How to take even a decent picture?

[matasw]

I've got a few strange things growing on my LR in the back of my tank, I have no idea what they are. I'm trying to use my girlfriends canon sd200 and cannot even get a semi decent picture. When i zoom in its just blurry and looks like crap. Its a decent camera as far as I know, but I know nothing about camera's. Any tips?

 

[jwedehase]

1. Every camera has a minimum focus distance, check that.
2. Make sure you're not going into digital zoom, but only using optical zoom.
3. Make sure you're not moving the camera. Closeups are especially prone to camera shake. Use a tripod or rest the camera on something (I've even used stacks of books or a jacket on a chair.)
4. Make sure you're shooting perpendicular through the glass. As you angle through the glass, distortion will increase. If you can't see the subject without angling through the glass, you won't get a decent shot, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Hope that helps!

 

[2fishy]

I didn't realize that the angle would matter, but thanks for posting this. I know I will definately try a different angle now because my pictures also turn out blurry!

 

[matasw]

I know absolutly nothing about camera's I just want nice pictures, how can i tell the focus distance? Check out canon's website?

 

[gregr]

This page has the specs for that camera and it says 3cm is the minimum focus distance. Sometimes though you can only focus at that closest distance when the lens is zoomed all the way out.
Greg

 

[astrogazer]

It doesn't sound like closest distance is the issue if he is shooting for the back of the tank. However I agree that the angle in which you approach the front glass is huge and is multiplied the further away from the glass the subject is that you are shooting. Also shutter speed is a biggie here, a tripod mount will help that issue, if you don't have a tripod you have to shoot at a maximum aperture to get the shutter speed up high enough that you don't get blur from hand holding the camera with a slow shutter speed.

 

[jwedehase]

Or you can simply build a make shift tripod. As mentioned earlier, I've used stacks of books or a jacket on top of a chair. You just want the camera to have something to rest on, so it won't move.