help with manual macro settings

[SharkLover]

I finally got my camera last night and started messing around with night shots on manual. I was able to find the right match for the right amount of light to come into the lense but it comes out way to blurry. Any suggestions? here are the settings and the image i took;

camera canon t1i
lense 100mm/f2.8 USM macro
Picture taken Manual mode f/2.8 1/10 @ ISO 1600

 

[cujo6984]

at a speed of 1/10 you need to use a tripod holding at any slower then 1/60-1/80 is bound to come up blurry

the iso at 1600 might contribute to a little grainy as well


im no expert by any means but just info the i have read

the experts will chime in

 

[nichols]

Need to use a tripod and the shutter timer. Just the movement from pushing the shutter button will blur your picture.

 

[SharkLover]

is that a good shutter speed? and f value? is something else the preferred?

 

[SharkLover]

Can a MOD pls move this to photography forum

 

[SharkLover]

Did some testing when I got home from work. Set it to 2 sec shutter timer on the tripod @ 2.8 1/100 1600 ISO. what do you guys think? Used some king midas for testing.
the raw looked sharper than the converted jpg. hmmm

 

[delta]

At ISO 1600 in that lighting you are going to have a hard time getting a clear photo.

Also @ f2.8 your lens is wide open and you have a very shallow depth of field so you focus has to be spot on.

Take a look at this site it has a lot of useful info and some reef specific as well.
http://www.ximinasphotography.com/lessons/index.html

Shoot straight on, no angle to the glass
Use something to stabilize the camera, preferably a good tripod
Use the timer or trigger
Clean the glass

One thing that will help is moving away from the subject, until you get the hang of the new lens. It will add a little buffer zone.

lastly practice, practice, practice

 

[dcforester1]

Greg what a great site, thanks

 

[SharkLover]

Thanks delta,
That explains alot when your talking about aperture. I wasn't sure at first what the aperture value was so I kept it as low as possible. This clears things up.

At ISO 1600 in that lighting you are going to have a hard time getting a clear photo.

Also @ f2.8 your lens is wide open and you have a very shallow depth of field so you focus has to be spot on.

Take a look at this site it has a lot of useful info and some reef specific as well.
http://www.ximinasphotography.com/lessons/index.html

Shoot straight on, no angle to the glass
Use something to stabilize the camera, preferably a good tripod
Use the timer or trigger
Clean the glass

One thing that will help is moving away from the subject, until you get the hang of the new lens. It will add a little buffer zone.

lastly practice, practice, practice

 

[delta]

Two other things that will also help are your camera's meter and histogram.

Your camera meter will give you a good idea of the exposure before the shot.

Once you have taken the shot the histogram will let you know if you've under exposed or over exposed.

Your camera manual explains these two items for your specific camera.

 

[SharkLover]

Greg,
Any comments on metering mode?

My battery is dead after having received and charged the camera on wed. Once its charged again i'll go and enable the histogram because It wasn't enabled apparently. I wasn't seeing the graph. The camera meter however is displayed and I did notice it was the current exposure on a balance line from -2 to +2 with 0 being nuetral.

Two other things that will also help are your camera's meter and histogram.

Your camera meter will give you a good idea of the exposure before the shot.

Once you have taken the shot the histogram will let you know if you've under exposed or over exposed.

Your camera manual explains these two items for your specific camera.

 

[delta]

I usually use spot or center weight metering for in tank shots.

 

[SharkLover]

im still trying to figure out how to enable the histogram.
I found the option and its on but not displaying with the other data. hmmm!