Please comment...

Seth · Oct 11, 2003

I'm still trying my best to find out the best lighting in order to showcase her true colours and scale definition. She swims in a 5' tank and is always on the move. Have to study her swimming pattern more in detail before I know when and which position is best to trigger the shot.

Any pointers on capturing such subjects? Behind a glass panel, always on the move, etc... shutter speed, aperture size, etc???

Seth · Oct 12, 2003

Feeling bored and restless, wanna try if I can do better at the pixs. Don't think there is any improvements... sigh!

http://www.arofanatics.com/members/seth/rouge13/

Seth · Oct 14, 2003

No comments???

Late · Oct 14, 2003

I like the perspective in the 3rd from the bottom pic, although there needs to be more light on the front of the fish. they're still blurry, you should add more light which will allow your camera to use faster shutter speeds.

okapi · Oct 15, 2003

excellent shot! and i liked this beautiful line of the water too.
taking pictures of fish and rats is a hard job, i know this quite well! ;-)

Seth · Oct 15, 2003

Thank you for the comments and suggestions. Pixs are taken only with the tank lightings and all surrounding lightings off. I will try switching on the surrounding lights for my next shoot then.

Seth · Nov 2, 2003

Some new updates and pixs on my aquarium. All comments welcome.

http://www.arofanatics.com/members/seth/rouge135

Thank you for viewing.

Seth · Nov 2, 2003

Sorry... here is the correct link

http://www.arofanatics.com/members/seth/rouge135/

Phodog · Nov 3, 2003

Not bad for a first timer - are you using digital? Becausethe colours are good. First one has some reflections as well. Maybe a little more light or faster iso would help ther blurring. I do like the black background and I agree with the tripod suggestion. All in all not a bad try. Would love to se some of the next batch. Try some of these fixes.

Seth · Nov 4, 2003

Hi all

Thank you for the suggestions, will look into it. Yes, they r taken with the Sony DSC-V1.

These pixs are taken during the recent Aquarama held in SIngapore. I find the pixs to be sharper than the pixs I took at home. Do comment pls.

http://www.arofanatics.com/members/seth/aquarama2003/

Sharkbait · Nov 4, 2003

Take a look HERE for some examples of some of my aquarium shots.

If you're really getting into shooting aquarium fish, I can give you some pointers...[/url]

Seth · Nov 4, 2003

Shark said:
Take a look HERE for some examples of some of my aquarium shots.

If you're really getting into shooting aquarium fish, I can give you some pointers...[/url]

Hi

Really appreciate your help here. Kindly advise pls. Maybe I can reveal more on my setup first.

Tank size: 60" x 24" x 20"
Lightings: 1 x Zoo-Medi 8500K FL, 2 x TFC 6500K FL, 1 x NAN 6500K FL

All lightings are plced above my tank. Used to have the NAN submersible light at the bottom but realised it makes my fishes' colour very artificial and thus shifted it to the top.

photong · Nov 4, 2003

these new ones are MUCH better than the others. Most are sharp too (always a bonus

). better composition. thats my opinion of course. good job!

Seth · Nov 6, 2003

Shark said:
Take a look HERE for some examples of some of my aquarium shots.

If you're really getting into shooting aquarium fish, I can give you some pointers...[/url]

Shark??? Missing in action?

Sharkbait · Nov 6, 2003

Sorry, forgot what thread this was in.

I think I posted some ideas in one of my aquarium photo threads, but let me try and get my head on straight and get them all together in one place here.

1. The tripod is your friend. I almost always use a tripod and cable release when shooting my aquarium, especially when I shoot any of the sessile (non-moving) invertebrates. For fish, I usually go hand-held because it's easier to track them, but my percentage of useable shots usually goes way down.

2. For any kind of moving fish, I usually use a shutter speed around 1/120s or so. Any lower and I get a lot of motion blur, any higher and the photos become very dark. Depending on the intensity of the lighting you have in your tank and the depth of the fish you're shooting, that might affect that shutter speed as well. I also adjust my exposure compensation way up (sometimes as high as +2 stops) to help get some more brightness into the tank.

3. Because tank lights use different color temps (kelvin temps), they often look great to our eyes, but lousy on film (or digital sensors). I usually have my white balance adjuster set to incandescent bulbs or fluorescent bulbs, but I've noticed with my new Canon digital rebel the auto white balance feature works pretty well.

4. I avoid using the flash for several reasons. a) It tends to really wash out the colors of the fish and blend them into the background, making the image look very flat. b) It can be difficult to shoot through the glass tank wall and not get a big flash-glare.

4.2. I haven't tried this myself, but I've seen some of the people over at reefs.org and advancedaquarist.com that get GREAT shots using an off-camera sync-flash held above the tank. That way the light from the flash takes on a more natural, top-down look.

5. Take a LOT of shots. When I shoot my tank inhabitants, I have no qualms at all about taking 200 shots and getting maybe 5 or 10 good, useable ones. This is where digital really shines through.

6. Use the autofocus, but don't trust it implicitly. The glass can throw off a camera's autofocus, especially on lower end cameras. My Canon doesn't seem to have much trouble, but I'd almost always have to manually focus my old old sony.

7. Shoot at night with the room lights off (only tank-lights on). This helps cut down glares and flares of reflection off of the tank's glass.