How do you get such good pictures of Zoas?

[Jason S]

I just recently got my hands on some zoanthids that I have never seen before, and I wanted to show you all, but I am having issues getting a decent shot of them.

I bought a large colony at my LFS of some that are purple with Green rings (not hornets), and when I got them home, I saw 5 polyps that were different on the rock. They have an orange skirt, a pink/greyish background, and the pattern in the middle looks like a glowing pink/orange sun with rays. The glow is similar to AoG palys, but is more orange, and they are Zoa's with a completely different pattern. They are similar to Fire and Ice, but have that orange sunburst looking pattern in the middle and their colors pop much more.

I just thought they were interesting, and wanted to share pics.

Anyway, do you guys have any advice for getting good pictures with a point and shoot? I have a Canon Powershot S2 IS, and a couple of others that I can try.

 

[mfinn]

I have no idea what you camera is capable of, but there is a couple things you can do that might help.
Turn off the pumps in your tank, let things settle down a few.
Either a tripod or a diy stand to set the camera on. Your hands, just aren't that steady.
If your camera has a white balance setting, work on getting that corrected.
With my nikon p&s, I have to move the zoanthids up close to the front glass to get a good picture. Real close.
Your going to have to practice finding that sweet spot.
PLUS,, ease up on the saturation.
People will try and bump up the color on some pictures to make them look a little more cool, usually it makes them look unreal.

You also might want to start a thread in the photography forum, but have specific questions.

 

[Jason S]

Thanks! I was going to post there, but did here in hopes that maybe someone would recognize the description of the zoas.