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sab

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  1. My tips to get a successful shot: First off buy the best camera you can afford – don't just look at megapixels (use 4MP as a start), but consider the optical zoom too (the higher the number the better!). Ignore the term “digital zoom” in all the ads as all that is a cropping into the maximum optical zoom (ie. blowing the image up digitally and you will loose detail this way). Being a Canon guy i suggest the mid range Canon G6. All my shots are taken with (an old now) Canon G2 4MP (purchased about four years back) at about $1,900!!! This was probably one of the first 4MP cams within reach of the avergae consumer without going to the $8,000 digital SLRs level back then! Its still a good camera and more than capable of a good shot if you are patient! Ive always had canon cameras and studied photography at uni as part of my graphic design degree all those years ago! As Nova states above , take the pics in a darkened room with just the tank lights on and a hand held flash pointed through the top cover glass. Always use a tripod or another steadying device (the top of the girlfriend's head works well if flat enough! haha!)! Take the pics from the side to eliminate flash glare if using built in flash. Don't just rely on the auto settings of your camera (if it has manual settings use them!) Keep fiddling with the settings to - one thing that helped me when using the cameras flash (not a external hand held one) was to play around with the flash-firing timing too (if your cam will allow it). I found that setting the flash to fire either just before or just after the actual shutter opening can help eliminate that washed out look (over exposure). I use the manual settings (f-stop/aperture and shutter speed) mostly, and dont be scared to play around with the aperture and shutter speed - but find a low setting of f2.8 works well and gives a sense of depth. For those that are a little confused by F stops and apertures... The lower the 'F' number the wider the aperture, keeping the main subject in focus, whilst blurring background. The higher the 'F' number the smaller the aperture, gaining an increase of focus from front to back - so probably better for larger faster moving fish to have a slightly higher aperture number to ensure the whole fish is in focus (but you will need a slower shutter speed as less light is getting in the camera)! F2.8 gives a bigger hole, giving you more light and therefore you can use a faster shutter speeds - it gives less in focus tho. I usually use a fast shutter speed of around 1/500. I also rely on a manual setting for focus, I pick a point in the tank and manually focus on that and wait for the fish to come into view! I find food helps to entice them out! LOL! I use a hand held flash too, that is connected to the hotshoe on the camera via a cable and over rides the cameras own flash (so that doesnt fire). I can then play around with positioning the flash for most dramatic effects... usually over the top through the cover glass. The trick is to have some time up your sleeve, be patient and take heaps of photos! I usually take 80 odd for maybe 10 good ones! For further reading start here for some good tips!>> Aquarium photo tips Play with the white balance setting – if taking pics of a tank use the tungsten or fluro setting. This gives a more natural white balance and will remove the yellow cast. I use Photoshop CS to further colour correct if needed – using things like the channels, levels, curves, etc. etc. I hope that helps and inspires! cheers Steve (aka sab)
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