Tinted water close-up

[Narya]

Hi all! I'm new to photography so I'm just learning, but I hope I'm not doing it too bad. I just recieved my camera, as a gift, some days ago, so I'm still on the "trying-to-understand-how-all-this-works" stage. I'm struggling mostly with finding the correct settings for each shot, as I'm shooting mostly on A, S or M. Do you think I got it right with the settings here? I would have liked it to be a bit less dark, with a more vibrant blue (as I saw it in reality), what could I have changed to achieve that with that equipment? I already used the maximum aperture I could and tried bumping the ISO up (to 1000, I think), but felt like there was not much difference except for graininess; and at longer shutter speeds I couldn't keep the camera still...

Of course, if you see anything else you think it's worth commenting, go ahead! I welcome all critique and advice gladly.



Nikon D3000
18-55mm lens
Focal length 55mm
Shutter 1/30
Aperture f/5.6
ISO 800
Manual focus
No flash and no tripod
Desk lamp above the subject as main lightning

Postprocessing: cropping & white balance only

[franco101]

The only practical thing that I can think of to get more light is to use a tripod and lengthen the shutter speed or use a brighter light source.

There are also other options such as the extension tube. I can see that you're at f/5.6 and your lens is a kit 18-55. From that, I'm assuming that your focal length is 45+. You also probably can't focus on the subject if you just move your camera closer to the subject (water, I also presume). Now if you had an extension tube, and depending on the length, you can actually "zoom" in on the shot while using a shorter focal length. So you can take a shot at 20 f3.5. That way, you can have a slightly faster shutter speed!

I just thought of this on the top of my head right now. You can also zoom out and use 18 f/3.5 to take your shot, then just crop out the portion that you want!

There are lots of approaches to help with the lighting .

And as for the photo critique, I do like the shot. The one thing that makes me uncomfortable is that I don't know the depth of the cavity on the surface. I don't know if it's just my uneasiness with dark and deep water, or if it's something else. Besides that, that's a great shot!

[Narya]

Thank you, franco101.

Right now,as I've just had my camera for over a week, I can't afford or justify buying a tripod, but will keep in mind. It's good to know, though, that the standard solution was one I already thought of

I had never heard about extension tubes (I'm a noob! lol), I will do some research on them. About my focal length, yes, it was 55. So yeah, no way to get closer to the tinted water and focus. I tried with lesser focal lengths and then cropping, but the photos didn't turn out that nice, and I felt some details were lost. Might just be me and my perfectionism, though.

Thank you very much for your critique! I find the abstractness / not knowing exactly what I am looking at or how deep it is quite appealing, but I can see how it can make somebody uncomfortable. The brain is not always fine with not knowing.