Trouble taking pictures in my tank,

[alexfevery]

I am having trouble taking pictures in my tank, they never come out very good, I think part of the problem is I need to clean the front glass but anyways. Should I have the aquarium lights on or off, Room lights? flash on or off though at the moment i dont know how to turn it off, its a Canon powershot SD550 7.1 megapixels

I tried to post the pictures I took but it said they were over the size limit so I guess I cant.

[reefheadhbyst]

did u go today ? to look at coral and stuff

[Poseidon]

Hi Alex, ! I'll try and answer some or your questions below....

I am having trouble taking pictures in my tank, they never come out very good, I think part of the problem is I need to clean the front glass but anyways.

Yes! You should clean the glass, both sides. Your camera works alot your eye, so if you can't see in real well, or if you can see spots, so will the camera.

Should I have the aquarium lights on or off?

Tank lights ON.

Room lights?

Off.

flash on or off though at the moment i dont know how to turn it off, its a Canon powershot SD550 7.1 megapixels

How about.... It depends. Using an on camera flash can be difficult, but it may be your best option. If you are taking pictures of fish, then the flash will allow you to freeze the movement.

I tried to post the pictures I took but it said they were over the size limit so I guess I cant.

Try to size your images to 4x6 @ 72dpi that should allow you to upload quite a few, or for $10/year you get UNLIMITED space.

Make sure to read the stickies at the top of this forum, especially the ones on Aperture and Shutter Speed.

[alexfevery]

yes, i read those, how can I resize the photos?

[Poseidon]

What program are you using?

[alexfevery]

I dont have one???

[Poseidon]

Hmm.... Maybe Zhenya can help us out, I know there are a couple of good free photo programs online. In a pinch you can even use MS Paint, but that is a PITA.

[alexfevery]

I searched on google for a photo editing program, I found a few but I couldnt find any called zhenya. none of them seem to work very well.

[Poseidon]

Oops.... Zhenya is one of the board owners here on Reefland, he has a link to a pretty good photo program that is free.

You should have gotten something with your camera.... Even a stripped down version of Photoshop would work.

[zhenya]

You should have gotten something with your camera.... Even a stripped down version of Photoshop would work.

I agree, any software that came with the camera should be better than nothing, and some of them are pretty darn good.

Having said that, Photoshop Elements( the latest you can get) is quite adequate and will do everything regular Photoshop does, to a degree of course. You won't have the same amount of options or control but it will do a splendid job for you, shouldn't cost more than a 100 or so dollars. Compare that to a $700 price tag on PS CS2 and you;ll understand what I mean...
Even ACDSee Pro will let you do so many things with your photos, and I think it is $130 bux at most( Mike, there are not many free programs left out there).
If you just need to resize your images, infraview.com is free and easy to use. If you need to manipulate your photos, edit and store them properly you'll have to pay something...

[zhenya]

I searched on google for a photo editing program, I found a few but I couldnt find any called zhenya. none of them seem to work very well.

My wife said the same thing...

[Poseidon]

My wife said the same thing...

Gene, I almost fell outta my chair!

How about this one?

GIMP - for Windows

I have never used it, but I have read several threads recommending it...