[kevinpo]

Fish pictures can be the hardest to take as the subject usually refuses to listen to "HOLD STILL"

Lets see some of your fish and any tips/settings you used. Here's one of my most friendly fish. He/She prefers to be hand fed. I have the ISO set at 200 and the image size set at 1600x1200.

Regards,
Kevin

[charlie]

All these were macros.
1024x768
100speed

[zhenya]

It is interesting for me to see amount of noise in the pix with ISO 200 and Nikon camera. To be honest, I'm a bit surprized as to how much I could notice it, even with ISO 100 in some of Charlie's images. I wonder if it is has something to do with the particular model or Nikon in general...

Kevin, here's your image after I run it through noise reduction software( which is available as free demo I think).

PS. It didn't work all that well for some reason. BTW, all your fish look great, guys.
I usually set my ISO to at least 400 when I try to take fish pics and most of the time I use flash as well to further "freeze" the movement.

[zhenya]

I found old pic of my clown where I used my old Nikon coolpix. I had it set in macro mode and Ev - 0.3 and hardly any zoom at all. Flash was used too and ISO was set at 100 and I think f.11,IIRC. I also attached the same pic that I run through the noise filter, not sure wich one I like better.

[kevinpo]

Hi Gene,
Your feedback is exactly what I'm looking for. If the ISO setting is higher does that generally mean more noise? There is a noise reduction setting on the camera but it doesn't work with certain other settings (I think in macro mode). I need to check the manual again to see which ones. Do you use macro mode when taking fish pictures?

Thanks for your help,
Kevin

[charlie]

Thanx for the info and the help Gene!!!! I'll keep dinking around with this thing. If I get some time this afternoon, I'll try and get a couple more pics to see what you think.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by kevinpo

Hi Gene,
Your feedback is exactly what I'm looking for. If the ISO setting is higher does that generally mean more noise? There is a noise reduction setting on the camera but it doesn't work with certain other settings (I think in macro mode). I need to check the manual again to see which ones. Do you use macro mode when taking fish pictures?

Thanks for your help,
Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Yes, higher ISO numbers mean generally more noise in the picture, especially in the darker areas(less light). I don't think in camera noise reduction works very well if at all to notice any difference. I highly recommend getting one of the noise reducing programs available online( I think fredmiranda.com has one as well). I used macro mode when I was shooting with Nikon coolpix (885) but I almost never use macro mode with my Rebel as I use macro lens for close ups instead. I have to use AF mode becouse of my eyesight and if I switch to macro mode I loose all control of the settings in AF mode(the camera controls all of them instead, flash too). I shoot in aperture priority most of the time and just switch lenses as needed.

[Elmo18]

Took these today at ISO400, Auto White Balance, Manual Focus, on Canon A300 3.2 MP, no Zoom, in MacroMode.

- Elmo

[zhenya]

Ilham,

To my eye the focus appears to be on the rockwork and not the fish(second image). I run it through photoshop and noise reduction filter and here's what I came up with.Tell me if you like it.

[Elmo18]

Nice Gene!! That is a lot sharper. How do you do that in Photoshop? Walk me through it

HEre are a couple more...that could use filtering I think.

Taken at ISO400, Manual Mode, Auto-White Balance, non-Macro Mode.

- Elmo

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Elmo18

Nice Gene!! That is a lot sharper. How do you do that in Photoshop? Walk me through it

HEre are a couple more...that could use filtering I think.

Taken at ISO400, Manual Mode, Auto-White Balance, non-Macro Mode.

- Elmo

Elmo, which version of PS do you use?

Here's one that I adjusted contrast and saturation a bit, also brought levels to a black curve more. Oh, I also run it through noise filtering software as well but it does eliminate some of the details. I just didn't feel like fooling with fine tuning of the filter, although it could be done.

PS. Try taking a shot with ISO 100 or 200 and see if that helps with noise, also, what settings did you use as far as exposure and shutter speed?

[Elmo18]

Hi Gene. I have the newest Photoshop there is right now...

I will try experimenting with ISO200 and see how that goes.

Thanks,
Ilham

[Poseidon]

Originally Posted by Elmo18

I have the newest Photoshop there is right now...

Elements or CS? Actually CS2 was just released and I only have the trial version for now....

As far as noise reduction goes, I like Noise Ninja and isoX by available @ www.fredmiranda.com there you can buy the one specific to your camera! If you have a DSLR or a few of the point and shoots!

If you have CS I can e-mail you some actions I created that help with color and contrast... plus a quick and dirty action for resizing to web size... Just drop me a PM if you can use them!