taking picx

[nikki]

I'd like to take pictures of my new friends: a couple of dwarf gouramis, one betta, some kuhlis, ancistus and rasboras. Can I use the flash? isn't it too stressful for them? What sort of film do you suggest? thanks for your advice

 

[fishfreek]

Digital cameras are the choice of many of us.

When I did use 35MM camera I would use 400 or 800 speed film because the fish are usually moving and lower speed would blur on me.

WIth that the trade off is not as crips images as would be with 100 or 200 speed.

Try not to use the flash if possible as I find it usually washes out the natural beauty of the fish. Have th lights off in the room and use only the tank lights. If thats not enough then maybe a form of spot light to light up the subject vs a flash.

ALso with a flash take photos from an angle. This way you wont get a flash glair on your pics.

 

[reefrunner69]

The more light, the faster the shutter speed that can be used, as well as the larger the aperture. You want a large aperture (actually is a smaller hole) to increase depth of field. I also experience a fade/wash out of color when using the flash, but the flash allows you to take crisp pics of moving fish. In the future I will be investing in an external flash, so I can put the flash at a different angle than the camera, I think this will reduce the wash out caused by the flash. If you have an off camera flash, I would say go for it. But either way, I would experiment with both, take some pics with the flash and some without. If I were using a film camera, I doubt I would use a film higher than ISO 200, preferrably ISO 100.

If using a film camera, I would also recommend getting the pics processed at a place that allows you to pick the photos you want to get. Eckerds here in the states does that, that way if you take a roll of bad pics, you don't have to pay for the processing, which is often as much or more than the roll of film was itself.