NZ_Fishboy Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 It is always annoying and im sure im not the only one, that everytime the fish stays still and you take a photo, 90% of the time you get a naff picture, Anyone got any tips on photographing fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 Come to the next Auckland fish club meeting 13th September, we have a professional photographer and good fish keeper coming along to show some pics and give us some tips.. My only tip is to take 1000 pics and you might get one good one.. Try different tank lighting, different angles, different combination of flash/macro until you happen to fluke upon one that works.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 Best you give me some info to put on the main site about this and the expo then, and you could post the details in the club section as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtiskaw Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 Lot's of good info here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 Come to the next Auckland fish club meeting 13th September, we have a professional photographer and good fish keeper coming along to show some pics and give us some tips.. YUUUUUSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariumbeginner32 Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 Last time I took photos of my guppies I turned the bedroom light off at night and used the forced flash on our camera. It was hard because I had no idea where the fish were because I couldn't see them lol but the photos came out pretty good I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice222 Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 Depends what it is that is making the picture naff. Some of the most common problems are: your photo is blurring due to the shutter not being fast enough (the fishs' movements get blurred), your apature's not high enough (parts of a fish that are further back are blurry), or the focus is wrong (fish is blurry while something in the background is clear), or a combination of several of these. Movement blur usually looks like a smudge, apature blur tends to create a even blur that gets more blurry the further things are from the focus, and out of focus blur will usually have something else that is not the fish in focus. There are quite a few things to consider if you want a good photo, along with shutter speed, apature and focus, a there's also iso, white balance, zoom, preset camera modes that can help or hinder you and different ways to use flash effectively (esp hard with fish tanks). It's a little hard to explain without going in depth and showing examples, but if you have a good teacher, it's actually not very difficult to understand the basics of good photography. So do come along to the next Auckland meeting, bring your camera, and our speaker should be able to give some good tips and show you how you can change these settings on your camera. Although a lot of this info can be found online, until I got a camera myself and started playing with the settings I had no idea what all those camera terms meant in terms of getting a good picture. So it's handy to hear it straight from an expert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 What kind of camera are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 The best ways to get good shots are: 1/ Get the camera as close to the glass as possible. 2/ Don't use a flash unless you are very close to the glass. 3/ Have bright lights in the aquarium and turn all other lights outside of the aquarium off. 4/ Clean the glass, inside and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 I would disagree with the first two. Ideally you do want to use a flash, but a remote one set up above the tank. If you put triple the usual amount of light constantly over the tank chances are your fish aren't going to behave normally. And you don't need to be close to the glass provided its clean inside and out and the room is dark. The best way to take decent photos of fish is with a decent camera. I'm certainly no photographer, but the difference I found using my 550D compared to a point and shoot is night and day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtiskaw Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 I'm convinced that fish can sense cameras. Every time I get a good shot lined up and focused, they move just before I press the button :facepalm: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 Mine bugger off as soon as I get the camera out, let alone anywhere near the tank! And they are usually displaying nicely beforehand as well :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice222 Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 I'm convinced that fish can sense cameras. Every time I get a good shot lined up and focused, they move just before I press the button :facepalm: It's not just fish either, I find that all pets do it. My cat would sleep in a odd pose for hours perfectly still but as soon as i have the camera ready she'll move :facepalm:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 ..you do want to use a flash, but a remote one set up above the tank.Most people dont have access to one of them so the first two points still stand. I was going to say using a remote flash would help but as this is out or reach of most people decided not to. Getting close to the class cuts down on reflections, both from the use of a flash and from any external light. You shouldn't have to triple the amount of light above the tank to get ok photos without a flash. And another good tip is try to shoot parallel to the glass, this lessens distortion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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