100+ Shots

[djc1026]

I'm sad to say that I took over 100 shots trying to get this picture so that the candy cane and the six line were in focus, but not the foreground. This is one of the better shots I'm using an Panasonic FZ8 on a tripod. I was using burst as the fish made frequent trips to the coral. I know it's not a DSLR but any suggestions for improvement?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[maroun.c]

Using Burst does not allow the camera to refocus between shots to you have the same focus always. depending on what yo uare fosucing on things vary. As you want to have to objects a stationary and a moving one in focus best thing would be to focus on the coral and wait for the fish to be close to your point of focus and start taking pictures. It helps to use a smaller aperture (Bigger number) to get more DOF so both are in Focus and at the same time you want a relatively fast shutter speed to freeze the movment of the fish. you are already using a tripod so remiaing things might be upping your ISO and maybe using flash if it does not washout the colour of the coral.
If the fish stops at a specific position near that coral it is also worth focusing on the fish and having th coral a bit Out of focus as it will be part of the background and you want your main object (the fish in this case) to be the sharpest.
It's also worth not having hte fish plain in the middle but have it at any 1/3 of the frame like moving into the frame and giving it space to go to that would give a lot of improvment for the picture. Search rule of Thirds.

 

[djc1026]

Thanks for the comments. I understand the rule of thirds, however, the placement of the corals in the foreground, rock structure to the right and the height limitations of the tripod prevented that type of composition.

Before I switched to burst mode, I was trying the focus on the coral edges and waiting for the fish, but not much better luck. I guess this definitely shows some limitations in the P&S cameras as I can't really use a smaller aperature and faster shutter speed, the camera won't get enough light. This photo was already pushed beyond what the camera wanted to do, meaning I was using S priority at 1/60th (I believe) and it suggested that 3.3 was not a big enough aperture. I did play around with a higher ISO, but the resulting pictures were although overall more in focus, quite a bit noisier. I may have to back off the macro mode so I don't use any zoom and see if I can't get a better shot that way. Plus if it's a real good photo, I could crop it 25-30% for the shot I was going for? I think I'll try that tomorrow, the halides are off now.

Dave

 

[zack85]

tank looks great. love the last one of the wrasse behind the trumpet!

 

[djc1026]

Thanks for comments and the visit.

Dave

 

[beansandmia]

Awww cute pic.

 

[djc1026]

Although not the same shot, I tried a smaller aperature, but I also had to use flash for faster shutter speed. I have to say that this is the most decent aquarium pic I've taken using a flash and the smaller aperature makes the pic look sharper IMO.

What do you think of this one?

Dave