Best pic i have managed of my weather loach

[daspricey]

Since moving into the 400l. No where near the quality of Martins, Emmas ect but best i could do. Any tips?

Also the camera is quite crap, something like 2 magapixels.



She's probably about 7".

David

[Emma Turner]

She's a beauty! What camera (make/model) are you using, David? Does it have a macro mode, often shown as a button with a little flower (for close up work)?

Emma

[daspricey]

It's a cannon power shot A60. Yes the macro setting was on macro.

Just downloading the manual to see how to get a faster shutter speed.
Also there is a little brown algae on the side which didn't help much.

Will take some more shots tomorrow.

[Emma Turner]

Hi David,

I'm not familiar with that particular camera, but I think there are quite a few Canon users on here who might be able to give you some extra tips.

There are a few pointers I can give you to try and improve on the pictures that you are taking (which aren't bad, you know!). First of all make sure the aquarium glass is clean inside and out. It may sound a bit much/obvious, but it does help to ensure the camera focuses where you want it to, and not on the glass.

As I mentioned before, most cameras have a macro (or close-up) mode, indicated by the little flower icon, which is what you want to be using for fishy close ups.

Position yourself so that the camera is 45 degrees to the front glass, as this will prevent the flash from bouncing back and ruining the picture, as it does when you stand face on (90 degrees) to the glass. There is a bit of give and take in this angle, and you'll get to know what does and doesn't work.

Unless the fish are slow-moving or sitting in one place, it can be difficult to focus on them. A trick many people use (including myself) is to focus on an object within the tank that they swim past frequently. If you then lock the focus (this is often done by pressing the shutter button halfway down) then move back a tiny fraction, wait for the fish to swim past, then take the picture. If the fish like to hang about quite near the front glass, I tend to focus on the place where the glass meets the cabinet, lock the focus and carefully move the camera upwards a little, to where the fish is resting on the substrate, and take the picture.

A tripod can help if you tend to get shaky pictures, but they are not easy to manouvere quickly into position, so I tend to rely on steady wrists! If you tend to get blurry/shaky pics, try pressing your elbows tightly up against your body when you use the camera, this can help with taking a sharp picture. Also, some people tend to be over enthusiastic when pressing the shutter button and you can see them press too hard, just a soft touch does the job.

And probably the most important point to remember is that you will end up deleting lots. I probably get about 20-30 keepers out of every 100 taken. It used to be a lot lower than that too, but I am lucky in that I get to take lots and lots of pics at the shop. Practice is the key.


I'm by no means an expert and I'm sure others here will be able to offer their advice. I hope that some of this helps anyway!

Emma

[Rocco]

What Emma said is right.

But here are a few more tricks you can do...
What I do is I use manual focus on my camera. Autofocus can be wonky sometimes, especially when the fish are moving around.

Now, if you can put your camera on shutter priority, (usually an S on the dial) you can up your shutter to 1/60 sec or higher. using a flash, the camera will automatically adjust your aperture for you. This way you don't have to worry about the fish blurring so much. A tripod or gorilla pod also helps.

Lastly, on a digicam, you can raise your ISO sensitivity to around 200, which should help with exposure levels and still keep the grain away. I shoot at ISO 100 however.

For those of you who have more complicated equipment, try putting a slave flash on the top of your aquarium for a more natural look.

[Martin Thoene]

Yes the A60 is a 2Mp camera, so I'm guessing it must be over 3 years old or so? I found most of the specs online. It's pretty similar to my old A70.

Try these settings. They work for me. You'll have to refer to your manual for exactly how that camera works to set these parameters.

Put the big round dial on the top to shutter speed priority. This should have the indication Tv . Set the camera to 1/2000/sec (it's fastest speed)

Set the ASA to 100

Set exposure compensation to minus 1 and 1 third or two thirds.

Switch flash to on.

Set metering on spot metering (i.e. the subject).

Switch Macro mode to On.

Switch white balance to Flourescent.

Oh....and I take everything on autofocus.

Martin.

[daspricey]

Thanks guys all of that helped alot. I had a go with some of the smaller changes the the battery conked out. Next time i get some i will changes the settings to what Martin suggested and how for the best. I need a little look through the manual to find out how to change some of those things but next photo update may be better.
The photos i got earlier on i will get onto the pc and have alook. (And i need to find the usb cable thing it's gone walk abouts. )

Thanks

David

[Martin Thoene]

I've given those settings to other Canon users before and they've got instant improvements in their picture quality. Batteries can be a pain. You're far better off investing in rechargeables and a charger. I'm still using the same set of 4 I bought over 3 years ago......work out how many AA's you'd go through in that time.

Martin.

[daspricey]

I have no money at the moment as i am saving for another tank so i'll stick with the normal AA's until i do get money.
I only took 11.
This was the best one,



I think quite a bit of it has to do with my hands too. With my old tank i was able to lean on the desk for photos and had much better photos like these...





Thanks

David

[loachmom]

Very nice.