Taking pictures of my tank, with a phone camera

Han Solo · 05/12/2014, 07:53 AM

Hi everyone! New to forums and reefs so bear with me if this is a dumb question but:

I have a newly formed pico tank and outfitted it with a PAR 38 LED bulb so I got some really high blue light Kelvins going on. Looks great to the human eye and not TOO blue like I was expecting (I think it's < 15000K) so that's good. I wanted a few quick pictures to show friends while my tank is still in it's infancy and I don't have access to a DSLR camera at the moment, nor do I know how to use one!

I whipped out my iPhone for some quick snaps and found that the tank looks so overexposed in blue it looked pretty terrible. Including when I tried up-close shots. Tried messing around with some settings I could find using 3rd party app store camera apps but no luck.

Has anyone been successful with taking any pics with your blue lights? I'm assuming using a DLSR will fix this problem?

inthedeep2 · 05/12/2014, 12:02 PM

wow.. is that a 5gal glass carboy widemouth... that is awesome.

rale2001 · 05/12/2014, 12:23 PM

yeah thats pretty sweet right there... keep us updated iphones do have dslr apps to change the white balance and a mock iso aperture they also have a external lens attachment kit on amazon also... keep us updated how this works out for you

http://www.amazon.com/VicTsing-Magne...ds=iphone+lens

Han Solo · 05/12/2014, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inthedeep2

wow.. is that a 5gal glass carboy widemouth... that is awesome.

THanks for the encouragement guys! I appreciate it.

Your about two times off

It's a 2.5 gallon 'cookie jar' that I bought for 15 dollars at Target. Has a glass top that fits snug as well!

Very new tank but with all my messing around trying to get it looking perfect it's gotten a bit cloudy and needs more cycling before I put anything else in. Premature purchase on those zoas on teh stick

but my two blue-legged hermits are doing fine.

I found an app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pro-...347104281?mt=8 that does alright (use the sepia filter) but no where near what I was expecting with the purchase

Got a cool B&W photo that makes the rocks look like snow-covered mountains though!

CoralBeauty13 · 05/12/2014, 11:16 PM

anything blue about the tank will be weird with the Iphone. I have yet been able to take a nice pic of my blue hippo. He looks 3D fluorescent.

criticalencore · 05/13/2014, 03:13 AM

Try taking the pic through a pair of polarized sunglasses. That helps some otherwise it will have to be doctored through an app probably. I don't have an iPhone so I can't suggest an app to use though sorry. Cool tank though

coverdog · 05/13/2014, 03:48 PM

That's a pretty slick tank idea. I might do that for a counter top tank in my kitchen.

Han Solo · 05/13/2014, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by criticalencore

Try taking the pic through a pair of polarized sunglasses. That helps some otherwise it will have to be doctored through an app probably. I don't have an iPhone so I can't suggest an app to use though sorry. Cool tank though

Great idea. If only I had polarized sunglasses. Maybe I can find some other material that might work.

Thanks for the compliments everyone on the tank... nothing else inside yet.

05/12/2014, 07:53 AM	#1
Han Solo Registered Member Join Date: May 2014 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 50	Taking pictures of my tank, with a phone camera Hi everyone! New to forums and reefs so bear with me if this is a dumb question but: I have a newly formed pico tank and outfitted it with a PAR 38 LED bulb so I got some really high blue light Kelvins going on. Looks great to the human eye and not TOO blue like I was expecting (I think it's < 15000K) so that's good. I wanted a few quick pictures to show friends while my tank is still in it's infancy and I don't have access to a DSLR camera at the moment, nor do I know how to use one! I whipped out my iPhone for some quick snaps and found that the tank looks so overexposed in blue it looked pretty terrible. Including when I tried up-close shots. Tried messing around with some settings I could find using 3rd party app store camera apps but no luck. Has anyone been successful with taking any pics with your blue lights? I'm assuming using a DLSR will fix this problem? Last edited by Han Solo; 05/12/2014 at 07:58 AM.

05/12/2014, 12:23 PM	#3
rale2001 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Memphis, Tn Posts: 429	yeah thats pretty sweet right there... keep us updated iphones do have dslr apps to change the white balance and a mock iso aperture they also have a external lens attachment kit on amazon also... keep us updated how this works out for you http://www.amazon.com/VicTsing-Magne...ds=iphone+lens __________________ 90g Reef Octo BH2000 Tek 8x54 T5s 100 lbs of fiji rock Tangs; Magnif foxface; clowns; bar goby; chromis; Cardinal Frogspawns; zoas; scroll; acans; red and blue people eaters; RBTA and Carpet Nems Current Tank Info: 90g and 36g Bow

05/12/2014, 12:02 PM	#2
inthedeep2 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: SAN DIEGO Posts: 378	wow.. is that a 5gal glass carboy widemouth... that is awesome.

05/12/2014, 11:16 PM	#5
CoralBeauty13 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 597	anything blue about the tank will be weird with the Iphone. I have yet been able to take a nice pic of my blue hippo. He looks 3D fluorescent.

05/13/2014, 03:13 AM	#6
criticalencore Registered Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 381	Try taking the pic through a pair of polarized sunglasses. That helps some otherwise it will have to be doctored through an app probably. I don't have an iPhone so I can't suggest an app to use though sorry. Cool tank though

05/13/2014, 03:48 PM	#7
coverdog Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: SW Fl. Posts: 189	That's a pretty slick tank idea. I might do that for a counter top tank in my kitchen.