Documenting tank

[baconbits]

What is the best way to get good photos of my tank. I have a canon sureshot digital camera, but the pictures never look good. Any suggestions?

[Reefland]

Poseidon, Minh, MtnDewMan and zhenya are the photo guru's around here, they'll be able to help you out. My advice is to take a lot of pictures using different settings on your camera and pic the best ones out. Sometimes you have to take 10 pics to get 1 good one.

Scott Z.

[stang69]

10?????

You must be better than me hehehheh


Jeff

[Poseidon]

Hey Baconbits...

First thing is to bring the camera down to tank level. Try to avoid shooting down at an angle to the tank. the water will refract the light and confuse your camera. Another good tip, use a tripod!!! Especially if you can not get shutter speeds greater then 1/60th of a second. Anything slower then that is difficult to hand hold the camera. If your camera has it, you can play with Apeture Priority (the size hole the picture is taken through) and shutter priority (the speed at which the shutter opens and closes) For more depth of field use a larger number F stop example f22 of 16. Problem is those settings make the shutter speed VERY slow... It may take 1.5 to 3 secs for the camera to get enough light to get a picture. The smaller teh f stop number the larger the hole the lens sees through, so you will get a shorter shutter speed, like 1/60th 1/125th. The problem with those settings is you get a really shallow depth of field. If you are trying to take pictures of fish, you need to be at 1/60th of a second or faster in order to stop the movement. Anything slower shows the fish moving, and to the lens that is a blur...

Do like Scott suggested and just keep clicking away, the worst that can happen is you delete them.

Just so you know I take 15-20 pictures, sit at the computer, delete at LEAST 5-6 right away, then narrow the pictures further by getting picky!!! I might end up with 1 or 2 worthy of posting.

THis is kind of funny, but I had an old 35-80mm lens that I bought probaly 12 years ago for maybe $85, and I get better macro shots from it, then I do my 2 year old 28-135mm that I paid $400 for!!!

Example:


Go figure!!!

[baconbits]

Thanks Poseidon. If you see the post on "Coral ID" you can see my first attempt. I will try the things you suggested and see if they get any better...

[Poseidon]

They will... Just keep clicking that shutter!!

[scubadude]

First off I love topography shots which can be involved but to me well worth it!

• Turn off all flow right before you start taking your pics if possible
• Try to taking some of your pics at night after lights have been out for an hour+ (Polyps are almost always out then) and be prepared before you turn on the lights
• Try getting some other source lighting thats not shining down directly onto the water, this will help cut back reflection
• Try to make some type of bar that extends across the width of your tank to put your camera on, so you arent moving the camera so much
• Use the timer if you have one, most all of my shots I use my timer
• IMO there is nothing wrong with editing/enhancing so use a good program that will crop and enhance a picture

BTW SWEEET Pic Mike!

Heres some of my topography shots




Rocky

[Poseidon]

Thanks Rocky... Thats my Galaxia under actinic.