New to Fish Photography

ericwebster

ericwebster

Premium Member
Hey Guys,

So I borrowed my brothers Canon EOS Rebel to take some photos of my tank.

I am a newb but know enough to be dangerous. But I have lots of questions.

Do you guys use flashes to get pictures of fast moving fish? I thought I read I shouldn't but have a hard time getting the camera to snap the picture correctly.

Here are the settings I think I am using.

Shooting in Aperture Priority mode (AV on the dial on the top)
Aperture 5.6
Exposure (AV+/-) -2
ISO 400
I setup a custom white balance too ...

I think I'm heading in the right direction .. but I think i'm missing something. The pictures are a little blurry and grainy

I am using a tripod and just using the tanks lights.

Any tips?
 
I normally use shutter priority when shooting fish. I've gone down to 1/8 of a second (w/tripod) when my Blenny is perched, 1/60 for my clownfish, and probably 1/100 through 1/120 for a quicker moving fish such as a tang. I generally only use aperture priority when shooting corals up close when a tripod and slower shutter speeds are used to control the DOF. Post up what you have done so far.
 
Tv is the one. I normally bump up the ISO to 400 or 800 when shooting fish to keep the aperture from being wide open. I'd rather get a sharper picture because of the slightly smaller aperture and deal with the noise later. It's easy enough to clean up noise in post processing.
 
You won't need the flash with a fast enough shutter speed. Now start shooting and post up what you got :)
 
I'm at work now.. I'll shoot some tonight after I go check out the Borat movie.

I was pretty disappointed with my initial results .. those images have been sent to the big recycle bin in the sky -- never to be seen again.

Thanks for the help Blazer!

BTW: where are your images?? HUH? jk.
 
I don't generally take too many pictures of fish, but here are a few that I have taken:

_MG_3592.jpg


_MG_3608.jpg


IMG_2181_DxO_raw2.jpg


_MG_3195_DxO_raw.jpg


IMG_3355.jpg
 
Most of those are with the 100mm F/2.8. None of those fish are larger than just a few inches, with the Tang probably being the largest at almost 3" while the clown is still tiny at probably 2".
 
the two lenses I have are 15-55mm and the other is a 100-300mm -- I've been using just the 15-55mm..

should I use the other one for up close shots?

Tank shots are obviously the 15-55mm
 
I'm not familar with the 100-300mm lens. What is the F/stop range on it? The 100mm I use goes down to F/2.8 which gives the camera more range and flexibility. Since I shoot fish in Tv mode, the aperture drops down below 4 depending on the lighting sometimes. If you use the kit lens and the fastest aperture is F/5.6 @ 55mm, it would be tough to get enough light when zoomed in for a proper exposure at the same shutter speed. I also have a Sigma 18-50mm F/2.8 that I use for tank shots as well since it has a constant F/2.8 aperture. Hopefully that makes some sense, lol.
 
it does .. after all my reading I actually understood it ..

I'm trying to figure out what the F/stop range is on that lense..
 
In your case, I would set the camera to aperture priority and set it to F/4.5. That will give you the quickest shutter speeds for fish. You should leave the lens at its widest (100mm).

On another note, you should purchase the Canon 50mm F/1.8 lens. You can pick it up used for like $50 and it's a great little lens. It's super sharp, really fast, and works great for our tanks.
 
Probably any camera shop would have it. It's around $70 new or something, cheap. I found mine locally for like $50.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dogstsx
New Build xxl900 lighting question.
Replies
2
Views
105
dogstsx
dogstsx
T
Sump mod for roller mat filter ? How to ?
Replies
7
Views
168
griss
griss
D
Concern about Light spillover
Replies
1
Views
81
griss
griss
AZBigJohn
New Build... I'm back
Replies
6
Views
197
griss
griss
A
How to introduce new clown fish
Replies
14
Views
371
Brian60077
Brian60077
Back
Top