Want to trade pictures for frags?

mcola78

Premium Member
I want to take photos of my tank but cant seem to get the digital camera to take good shots. If anyone knows the secrets on how to take really nice pictures of a tank, let me know.

I would be willing to trade some zoos and sps for good pictures...or help. I have some really nice corals too!

PM me if interested.

matt
 
I'm not an expert but can give a few tips I've learned. I use two cameras - one I'm definitely more familiar with and its just a little cannon point and shoot, like your typical consumer camera. The other is a DSLR where you can change out lenses, everything is manual focus, settings etc, and i'm really just still learning on that one.

For nearly everything, a tripod or something to stabalize the camera on helps out like 300%.

White balance is a bear and varies camera by camera. I either use a flash or not. With a flash you can get more accurate colors, or if you have actinic supplements you can turn them off.

In situations where I go without a flash its usually to investigate something or snap a quick picture of a fish, their colors aren't too altered by the blueness of my T5s. Sometimes I will photoshop with the white balance to try to get the right color to come out if I'm trying to show someone something in particular going on in the tank and the flash shot didnt work out, but good practice is to let people know when you do that, or just to ask them to ignore a blue color (or pink if you use Vhos still)

Theres all too much photoshopping in a bad way in this hobby, but I do think it has some legitimate uses as well depending on what you're trying to show in your photos.

For things that are moving quick and you can't really get them clearly, try upping your ISO. The picture will come out more grainy but its taken with a quicker shudder speed and moving objects are easier to get a good basic picture of. For stationary things, a lower iso speed and patience will give a good picture.

Oh and hexedagain has some relaly really grreat pictures of his fish that I don't know how he takes them but I give him mad props for his photography skills :)

For all other things my solution is: make the husband do it :)
 
Thanks Chrisstie...that's good advice

Unfortunately, I dont have a tripod, and dont even know what an ISO is :)

I am photograph illiterate.
 
Thanks chrisstie for the compliment.
Send me a PM, and if you are available this Saturday I can come up and take some pics for you.
LMK.
 
If it helps any I don't know what it means either but its this sort of "push a button see what happens" approach I've taken to the camera :)
 
Here's a straight forward explanation of ISO I took from a sight. Better than I can explain it:

"ISO (Sensitivity)
ISO is the number indicating a digital camera sensors sensitivity to light. The higher the sensitivity, the less light is needed to make an exposure.

Digital cameras automatically select the ISO but most have a setting to change it manually. Auto ISO generally works best for bright scenes.

Shooting at a lower ISO number requires more light than shooting at a higher number. Lower numbers result in images with the least visible noise, which is desirable.

The higher the number, the more noise. The amount and degree of noise varies from camera to camera.

Digital single reflex cameras (dSLR), because they have larger sensors, are best for producing noise-free images. However, some consumer digital cameras now have improved sensors that produce acceptable images at higher ISO.
 
Matt,

I can come by when I get back in town next week and help you out. I would like to see how your tank is coming along now that it has had a few months to settle down.

Scott
 
Hey, you might want to check out the photography forum. I'm sure someone over there has the same or a similar camera and may be able to over some tips on your camera. There is also a sticky at the top of the forum with links to articles to take better aquarium photos.
 
Thanks guys so much for the info. I'm still pretty bad at getting great pictures even with all the help. I found a buddy online who is going to help so hopefully pictures will come out this time.

Scott - you are more than welcome to come by...the tank is filling out great! Call me or pm if you need my number again.
 
Matt - this is a mini hijack, but you have a great tank and great stuff. Thanks again for everything.

Now to get back on topic, my friend is into photography and has an SLR, but he does not have a macro lens to get the extremely close up shots. I can talk to him for you to see if he would mind taking pics for you.
 
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