how do i take good pics

[kalebjarrod]

Simple!

How do i take a good shot of my fish.

what lighting etc etc should i use?

[chrissyoscar]

All I do if make sure the blinds are shut to avoid glare. I turn the flash of my camera also to avoid glare then I get as close as I can put the camera on macro and take heaps of photos. I use a good digital camera so taking heaps of photos isn't a problem. I find that I get about 3-4 decent photos for every 10 I take.
The more light you have over your tank the better so if you have any spare fluros put them on your tank while you're taking photos.

Hope it helps.. Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

i have a macro button on my camera

what does this do?

the light seems like a good idea!

thanks

Ryan

[chrissyoscar]

Macro is for close ups so if your going to take close up shots of the fish use the macro button.

Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

pushed that button heaps of times to try and find out what it does.

now i know!

guess the tripod, lights and camera will be out tonight!

thanks Oscar

[chrissyoscar]

you'll have to post some of those pics.

Good luck.. Oscar

[chrissyoscar]

If you're going to take photos tonight then what you can do is turn of all the lights in the room were the tank is except the tank lights of coarse. If the fish can't see you then they're more likely to stay still for you and wont hide.

[Al]

if you have to option on your camera to change the ISO setting, set it as high as it will go, on mine ISO400 is the fastest i can use. this will allow faster shutter speeds which will produce less blurry photo's.

I try not to use a flash, it seems to freak the fish out!

[chrissyoscar]

Yeah the faster the shutter speed the better the photo, provided you have good lighting so the best thing to do is do experiment and see how high you can go.
My camera can go as high as 4000th of a sec but with the amount of light in my tank I can't use more that 400-600th sec shutter speed. I tried using 1000th of a sec and the photo came out dark then I tried 4000th just to see and the photo was completely black. If you can get a good source of light then great.

Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

i am VERY simple when it comes to my cameras

i understand shutter speed but i don't know if my camera has that feature

i have a DSC-F505V sony digital camera,

picked it up from a customer how could not pay his bill!

no instructions etc

good camera but i don't understand it

[flukes]

Who is the camera wiz? I want a recommendation for a good camera at a good price. I dont have a clue and every time i go looking for one i end up getting pissed off at the sales man because i dont know what he is on about. My sister does photo resteration and when i asked her she craped on about somthing and came to the conclusion that i needed a 35mm lens and blah blah blah. All i understood was that it cost $1500. For that kind of money id rather draw pictures of them.
All i want is a camera that can take a nice photo of my fish. So if anyone knows anything about camera's help me out.
Like minimum shutter speed i should get.
What the average mb a camera can hold? And what size should i look for.
or anything else that can help an idiot like me out..

There had my winge for today...

Looking anywhere between $400 and $900

[kalebjarrod]

heres one,

on the camera this pic looked alot brighter

why when i download it would it go darker?

[Proteus]

originally you are viewing it through a small LCD display which makes the image seem a lot tighter and enhances the brightness...

once you increase the size you loose some of the quality unless you shoot in a really large format...

To give you an idea, your image is currently sized at 640 x 480... when I take pics I usually only shoot at 2560 x 1920 that way I can do lots of editing (if needed) without compromising the images quality

HTH

[Proteus]

here are some examples... (non fish related... sorry)

both images were taken at 2560 x 1920, and reduced to 800 x 600 (no visible quality loss)

I printed them myself at A4 & A3 size and they are crystal clear...

btw, taking the photo at an angle to the glass helps as well

[kalebjarrod]

i do try to take my pics at 2240 X 1860

shrank it for the forum

what editing program do you use?

i think my main prolem is not enough light

and i have been takeing shots straight on

i pressed some more buttons and got a clearer pic i think

[Proteus]

nice pic...

I am thinking you dont have enough light above the tank (for pics anyway)...

have you tried to tweak the ISO setting, and aperture speeds???

[kalebjarrod]

problem is i don't have the manual for my digital camera

i am just pressing a button, taking 40-50 shots, downloading them, take a note of the settings and then do it again

then i look over them and decide on what is looking better

prob is it not only relys on the buttons I press but the time i spend getting the right shot.

but i think i will go buy some extra lights just for photos tomorrow

i think this will fix some of the issues...

[Proteus]

if you have more than one tank, temporarily borrow a light from another setup... tis what I do when I need to really light things up...

[kalebjarrod]

no other tanks,

the GM said i have to do with one till i build her her extensions.

its of to ideal electrical i go................................

[chrissyoscar]

Have you got any editing software on your computer that allows you to brighten, sharpen and crop your photos.
If so try using it as you'll be amamzed how much difference they can make.
Some of the photos I have on my web site were a little dark so needed to be brightened and sharpened.

Flukes for around $900 you should be able to find a decent camera. Get one that has around 4 or 5mp. Most will have a shutter speed of at least 1000th of a sec which is more than enough. Also get one that has rechargable batterys I think most do anyway but make sure.
Kodak have a nice camera the Kodak DX 6490 it's 4mp and has 10x optical zoom nice looking camera with heaps of features.
Here's a link to it also these are about $900. Kodak digital camera (http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=9/19/131/1336&pq-locale=en_AU)
Hope it helps.

My website (http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/chrissyoscar)

Oscar

[fishpimp]

i have a kodak dx6230, only 2mp but happy with features and ease of use, dock available for $100, which speeds up download to computer and best of all uses mains power to do this, also comes with rechargeables and dock is charger.
agree with oscar on kodak DX6490, wise to try to get package including dock and memory card as you'll want them before too long probably.

[kalebjarrod]

as it stands i have ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

its ment to be good but i have never loaded it to find out.

i was gonna go and buy some lights today but got side tracked watching fotty and playing pool... guess its a project for next weekend

i will post some pics with extra lights to see what everyone thinks

thanks for the help

[chrissyoscar]

I've got Adobe Photoshop 5 and it does wonders to some very ordinary shots. Load it up and have a play with it you'll be surprised how much difference it can make.

Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

thanks mate,

I will be doing it tomorrow

[Proteus]

Adobe Photoshop 7.0

&

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7

both awesum applications...