close up pics

[Bluecheese]

Piero,
The best way to redeem yourself from your "Rude comments" would to post one of your pretty shots..

No more words, unload the shots!


how is the Reefing community in Portland ? Are there any Frag group? I might be there this Summer...


Thanks

[Piero]

If I must...i must.... But these are old ones...been on the site for 6 mos. Hopefully I will have new ones up soon.

[Melody]

Piero ~ Those Are Absolutely Gorgeous Shots!

Sorry, bout the rude comment.

[Piero]

Soory I didn't post new ones, but I have a full plate right now...

[SurferStevo]

Orange cap close up.

[Piero]

great color on that cap, but the picture is blurry. Are you using a tripod? that may help if you are having difficulty stabilizing the camera for longer shutter speeds, which is often the case with our aquariums.

[zenya]

Took this today of the new growth on one of my Acropora colonies

[MLudl]

Here is my first attempt at posting one of the first pictures from my new Canon Digital Rebel. Yellow Polyps in my 4 month old 55 reef.

[kbreese]

Damn Piero, I can see how you have room to be picky! Gorgeous shots! fantastic color, clarity and sharpness! not an ounce on blur in those shots!

What camera do you use? I think its safe to say you definitely use a tripod!

[Piero]

hehe...thanks! Yes, I use a tripod, and usually a small tank setup just for photography purposes, so I can light the subject appropriately, and get it close to the glass...

I'm using a Nikon Coolpix 4500. Great macro camera, but like most regular digis...slow on the shutter release, so moving stuff like fish is out of the question.. Digi SLR someday...(sigh)

[SurferStevo]

Nope no tripod. I guess I really shold get one. But thanks for the kind words. I means a lot considering the source.

[Keith Sheridan]

Peiro, honestly though, i looks like there is some photoshoppin' going on. Is there or are those colors really that vibrant when lit the right way?

[Piero]

Ahh...the old, "do you see what I see" question...lol. Wish I had a button I could push when people ask this of anyone to spit out an informative handout on color perception

Regarding Color Perseption:
Photos are nice captured moments in time, but they DO NOT represent reality, especially with regards to color. Color perception is dependent on so many factors, including your personal eyes, your monitor model, your display color settings, the camera used, lighting, angle, etc. could go on forever....

So, although we all do it, color perception cannot really be discussed objectively. All I can say is, the images look realistic and vibrant on my monitor, not oversaturated. And yes, they look like the animals I shot.

Interestingly enough though, when I visited the east coast recently and was viewing my site on another older monitor, the images looked severely over-saturated. So it's all relative....maybe try another monitor and you will see the differnce. Ever wonder why all the TVs at circuit city show the picture differently?

I can take a picture of a particular specimen, and then move the camera slightly, and get a COMPLETELY different color rendition. For example, I can shoot an orange fungia at a certain angle, and it will appear vivid and orange. If I change the position of the camera or the lighting angle slightly, it shoots dirt brown...

So you see, any discussion on color perception is futile to a certain degree...

Now, in reference to your question regardoing PS:
Yes, I use Photoshop. Any good photographer should use photoshop. But it takes skill to use it correctly. PS is a valuable tool that can be utilized or abused. Do I crank up the saturation in my images? No. And a correctly captured specimen shouldn't need it. Properly photographed, most of our reef life has plenty of color already, it's just a matter of capturing it accurately.

I do have a batch macro that processes most of my pics, it starts with a resize, an auto-contrast command, an auto levels command, and an unsharp mask 20%.

Color perception is a little like an old Bhuddist proverb I heard once....

An old man and his apprentice sit by a pond, gazing at the Koi swimming slowly in cirles...
The old man says,
"Tell me...How many fish do you see in the pond?
The apprentice replies, "Twelve fish, I see twelve."
The old man says,
"Mmmm. And how many ponds do you see?"
To which the young apprentice immediately replies,
"One pond master."
"Try again." said, the old man.
"I don't understand, master. All the fish are in one pond." says the boy.
To which the old wise man replies,
"Perhapse. But there are twelve fish, and so there are twelve ponds."

We cannot assume we all percieve reality, or colors for that matter, the same. Ever have someone you know swear something is orange and you swear it's red? Kinda like that... Sry for the long post, but this is a subject I think all reef photographers should be familiar with. Hope this short answer thoroughly confused you all...

If you are still interested or have questions, please feel free to email me if you would like some links to color perception/theory references.

[Piero]

I just looked at my site from a co-workers display, and my images appear over-saturated there...

Maybe my home monitor color settings are washed out?....idunno. Now I'm startin to get concerned...Very frustrating not to have control over what others see...oy.

[TS]

They don't look oversaturated on my monitor Piero. They do however look superbly exposed.

I take it these are heavy crops, and if so I admire the sharpness you're getting- When I try to crop something that tightly, I'm usually left with a blurry mess. Keep up the good work!

T

[SurferStevo]

I use photoshop too. Because sometimes the pics I take are not correctly exposed and/or do not capture the true to life colors. So, for example under my Ushios I get tons of green. It's green that the camera picks up but is not visible to me. And to be an accurate representation of the way I see it, it needs to be adjusted. If any of my photos don't come out of the camera the way they look in real life, then I'll adjust so it does.

[Keith Sheridan]

Peiro, to throw another kink in the works, I am bound to see colors very differently any way... I am actually color blind.

[Piero]

hehe! well arrighty then!

[gregr]

just shrunk this shot down: [warning- 200k file]
http://www.gregrothschild.com/clam61.jpg
i don't have the heart to shrink it any more

[Piero]

But I never get tired of it...

[Bluecheese]

Now you are talking Piero! Very Nice.
Are those from the same worms but different conditions/angle?

Here are some zoos for you since you were looking for some...




and another one

[Bluecheese]

Forgot to include my Good friend and goof-ball in the tank. Captain Blen, he loves hanging out in the zoos

[Bluecheese]

Is Watching you!!

[Hamlin Aquatics]

gregr: Did you take that porcelain crab shot with a Canon SLR? Also, what lens? Thanks.

[gregr]

yup- 100 macro