What lens and setting do you guys shoot fish with?

[mpoletti]

Whats the difference between a professional and an amatuer?

A professional never admits his mistakes :lol:

 

[Toddrtrex]

What about the person that lies about the amount of mistakes he made?

 

[mpoletti]

I don't know; a profeesional fibber

 

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12603888#post12603888 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marko9
Whats the difference between a professional and an amatuer?

A professional never admits his mistakes :lol:

The number of mistakes is unimportant. What is important is the images that aren't mistakes. The only difference between "professional and amateur" is whether you're being paid for your work. There isn't any implied quality difference between the two.

 

[bdepp]

one thing i've learnt is to turn your pumps off when your taking photo's. The fish tend not to move as much and debris wont fly around the tank either .

good eye focus is the key. this is where peoples eyes start when you look at a picture of wildlife, so if the eye is out of focus it can ruin the rest of the photo.

also use a tripod. it will hold the camera nice and stable. it may take longer for the fish to be in position for the shot, but it shouldn't be as blurry.

 

[Blazer88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12604431#post12604431 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bdepp
also use a tripod. it will hold the camera nice and stable. it may take longer for the fish to be in position for the shot, but it shouldn't be as blurry. [/B]

I guess I'm the minority and who doesn't suggest a tripod for shooting fish. Generally, you are going to be using a shutter speed high enough to negate any camera shake and a tripod limits your movement. I find that keeping the lens perpendicular to the glass is EXTREMELY important and a tripod will keep you in one spot which may leave you shooting through the glass at an angle when you are tracking a fish. Just pick a shutter speed that is fast enough to eliminate camera shake and fish movement.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I agree, I use my tripod whenever I am taking pictures of the whole tank and/or corals, but not fish. After playing around last night, there is no way I would have been able to track my potters with a tripod -- s/he just moves too fast.

 

[BlueCorn]

I often use the tripod for fish but I don't lock down the ballhead. It just gives me a little extra stability.

 

[zenya]

I too never use a tripod for fish shots, 1/125s and flash usually gives me enough speed even in the darker areas like the LFS. Steady hands help, too, but my camera is small and lens is only 60mm so my set up is pretty light.

Here's an example.

 

[maroun.c]

I would also suggest shoting fish without tripod except for:
-Very slow moving fish (like cardinals...)
-fish that stick to a certain area of the tank (Like clowns that rarely move away from their anemone.

In addition to that, if you watch the fish for some time you'll notice that each fish has some spots that it continuously go back to in the tank. so setting up the tripod and camera to that area and shooting when the fish goes in frame is sometimes very usefull.
finally sometimes one just likes to take apicture of a certain area in thet ank that has a few nice corals, cave... setting up the camera and prefocusing and shooting a pic when a fish moves in teh frame is quite usefull as it sometimes gives more life to a static coral shot to have a fish moving in towards it...
so finally it all depends on the fish yo uare shooting and the effect you are after.

 

[bdepp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12605786#post12605786 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beerguy
I often use the tripod for fish but I don't lock down the ballhead. It just gives me a little extra stability.

This is what I do also. i have a smaller tank, so tracking fish all over a tank isn't much of a problem for me. I can see how a tripod would be a disadvantage with a larger tank.

Anymore pics to share Marko9?

 

[MAXreefer]

I have a Canon Rebel XTI but that doesn"t matter here as it is all about the lens.
I have a EF100mm F2.8 Macro lens and I am sure there are similar ones for the Nikon.
I am NOT a pro for sure but I get quite some good results using the TV setting (shutter priority). For slow fish I shoot with 1/100 and faster fish like Tangs I go for 1/125 or 1/150.
Sometimes I use a tripod sometimes I don't.
When using the tripod I don't tight anything and make sure I can move the camera in all directions like up and down, left and right to follow the fish.
Here are a few shots taken without using the tripod.

One other major issue taking fish or coral pics is the "white balance". I tried the several WB settings on my camera and never got a real good result. Therefore I started shooting in the RAW format and this way you can adjust the WB with your photo software which is much better.

Once again I am just a beginner and I am sure there are better techniques but it works for me so far.

Below a few examples and more here

Michael
MAXreefer

 

[RevHtree]

Great thread.....me takem notes!

 

[luisgo]

For fish pics I use a "Unipod". It's like a tripod but only one leg. It gives you stability but its easier to follow the fish!

I use my Nikon D40x with a Nikkor 18-70mm at 70mm, Shutter Priority at 1/60, ISO 800. For some I also use the Nikkor 55-200 at 1/125.


By luisgon


By luisgon


By luisgon

 

[BenJL]

I own a Canon 40D with 100MM-2.8 and for fish taking picture i don't use tripod and all manual setting.