Photographing Fish?

[dan2x38]

What is the best way to photograph my fish? I have a fairly good digital camera but no tripod. When my fish in a good position the picture is usually 2 bright especially the fish's scales and under belly.

thanks...

[PaleoFishGirl]

Practice

The best part of digital photography is you don't have to worry about wasting film! If you get 1 amazing shot out of 100, you are in business!

[kennyman]

I have a heck of a time too but use the tanks lighting as opposed to a flash for sure!

I have sufficient light in my Saltwater tank (5wpg) but nowhere near that in my other tanks so I have to use extra light in those tanks. Also I have to bump up the iso so my camera is more light sensitive for the lower light conditions.

Setting shutter priority and all this new fangled gizmo's on the digitalis is such a pain to learn. If i still owned a scanner I would most likely be taking aquarium photos with my old Fujica 35 mil fully manual 

[fischkopp]

if your digital camera gives you a bit of control you can adjust it a little to get your favourite shoot a bit earlier.

i use a digital SLR (preferably with macro lens) with manual aperture and time automatic. Then i will adjust the shutter time correction to somewhat +2.x ... +4.x depending on the light condition. Together with the build-in flash it will produce quite good pictures out of the hand. Just make sure you shoot at slanted angle, because of the flash. Another setting that improves shooting is ISO, so if the picture is still shaken, increase it on the cost of a bit more noise.

This was for taking picture of whats IN the tank. If you want to take a good picture OF your tank i would use a tripod and darken all light sources around for better atmosphere. It can take a couple of second for the picture to be taken, so the fish may blur or appear several times. But it gives you a good picture of you underwater landscape. If the water is moving switch the filter off before ...

good luck!

[dan2x38]

thanks everyone... I am a real neophyte so you are talking Greek to me... can you say it so, "Even a 6 Year Old can Understand"... LOL

[fischkopp]

sorry, i didn't want to overwhelm you 

first thing for you to do is to learn, what your camera can do: does it provide more than just the trigger button? I guess you are using a compact digital - means build-in lens (SLR = exchangeable lenses). Most of these cameras today have settings for ISO and a macro mode, better once let you even allow to adjust the time used for taking the picture (= shutter time) and the wide the lens opens (= aperture). You find more about in the web.

ISO is a sensitivity setting, related to old film, higher number means more sensitive, means your camera needs less time to take a picture. So increasing ISO from 100 to 200/400 or even higher will help you to avoid shaken pictures in low light conditions

Macro mode is a powerful setting that will allow your camera to focus on close objects, like your fish. My expierence is, that the compact cameras realize this mode pretty well ...

i hope this makes more sense to you 

[pwrca]

Getting them to stay still is one thing but, getting them to smile just defeats me!   

[busdriver]

Most of the pictures I've taken of my tanks with my point and shoot digital camera, I've turned the flash off.
I don't use a tripod, I use a mono-pod, works a lot better.
I just used the lighting from the tank.
If you want to see how they turn out, check my gallery.
The hard part I'm having is to get them to say 'cheese'.

[kennyman]

Most of the pictures I've taken of my tanks with my point and shoot digital camera, I've turned the flash off.
I don't use a tripod, I use a mono-pod, works a lot better.
I just used the lighting from the tank.

The amount of light in a tank is what makes the difference in many of the pictures you see here. People often comment on how wonderfull the SW tanks are but they need to realize that those shots are from tanks with  5 -10 watts per gallon and most have bulbs that cause some fluorescence of the fish and corals. I feel that FW tanks are just as beautiful but that amount of light and quality of light are inferior and it really stands out in photography.

Also water quality of a planted tank vs a marine tank. My planted tank has peat filtration to enhance tannic acid, giving my tank a dull brown look. My marine tank has a protin skimmer to remove doc's so the water is always crystal clear like just out of the tap.

These types of things really impact photography.

[fischkopp]

you don't need a tripod for taking one picture of your tanks, any stable support build of tables, chairs and books ... will do

a tripod is useless anyway if you try to take a picture of your little guys in the tank (a monopod  is far better but i find it still a bit unhandy while chasing). you will have to chase a bit them to get a nice shoot, and you will still delete 99% 

all the SW pictures are missing one thing: GREEN  provided that you manage to get the camera adjusted to your light/water conditions you can get some amazing shots out of a FW tanks

[PaleoFishGirl]

I don't miss film cameras at all.

[plecoL83]

What's intresring is I have two digital cameras One when I take a picture without a flash is like black the other is amazing my avitar was taken without a flash as are almost all my fish photo's, also if you are usin a flash shoot on and angle and you shouldn't get the reflection, If you have them or you could use a desk lamp light the tank from behind with the tank lights on that should work as well. 

[Glouglou]

I find good info here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/cav2i2/aquarium_photography/photography.htm

and here:
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/5491/phototech.html

Google search : aquarium photography

Fun! Fun! Fun!

[dan2x38]

I find good info here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/cav2i2/aquarium_photography/photography.htm

and here:
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/5491/phototech.html

Google search : aquarium photography

Fun! Fun! Fun!

thanks for the links but it is getting hem to hold still...    by the time I am ready they aren't... 

[kennyman]

When I decide to take some shots I sit my butt down on a stool in front of the tank and spend some time there. Sometimes I frame the background I want from the tripod and then bait the fish into the shot. Other times I chase them around with the lens.

Initially my fish were afraid of the camera so I stuck the tripod and camera in front of the tank for a few days. They got used to it.

[Glouglou]

Fill the aquarium with plastic resin, you will never have that problem again.
But maybe you find all that a little bit static

[Saltcreep]

I don't know if your camera has the feature or not, but one of the nicest things about my Canon is the remote capture. You install some software on your computer, hook up a USB cable and you have total control of the camera from your laptop. Just sit back and wait for that perfect picture and hit 'enter'. You're only limited by the length of your USB cable. Works great for photographing birds too; anything you don't want to disturb while taking its pisture.

[dan2x38]

I don't know if your camera has the feature or not, but one of the nicest things about my Canon is the remote capture. You install some software on your computer, hook up a USB cable and you have total control of the camera from your laptop. Just sit back and wait for that perfect picture and hit 'enter'. You're only limited by the length of your USB cable. Works great for photographing birds too; anything you don't want to disturb while taking its pisture.

I should examine the software more... TANKs