Types of Tubes to use for Photography of Tanks

[craftsman]

Take a look Loopy at this photo. Shows my tanks. The 2.5ft tank is the one with 6500k lighting. the smaller tanks at the right have a higher kelvin rating. The plants in the 2.5ft tank don't look naturally green at all! Yuck!

The middle one has white lighting, and the nanas in the tank look wonderfully beautiful. The extreme right one has a blue tube in it, and the plants don't look half bad as well.

I think I really need to go get the 10000k bulb.

[jerra]

bro you are making me jealous with your nice HC lawn! haha

[craftsman]

bro you are making me jealous with your nice HC lawn! haha

Jealousy can be a good motivator Jerra!

[blue33]

If you're using kelvin of 6500k-8000k the plant grow looks much nicer than the rest if you observe carefully.

[Loopy]

Woah! High Tech Buff Alert! Looks like you like your technology brother To be honest your plants look great. Maybe you see it everyday and it just does not appeal to you. Try out the 10K and see how it goes. OR when you take pictures, put a 10K tube

craftsman[/B];429001]Take a look Loopy at this photo. Shows my tanks. The 2.5ft tank is the one with 6500k lighting. the smaller tanks at the right have a higher kelvin rating. The plants in the 2.5ft tank don't look naturally green at all! Yuck!

The middle one has white lighting, and the nanas in the tank look wonderfully beautiful. The extreme right one has a blue tube in it, and the plants don't look half bad as well.

I think I really need to go get the 10000k bulb.

I actually agree to this. 10K is a sprint. 8 is a jog. 6.5 is a walk. But it can be handled by photoperiod, dosing and water changes. And since the work tank is right next to my computer mouse. I can monitor it round the clock.

If you're using kelvin of 6500k-8000k the plant grow looks much nicer than the rest if you observe carefully.

[blue33]

Well the master Amano never use anything above 8K. When i checked with the pro in HK, they can grow glosso using T8(yet we use T5 and MH, sigh... ), not above kelvin 8K also. LOL. There's secret to it.

[craftsman]

Well the master Amano never use anything above 8K. When i checked with the pro in HK, they can grow glosso using T8(yet we use T5 and MH, sigh... ), not above kelvin 8K also. LOL. There's secret to it.

But Adrian, photos of their ADA tanks looks so dark green and nice! You mean like Loopy suggests, they change to 10k tubes just for photo taking?

[blue33]

FYI. 10k will never get you grow dark green.

[craftsman]

I know that Adrian , I'm just asking if you think they use whiter lights during photography?

[torque6]

Take a look Loopy at this photo. Shows my tanks. The 2.5ft tank is the one with 6500k lighting. the smaller tanks at the right have a higher kelvin rating. The plants in the 2.5ft tank don't look naturally green at all! Yuck!

The middle one has white lighting, and the nanas in the tank look wonderfully beautiful. The extreme right one has a blue tube in it, and the plants don't look half bad as well.

I think I really need to go get the 10000k bulb.

I had my friend shot my tank with 65k Osram daylight and it turned out pretty well, but he was using an EOS.

[blue33]

They have studio light for them to take photography, do you know Amano was a photographer before he is now. Here's one pic ->Click >Here<

[craftsman]

I had my friend shot my tank with 65k Osram daylight and it turned out pretty well, but he was using an EOS.

I oso got EOS leh! Canon 30D. I can't get the correct colour I want. But when I shoot my small tank with a whiter light, the colour balance is just beautiful.

I saw your 1ft nano thread. The green from your HC is really nice. I wish I can get that colour. Are you sure your tubes are 6500k? (Sorry for doubting) Or did he use any post procesing?

Thats why, I''m gonna go get the 10k tubes, and see if the colour would be much better.

[craftsman]

They have studio light for them to take photography, do you know Amano was a photographer before he is now. Here's one pic ->Click >Here<

Makes sense to me Adrian. I think they will not be able to achieve such a nice colour balance if they just use 6500k tubes. Studio lights are a must. But i'm going to get my 10000k tubes just to lay this matter to rest. At least in my own mind.

[Shadow]

you can adjust your white balance for photo taking.

[jerra]

i dont know how to diy light set. if i'm currently using odyssea 1ft 24w/12000k. What brand of light tube can i change to that is 6500k?

[ghim]

For photo taking, you can use table lamps and flash to make your tank brighter. For EOS, there is a AV(+/-), try -0.5 to -2.0 . A good lens will help too. I am still waiting for OC approval for a good macro lens

[benny]

To photograph your tank itself, you don't really need a macro lens. You need a tripod.

In cases where there is a specific color temperature, it can be adjusted to white manually or by the camera. It's only tricky when you have a few light source like in the first picture. Then only the most dominant source will be corrected. The best way is to use a waterproof card and put it in the tank to do a custom white balance. Most cameras can do it and the details instructions came with the camera.

Cheers,

[craftsman]

you can adjust your white balance for photo taking.

Done that Shadow. But I can't seem to achieve the whitish light. sigh...

[ghim]

The macro lens is meant for taking shrimps and fish shots Still learning on tank shots and macro shots for fish and shrimps. I am using a EOS 400D with 18-55mm kit lens. I seldom use flash and dont use tripod for tank shots. I do the shots at night, with only the tank light.

What I meant was by adjusting the Exposure bias(AV).

Most people will find it hard to do white balancing. Generally tank shots are over exposed. Doing a stepdown on the exposure, will give you a more natural shot. The rest can be done with photoshop

Just did some photo taking. You can do a comparison on these shots.

Without Exposure bias:



With Exposure bias of -0.7

[CK Yeo]

On my monitor, Paul, your small tanks looks bluish. Hardly what I would consider natural. 6500K should be good. Lower kelvins ratings will give yellow cast.

ghim, the set without exposure compensation looks more "correct".

Why not just shoot in RAW? Then you can dial whatever WB you want.

ck