Some aquarium pics with new sigma 150mm macro

[dhess]

The sigma macro arrived earlier today. Thanks again Birddog.

These aren't really serious shots for critique as no thought has gone into composition and the glass was far from clean. ...but critique away anyway as I am new to macro and have a lot to learn.

All shots are uncropped with some sharpening and some mild curve adjustment. All shots were taken on a tripod.

Dom

[phillipb]

Those are great shots Dom, specially the second last one. I can see another happy sigma user coming up.

[dhess]

Thanks for the kind words

I think your the first person who hasn't bagged my images

[mudder]

I especially like #2,4 and 5... The colours in 4 and 5 are captivating... Gee, the macro seems to open up a whole new world...

[mic]

Great stuff, different from our usual flower pics.

Have you heard of Inverting

Mic.

[Yedrup]

Great images, especially like No 3, my eyes just want to wander around in it exploring, love it.

Cheers,
Terry

[the foto fanatic]

Just saw these for the first time. They're very good.
In fact, I think #4 is excellent. Well done, Dominik.

[BBJ]

#4 for me looks great and very nice colours as well, top shots Dom good to see you are putting a good Sigma to use.

[dhess]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.


For Mic:

[sirhc55]

Dom - they are all fantastic, and literally straight out of the box.

Please, please don’t go the Mic route as the pills he uses are becoming vey rare

As a Sigma user I welcome these great shots as proof, not only of a great photographer, but great lens too. . .

[dooda]

I really like the contrast in the first one. The tonal range is terrific. Too bad about the cropped fish as that would have been a nice touch as well. The last one is great as well. They're all really really good. I see way too many average pics from the aquarium. THis one is terrific.

[mic]

WoW Dom, An Inverted Aqua Long Garnum Very rare indeed.

Chris, I've told you before. Sink a pill

[bimborocks]

great photo's

what settings did you usse - any flash. I wanna take better pics of my tank but have trouble with getting the shutter speed fast enough (only using kit lens thought) so i might have to invest in a macro

Any full tank shots?

cheers
James

[dhess]

Most of the shots were taken at f13 at around 1/5 sec. ISO 1600 using tripod.

Unless you have metal halide lighting you will really struggle to photograph anything that moves without using a flash from above. Fluoros are way to dim.

I tried using the kit lens but wasn't ever happy with the results.

Macro is the only way to go.

e.g. same coral as above taken with kit lens at same settings:



All the above shots were taken without flash, but I have been played around with photograhing fish using an SB800 from above as a remote flash and the onboard flash set to commander.

The following shot was taken hand held with the sigma 150 macro. One hand holding the camera the other the sb800 from above. DOF is a bit too shallow but I am reasonably happy otherwise. This fish is only about 3cm long.



My aquarium is a 5ft long mini reef that dominated by large polyped stony corals with a few small polyped stony and soft corals. I also have to photosynthetic clams. I have a fair fe fish but most are shy and very poor photographic models.

Here is a very crappy whole tank shot:

[bimborocks]

great photos. Nice clear and sharp pic of the damsel - i find it especially hard to get decent pics of fish cause they move too damb fast - at least corals don't move - well much anyway.

tank looks pretty good, nice collection of mushrooms in there too  BTW are you on reefing the australian way forum - sure i've seen your username there before

cheers
James

[dhess]

... BTW are you on reefing the australian way forum - sure i've seen your username there before

cheers
James

Sure am. So is Spooky.

Yeah my tank is a bit overun with mushies. I have to weed a few hundred out every couple of months.

[KerryPierce]

Those are some very interesting shots. Keep it up and Chris will be nominating you for Sigma VP.

[Finno]

A few RTAW'ers here. Nice shots. Need macro lens.

[dhess]

Hi Finno, good to see some familiar names.

[ozimax]

Wonderful stuff here Dom, I would try a slight levels adjustment to heighten contrast, but heck, straight out of the box they are wonderful.

Max

[dhess]

Thanks Max,

The pics have some slight curves adjustments. I am not yet competent enough with PS to take full advantage of curves adjustments without overcooking the image.