Photo taking

[skiweeangel]

Dose anyone have any tricks for taking nice pictures of your fish? I am proud of the great colors my congos have and their fins are beautiful, but right as I got to take a picture they scatter! Haha. Any tips or tricks?

 

[abrahamavelar]

Take a million pics and drop a lil of food then try to take the pics, have u heard the one in a million??? Well thats pretty close.with fish

 

[fort384]

Moved to Show Off/Photography


Check out these posts for some good info on picture taking:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f19/how-to-take-a-good-digital-photo-4312.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f19/how-to-take-a-good-photo-126831.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f19/camera-choices-4456.html

 

[Donavin]

IMO the best thing to do is wait until night time turn off all the lights except the tanks light of course. Set your camera's app to it widest this is normally the lowest number 2.8 or lower is better. Adjust the shutter speed accordingly and that will give u the best pic ur cam can take. One other thing is to bump the Iso to it highest. 1600 is best here.

With these settings your camera will be able to capture the most amount of light in the shortest amount of time thus capturing a nice pic of your fish.

Good luck.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

This works for me.
1. Get a high quality camera.
2. Turn off the lights in the tank or do when dark, if by a window/glass door pull curtains.
3. Get a chair.
4. Take a million pictures.
5. Choose the best three.
6. Share.
7. Enjoy

 

[aqua_chem]

Yea, mostly it's just take as many as you can and go with the big ones. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but for me, most of them are curse words...

 

[skiweeangel]

Yea, mostly it's just take as many as you can and go with the big ones. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but for me, most of them are curse words...

hahahaha! Thanks everyone. once I replace the light on the congo tank I'll start taking pictures, lots and lots of them.... maybe I'll even get to post one or two!

 

[abrahamavelar]

Yea, mostly it's just take as many as you can and go with the big ones. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but for me, most of them are curse words...

this is so true, patience is the key, cuz sometimes u get one thats almost perfect but other fish got on the way, atleast that has happened to me

 

[LyndaB]

It also helps if your fish are comfortable with you being close to the tank. I drag a chair right up and commune with my fish whether or not I have my camera in hand.

Once you get the angle of the camera flash and your camera's particular setting down pat, you're good to go.

 

[iadubber]

Even with my DSLR I use the spray and pray most of the time. When I'm using a large aperture, say 2.8 or bigger, the plane of focus is so tiny that is the only way I get keepers. Also manual focus will help you land a better ratio of keepers.

 

[abrahamavelar]

or u could use the multi burst too for the fast movers

 

[Ardynas]

The real key is getting enough shutter speed to stop the action for a sharp picture. This usually is acheived by high ISO, larger aperture (2.8 - 4.0) or get enough light.

If you have a bright aquarium that helps a lot. Shoot at night and dim all of the other lights around you to minimize reflections.

My tank is rather dim so I'm starting to place a flash in the top of my aquarium and point it up so it reflects back into the tank. I use a remote trigger to set off the flash (on my canon 5d mark II) that way no flash is coming directly from my camera. So far it's working pretty well. I can shoot at f8/ ISO 1250 and 1/100sec (manual mode).
I'm still perfecting my lighting system. During the day you could see thru my tank into the living room. At night it's a cooler perspective.

Here's my Gold Gourami (avatar) shot with this method;

 

[skiweeangel]

That is a great picture! Thanks everyone.

 

[iadubber]

The real key is getting enough shutter speed to stop the action for a sharp picture. This usually is acheived by high ISO, larger aperture (2.8 - 4.0) or get enough light.

If you have a bright aquarium that helps a lot. Shoot at night and dim all of the other lights around you to minimize reflections.

My tank is rather dim so I'm starting to place a flash in the top of my aquarium and point it up so it reflects back into the tank. I use a remote trigger to set off the flash (on my canon 5d mark II) that way no flash is coming directly from my camera. So far it's working pretty well. I can shoot at f8/ ISO 1250 and 1/100sec (manual mode).
I'm still perfecting my lighting system. During the day you could see thru my tank into the living room. At night it's a cooler perspective.

Here's my Gold Gourami (avatar) shot with this method;

I have a 580 ex and remote triggers. How are you placing your flash? I don't understand what you mean by " place a flash in the top of my aquarium and point it up so it reflects back into the tank" Thanks

 

[Ardynas]

My tank is built in and my lights are about 25 inches above the water. Tank is in center of living room and housing goes up to ceiling.

I just set my flash right on the plastic cover and point it up (a few inches above the water). They reflect off the reflector and back down into the water. I also use a diffuser to scatter the light more. The way you setup your flash will be different since your tank is different. Experiment and try different locations till the light starts looking right.

 

[Donavin]

The real key is getting enough shutter speed to stop the action for a sharp picture. This usually is acheived by high ISO, larger aperture (2.8 - 4.0) or get enough light.

If you have a bright aquarium that helps a lot. Shoot at night and dim all of the other lights around you to minimize reflections.

My tank is rather dim so I'm starting to place a flash in the top of my aquarium and point it up so it reflects back into the tank. I use a remote trigger to set off the flash (on my canon 5d mark II) that way no flash is coming directly from my camera. So far it's working pretty well. I can shoot at f8/ ISO 1250 and 1/100sec (manual mode).
I'm still perfecting my lighting system. During the day you could see thru my tank into the living room. At night it's a cooler perspective.

Here's my Gold Gourami (avatar) shot with this method;

Perfect I like your photo. I shoot with a 30D. Your lighting looks good.