Anyone have good advice for shutter speed?

[kidafius]

I can't seem to get the right shutter speed. I put it at max speed and the pics were too dark. Too low speed shows water movement and blurs. I need a good target. Anyone have a suggestion?

 

[justDIY]

I try to take close-up pics between 1/30,1/60 or 1/125 on the shutter speed ... wide-angle shots with a tripod are ok at 1/8 to 1/15, depending on how many fish are in the pics

the bluring you are getting is probably from your movement holding the camera durning a slow exposure, more than the subjects in the tank --- that's been my problem at least

fast shutter = darker pics, I usually supplement lighting using several 100 watt tugensten halogen flood lights, which give GREAT color and plenty of light.

 

[shawmutt]

Like DIY, I use extra light in my tank when taking pictures as well. I have a four foot flourescent shop light that I use--it puts another 64 extra watts in the tank.

 

[fishfreek]

I use 1/30 1/60 most often. Now it really depends on your tank lighting. For example I can get good bright pics on 1 tank at 1/60 where as on another tank photos at 1/60 might be a little dark and need some photoediting work to get brighter.

A trick that kevin discovered is to set your white balance on florecent and then use the flash and the normal faded out colors from using the flash are not there. You do need to make sure you dont take the photo square on to the glass or you will get some nasty flash back in the photo.

 

[reefrunner69]

What kind of cam is it? How much control do you have? You may have to sacrifice DOF and use a low aperture or you could play artound with the exposure copensation to use the higher shutterspeeds.

 

[William]

I just use whatever it comes out of the box set on .

 

[kidafius]

What kind of cam is it? How much control do you have?

It's a Canon Rebel G SLR. It has a 20-80 mm lens. I can control the aperture and shutter speeds to a pretty large spectrum. Thanks for your replies