank- I'll get rid of the corals for you.








Just kidding. Your tank is incredible- kudos to you.
What camera/lens are you using? I see a bit of a color cast to the pics but not a horrible one (it can be adjusted in Photoshop). Where specifically are you seeing green ghosts in these two shots? I see what looks like purple fringing on some of the corals.

[Ah64av8tor]

It is a Sony DSC-F282 and it only has 1 lens.

It seems that all the bright green in some corals glows, in the second pic the lower right the coral is more cream than green, and in the first pic the upper left coral is mostly blue and the one below it is yellow with green tips.

[zenya]

Greg,

Were this taken with the onboard flash?
I can never take a decent shot of the acroporas using this type of flash- all colors are wrong.
If you did use flash, can you take a shot without it and post to compare the colors?
And I agree with gregr, your tank is beautiful.

[gregr]

Ah- I get it. White balance trouble- not uncommon due to the extreme lighting we use. Even the most expensive cameras have trouble getting accurate colors.

It is a Sony DSC-F282

I see an F828 listed but no F282- was that a typo? If it is an 828 the camera does have the ability to set a manual white balance- that will be your second best bet- the first best is to shoot in RAW format and adjust the color temp on the computer. This offers the most flexibility. Do you have Photoshop? If not, I'm sure the camera came with the software that will convert the raw files to tiffs or jpegs. During that process you make necessary adjustments to the color, exposure, etc., then you convert the picture to whatever format you want. Most people will take the converted picture and make fine adjustments in Photoshop, though it's not necessary. You can usually resize the picture during the raw conversion too.

[Ah64av8tor]

Originally posted by gregr
Ah- I get it. White balance trouble- not uncommon due to the extreme lighting we use. Even the most expensive cameras have trouble getting accurate colors.
I see an F828 listed but no F282- was that a typo? If it is an 828 the camera does have the ability to set a manual white balance- that will be your second best bet- the first best is to shoot in RAW format and adjust the color temp on the computer. This offers the most flexibility. Do you have Photoshop? If not, I'm sure the camera came with the software that will convert the raw files to tiffs or jpegs. During that process you make necessary adjustments to the color, exposure, etc., then you convert the picture to whatever format you want. Most people will take the converted picture and make fine adjustments in Photoshop, though it's not necessary. You can usually resize the picture during the raw conversion too.

Greg, Sorry its a F828. I have read your stuff and I have to say its way over my head, but really want to get this down so its back to reading.


I will have to try the manual white balance again and then play with RAW for a while.


I had some basic settings I started from but have messed the manual settings all up since can you give me a good starting point; ISO FS etc......


zenya, no flash but still not great.

[gregr]

Quick note- shooting squarely into the tank will yield the sharpest pics with the least amount of distortion. Shooting at an angle can make the pics soft and it can add color distortion too. Holler if you need help with the settings.