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Fish Photography 2


Ged

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</a></STRONG></DIV><H1>Using Digital Cameras</H1><DIV id=Qtextbox><P><STRONG>Author: Cichlid Boy</STRONG><BR><BR>Hi all,

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I am by no means a photography expert but have borrowed a digital camera from a friend. I have taken a few phots, some of which came out okay, others not. I have a few questions:

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1) Most of the photos seem too bright, stripping colour from the image. Do other people always use a flash or rely on tank lighting and/or perhaps brighten the image using software on the PC? (Also, the flash makes it impossible to take pics at right-angles to the glass, if you know what I mean, because of the reflection.)

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2) The camera is on autofocus and this seems to cause the camera focus depth problems because of the aquarium glass (and a serious delay in taking the pic) - do most people override this with a set distance-to-object ?

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3) Is it better to get up close and not use as much zoom (given that the flash can reflect badly on the glass), or sit back a bit and zoom in on the fish?

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4) Exposure? What setting for flash, what setting for no-flash?

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Thanks for any help/advice.

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Travis.

</P></DIV><H2>Replies »</H2><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: BlakeyBoyR</STRONG><BR><BR>My advice is

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1) Ive found if you put the lens of the camera pretty much straight on the glass then you dont get the flash flare in the photo

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AND

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2) Putting the camera IN the tank to get a closer shot is never a good idea

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: griffin</STRONG><BR><BR>Hi Travis,

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some ideas that might help -

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*itdepends on what type of digicam you have - they're all different in what you can do with them. Play around with the different settings. On my camera (Olympus C3040) I use the macro setting because the flash is not as strong (so the fish doesn't get washed out by strong flash) and it will focus quite well on close objects. It doesn't do well when the fish is at the back of the tank as it will not focus on the fish then.

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*if you don't use flash you will get more natural/realistic colours on the fish but there is usually not enough light in the tank for you to get a fast enough shutter speed to capture a sharp image of a moving fish. Some people will set up lamps to get more light in the tank, but you have to position them carefully to avoid them causing reflections on the tank glass.

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*I just leave the camera on auto for the exposure/aperture settings when taking photos of fish as there's too much else to think about when taking photos of moving objects! Some people find using manual focus is best as in many cameras the autofocus won't work well through tank glass and water.

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*what it boils down to is....take lots of photos! Take hundreds! That's the beauty of digital - if the photo doesn't turn out, you're not paying for it to be developed, just delete it! There are so many factors that need to come into place to get a great photo of your fish - lighting, angle, flash/no flash, position of fish in tank (usually works better if fish is at the front), is the fish showing off, what pose is it in etc., etc. So you're going to have to take heaps of photos to get the one you really want.

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Hope this helps.

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Jess

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: Cichlid Boy</STRONG><BR><BR>Thanks Blake, I hadn't thought of putting the camera against the glass.

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And thanks Jess for all your suggestions, I will continue to muck around with the settings and take lots of photos. Unfortunately I only have the camera for 2 days...

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Travis.

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: ducksta</STRONG><BR><BR>The best advice is dont get dis-heartened!!! Even the guys who post extraordinary pics regularly delete at least 5 times more crap ones than they keep. And dont let anyone tell you different!!

You have to be VERY patient, and not expect every shot to turn out

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: Craig Douglas</STRONG><BR><BR>I reckon taking fish pics is a numbers game!! Take plenty pics and U'll get some good ones. Trial and error was the way I did it. What you do need though is some bitmap editing software. Some pics that are unviewable before editing can come up really good after a little manipulation. Photoshop is the king of this stuff but www.tudogs.com offer several free packages which are quiet useable. Email me if I can help you?

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Craig.

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</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: Cichlid Boy</STRONG><BR><BR>Thanks Ducksta and Craig.

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Yes I do have Photoshop - great program - so I'll just take as many pics as possible and sort through / spruce them up later.

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By the way, is it normal for these cameras to REALLY chew batteries? I used brand new alkalines and they lasted less than 5 mintues! I've switched to rechargables now.

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Cheers,

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Travis.

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: burundi 6 bar</STRONG><BR><BR>Giday Travis

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Best thing to do is just take as many pics as you can

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Hopefully like a fine wine you will get better with age.

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Cheers

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Darryl

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</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: ducksta</STRONG><BR><BR>Mine also chews batteries alot quicker than I ever could have guessed. I pinched my mums pack of 20 Evereadys and used them all before I knew it. I am going to go get some rechargeables myself.

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: o0XanaX0o</STRONG><BR><BR>out of about 50 pics, I save 1 :/

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best thing to do for digital cams, get newer good rechargeable batteries.

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: Blue Acara</STRONG><BR><BR>Buy the NiMH batteries. They are very good and do not have memory. Basically you can recharge it at any time, no need to discharge first like the NiCd. You'll need to buy the NiMH charger too. High Initial investment but last very long

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Danny

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