Picture Taking Tips

[Norvin Ng]

Any tips of how to take great fish pics inside our tanks? I am using a Kodak MX 1700 (1.5M pixel). Its an old model (>2 years old), maybe that's why.

[Bluebeard]

take photo in total darkness with just the tank lights on. off all the lights in the room, best is take photo at night, so that the lights from windows not that. this is to min. reflect.

do not use flash, will have reflection.

must have lots of patience to wait for the fishes to stay still!hehehe... but if you are taking photos of the coral should be ok la.

here my gallery using a very old sony digital cam that stores the pictures in 3.5" diskettes. should be older than your kodak i think.

My Gallery

[Tanzy]

Nice pics but I don't have a preference for freshwater fishies.

[hongqixian]

Interesting

[Bluebeard]

hey just notice the bottom of your topic, i think why you got ghost image is because the fish is moving too much and the camera's shuttle is too slow to capture the image. have to wait for the fish to stop or slow down to take the photo unless the cam can take fast moving objects.

can see the effect when i was trying to take photo of zebra fish which is constantly swimming very fast.

[Achilles Tang]

Get Piper from Charmed to freeze them for you! Heh!

[B|uEc@rpEt]

Or position ya hands where ya camera lens r focused at...and juz like Paige...simply say "Purple Tang"......n snap!

This method works for me all the time.......untill I finally learn how to orb myself into the tank

[LiveRock]

My experience is not to use flash. Just focus, picture it in the LCD and snap.

[Norvin Ng]

Thanks for all the reply. Will learn a few tricks from "Charmed" thsi week...

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Norvin,

This is what I think could have been the reason for your ghost image problem (subject to the fact that your camera is in good working order):-

· out-of-focus due to not setting your focus properly before taking the shot and/or

· hardware limitation preventing focusing at that focal length (macro) and/or

· even if the shot was in proper focus, there was movement in your camera handling at that given shutter and aperture setting resulting in overall blurness of the pic. The tell tale sign is that the blurness affects even stationary objects like your LR and the even the coral base, both of which are not even moving.

To rectify the situation, hold your camera more firmly when taking the shot. You might want to use a tripod to assist you in this respect. Otherwise, you can improvise by leaning your hand or the camera against something stable. Finally, if that still won't do, short of enlisting Piper's help, you might want to set flash on instead of suppressing it. That added light will not save the pic from a severe shake but with additional light, the shutter speed can increase a few steps thereby allowing you room for some hand shake. Always note that the higher your shutter speed the clearer it can capture moving objects or tolerate minor hand shakes. A shutter speed of 1/11000th of a sec can actually capture a spinning helicopter blade in the still.

However, taking pics with flash is a bit trickier because of the bouncing back of the light creating a less than desirable reflected light in your picture. When doing flash photography on water surface or through the glass of the tank, try to take the shot at a 45 degree angle so that the reflected rays of the flash can bounce away from the camera and not directed back at the camera. Taking with flash will normally result in a more natural colour rendition of your picture and also illuminates the surrounding shaded areas. Personally, I like to take shots without flash, preferring to use the slower shutter speed to soak in the blue hue of the actinics & 20K MH giving the pic that nostalgic feeling. Moreover, without using flash I can take pictures of corals in any direction I want without worries of reflected light bouncing back. But to do that, you got to hold and sometimes even control your breathing properly in the same way you are taking a shot with your M16 rifle.

Here are some tips on taking pictures of your corals without flash.

· Make sure the aperture is set at the largest to allow as much light to enter the lens as possible. Depth of field is not important when you are taking close ups such as your branch coral.

· Use ISO 100 or lower if you can help it. Higher ISO rating results in graininess which may not be desirable. But note that in some situations, you may want to have higher ISO setting so that you can set higher shutter speeds to settle the shot expeditiously at the expense of quality.

· Turn on all the lights in your tank. The brighter your tank is, the more you can increase your shutter speed to compensate for shake or subject movement.

· Turn off current generating powerheads to keep movement to the minimum so that you can get crisp and sharper images of your subjects.

· It is more difficult to take pictures of fish than corals because they are constantly moving and your shutter speed is too slow to handle that kind of movement. There is no way out of this except patience.

Good thing about going digital is that you can take again and again without worrying about wasting rolls of films and you can pick and choose so as to settle for only the best and delete the rest. Your trial and error can literally be unlimited. Photo editing software also allows you the flexibility to manipulate your photos that may be slightly off-colour or off-focus but they are no magical cure all for shots that were badly taken to begin with. Experimenting is the only way to learn. Cheerio and Happy snapping.

The next few posts are pics taken with and without flash for you to see the effect and which you prefer.

This pic was taken with flash. Note the reflected light. If you insist on using flash to get the more natural colour, take it from an angle instead of directly. Flash light photography in aquarium context requires you to take shots always at an angle.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Same shot but taken without flash. Shutter speed is slower to compensate for lack of flash. Got to hold camera really steady.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Close up taken with flash. Note that there is no reflected flash light this time cos its taken at an angle of 45 degrees. The light has bounced off away from the camera. The colour in this picture is more true to the colour of the coral without actinic on - Natural. Note also the surrounding area is lit, eg LR, shaded area, etc.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Close up taken with flash. Note that there is no reflected flash light this time cos its taken at an angle of 45 degrees. The light has bounced off away from the camera. The colour in this picture is more true to the colour of the coral without actinic on - Natural. Note also the surrounding area is lit, eg LR, shaded area, etc.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Same pix but without flash this time. The slow speed soaks up the blue light from the actinic due to its longer opening time in order to get the correct exposure. Picture turns out more bluish and surrounding area is dimmer although subject is of correct exposure. I prefer this but you may have to do it a few times before you can get one that's not blurred. Holding the camera still can be dicey.

[hongqixian]

Very nice plate!

[Norvin Ng]

Thanks for all the tips, much appreciated. Hope to show what I pick up one day!

[loonz]

Stenopus,

What is the shutter speed/s you use when you snap without flash??

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Hi Loonz, I normally hover around 1/40th of a sec. with a f stop of 2. That's the safest without serious blurring. If I am feeling confident, I may use shutter speed of 1/25h of a sec with a f stop of 4 just to be able to get a clearer depth of field but with some support like a tripod or leaning against something.

And you?...You using digital cam?

[loonz]

Yep...still fumbling with my G2 after all this time...

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Hahaha You'll get used to it in time. That's a great d.cam actually. AT has a G2 too with Ikelite underwater housing. Cool

Was thinking of getting the housing for mine so that I can dip my cam into my tank and take macro shots like never before but then the idea was shelved later as I plan on upgrading to a Nikon 5700 come early 2003 if Canon does not come up with a 5 MP cam in the light of G4 by then.