How to make backgrounds darker for photos

[Zeaqua]

Hi all! Recently bought my first proper tank background after using spray paint for a while, and I wanted to ask, how do I make the tank look darker? I’ve recently started taking photos of my tanks, but despite the color, the background looks a bit washed out, even when using fairly dim settings on the Easy LED. Any advice would be appreciated!

[Pepere]

What are you using to take photos?

[Tanked]

In case you haven't tried this yet, move the light closer to the front of the tank.  You could also  put a small temporary wedge under the light to tilt the light forward.

Give us a picture.

[Pepere]

On my Apple IPhone or Ipad, I touch the screen and a focus box opens up. To the right of the box is an exposure slider.  By dragging that slider down I can decrease the exposure and release it when the background looks as I want.

so on auto exposure the tank looks like this.

 

and with decreasing the exposure it looks like this…

Edited July 31 by Pepere

[Scaperoot]

On 7/31/2024 at 9:56 AM, Pepere said:

On my Apple IPhone or Ipad, I touch the screen and a focus box opens up. To the right of the box is an exposure slider.  By dragging that slider down I can decrease the exposure and release it when the background looks as I want.

so on auto exposure the tank looks like this.

 

and with decreasing the exposure it looks like this…

Thanks so much for the tip! 

[Pepere]

On 7/31/2024 at 10:36 AM, Scaperoot said:

Thanks so much for the tip! 

Taught to me by @Mmiller2001..

[KoiAngels]

@PepereWhat plant do you have in that tank it look so good!

[Pepere]

On 7/31/2024 at 10:45 AM, KoiAngels said:

PepereWhat plant do you have in that tank it look so good!

Which one?

[KoiAngels]

On 7/31/2024 at 9:56 AM, Pepere said:

On my Apple IPhone or Ipad, I touch the screen and a focus box opens up. To the right of the box is an exposure slider.  By dragging that slider down I can decrease the exposure and release it when the background looks as I want.

so on auto exposure the tank looks like this.

 

and with decreasing the exposure it looks like this…

 

[Pepere]

Which plant in the tank are you asking about?

I have 12 species of plant in that photo.

Edited July 31 by Pepere

[Scaperoot]

Probably referring to the Pink Flamingo. Looks amazing. 

[KoiAngels]

I want to do an all red plant aquarium so can you name all the red plants in the tank.Thanks

[Pepere]

On 7/31/2024 at 11:52 AM, KoiAngels said:

want to do an all red plant aquarium so can you name all the red plants in the tank.Thanks

Sure.  From Right to left, in the foreground, Samolous Parviflorus, Crypt Pink Flamingo, Althernanthera reineckii.Tiger Lotus.

 

in the background from right to left in back of the crypt flamingo next to the rock, Rotalla Wallichi is green with red tips.  To the left of that Ludwigia Repens, with orange red highlights on the leaves, and all the wY to the left is Rotalla Blood Red SG.

 

Bear in mind most of these plants will require strong CO2 supplementation, high lighting and good ferts..

Here is a photo of the Pink Flamingo Crypt in a tank with no co2.  

The leaves are extended out on the ends of stems more and are thinner in width and much paler and more green cast.  High light stimulates creation of Anthocyans that absorb more green and blue light  acting sort of like sunscreen for the plant it reflects red light.  
 

here is a pic of Samolous Parviflora that was quite a bit paler and greener before I increased the CO2 and light intensity…

 

 

 

And finally the quality of the light you have, has a huge impact on how the plant appears visually.

 

This tank photo is illuminated by 2 Finnex Planted Plus ALCs that has White, Red, Green, Blue channels with the light optimized the best I can get it. With these lights the RGB channels can not provide enough power to grow the plants in themselves butare used to fine tune the color rendering. The majority of the power comes from the white leds.

 

 

This photo was taken with a single Chihiros WRGB 2 pro fixture putting out about the same wattage of the two Finnex fixtures combined.  I am only running Red, Green and Blue channels. No white LEDs are being used and it has power to spare.

 

Both pics taken within minutes of each other…

 

The 1 Chihiros light cost about $50.00 more than the 2 Finnex lights and inline timer dimmers..  I wish I had just got the Chihiros first instead ofbuying the Finnex first and wish I had never spent the money on the Fluval plant 3.0s.  Those lights are hopelessly over rated in my opinion…

Here is another red to look at.

 

i am currently working at propagating more of these.  Ludwigia Pantanel.

Edited July 31 by Pepere

[tolstoy21]

On 7/30/2024 at 5:44 PM, Zeaqua said:

I’ve recently started taking photos of my tanks, but despite the color, the background looks a bit washed out, even when using fairly dim settings on the Easy LED. Any advice would be appreciated!

The washed out black background is usually a result of how your specific equipment is metering the light, and as others have suggested, your exposure (these two concepts are somewhat interrelated). Does your camera offer options to set the metering (spot vs center-weighted vs multi, etc.)? 

 I doubt dimming the aquarium lights will help. In my experience, you want to throw as much light into the tank as possible when shooting fish and then adjust exposure, aperture, shutter, etc. for whatever your situation is. But, it's generally easier to work with more light rather than less.

Edited August 1 by tolstoy21