Photo help

[Ian]

HI everyone
I have a good digital SLR (Nikon D80) that I am learning to use, but I still cannot take very good pics of my tank.

Can anyone give me some tips.
Any and all are welcome.
Ian

[michika]

How about a sample photo?

[spoot]

-Turn off the room lights if you are trying for shots of the inhabitants of the tank.
-Clean glass thouroughly inside and outside of the tank.
-Tripod is best, but not always useful for fast moving fish.
-For fast moving fish, an external flash may be needed to have enough light for faster shutter speeds.
-For best results, shoot perpendicular to tank, as the tank's glass will distort the picture and possible mess with the auto focus.

I agree with Cathering though, best to show us a sample so we can see what needs fixing.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Some light reading....:)

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/gr/index.php
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=812371
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=812374
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/gr/index.php
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=325684

[Ian]

Thanks for the help. Here are a few pics from tonight./ Feel free to critique.
Also what do you think of the biocube after 2 months

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x187/murdoch55/DSC_0214.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x187/murdoch55/DSC_0215.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x187/murdoch55/DSC_0216.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x187/murdoch55/DSC_0217.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x187/murdoch55/DSC_0218.jpg

[Renegade]

Well i have a D70s and also have done allot of experimenting. First You will not achieve the color you are looking for with the flash, so get rid of it. Next i recommend shooting in aperture priority. Also Make sure you are in spot model for its reference of what part of the photo it uses to determine it White balance. If you are having trouble capturing a sharp crisp shot (in focus) try raising you ISO up 800 to practice till you get better with the camera. Ideally you want to shoot with the lowest ISO you can get but thats not always possible. think of it as using 400 film inside where theres not much natural light compared to using 200 outside with lots. IMO tanks that are not MH based for lighting, the higher ISO will help to compensate for the lack of light. And practice some more.

Let me know i'm not sure where your located, but you could come out to the reef dinner on web. Jason is an amazing camera guys extremely knowledgeable and we could probably help you out with a setting or two.

Kyle

[spoot]

Don't worry about bumping the iso even higher than that, even up to iso 1250 is acceptable.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I think something to remember is that, to get one GREAT photo, you need to take LOTS and LOTS! As well, taking photos of fast moving fish is likely to make you frustrated when you're first starting to learn. This is a very challenging task! Try instead to take photos of more stationary items in your tank (corals, inverts, etc.), fiddling with depth of field, shutter speeds, etc., and then when you're more confident in what you're doing, move toward fish pics. For what it's worth, I really don't try to take pics of my fish. Too frustrating :)

Do you have a tripod? This can also help with achieving a crisp, un-blurred photo.

[PixSell]

Don't get rid of your flash!!! Just get it off of your camera. Use a sync cord or (if your camera has the ability) your cameras wireless flash ability.
The photo below was shot with 100% flash positioned about 3 feet above, and a little bit in-front of the fish.
Cheers, Chris

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm184/BCinYa/953f6e76.jpg