Improving Pictures?

[cpg]

OK, So I am trying to take some pictures of my new kole tang, and some corals I have, but I am not able to:
1. Get my Tang to stay still, or come to the glass

2. Get a close enough shot of my coral for it to turn out.
I have a crappy Nikon digital camera, and I am not able to get a better camera right now. The pictures are either super blurry or not close enough for any detail
ANY SUGGESTIONS

 

[lexluethar]

Can you take the flash off the camera? I know that will improve the quality of the picture at times because the flash creates a glare.

 

[sepulatian]

The glare is definitely an issue. Try taking shots when you feed your fish.

 

[cpg]

I actually keep the flash off. My problem is getting the quality of really any picture I take of my tank. Its always blurry, and it doesnt look good at all.

 

[t316]

Believe me, I feel your pain. I'm still not there either, but two suggestions:
1) make sure all of your powerheads and pumps are off, giving you zero water flow going on
2) use a stand/tripod....the human hands cannot hold a camera perfectly still. Even if you think it's still, it's not. If you don't have a tripod, use the back of a chair or set up some boxes. What ever it takes to get your hands OFF of the camera.

 

[tizzo]

One of my tricks...
And don't tell anyone!
I leave the flash on for the quick shutter speed, but I put one finger over the bulb so there is no reflection glare.
That and I tilt the camera so that if there IS any glare, it misses the glass. It goes above it.
Now if your halides are on, you can cover your flash bulb completely and your shutter will be lightning fast so your fish will be caught clearly.

 

[tizzo]

Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2561732
2) use a stand/tripod....the human hands cannot hold a camera perfectly still. Even if you think it's still, it's not.
But if your subject is moving, it doesn't matter how still your camera is.

 

[t316]

Correct, in regards to the fish (subject), but a blurry pic in general is what I was referring to. PH's moving all the water around, as well as hand control, can make the whole pic look blurry.

 

[natclanwy]

Like was posted earlier
1. Keep the flash off
2. Try to take your pictures when the rest of the room is dark to reduce reflections and glare.
3. Use the Macro mode on your camera
4. Don't worry about trying to zoom in on the corals most P&S cameras won't allow you to zoom in and stay in focus. If you want to enlarge the coral in the picture use a program to crop the photo (Photoshop elements is an awesome program and is not extremely expensive about $80).
5. Turn all of your pumps off.
6. Make sure your glass is clean inside and outside,
7. If you have micro bubbles wait 10 minutes or so after you turn the pumps off to let the bubbles rise to the surface.
8. Use a tripod if you don't have one set the camera on a solid surface. You can sometimes get away with placing the camera against the glass to help steady the camera but you still have to be very steady.
9. Use a higher ISO rating (this is a tradeoff you lose picture quality and increased grain in your pictures for increased shutter speeds so you can stop the motion, experiment and decide which ISO gives you the best results.)
10. For shy fish use a tripod and set it up several feet from your aquarium and be patient you can also try feeding to lure them out.
11. Take lots of pictures while you have everything set up I usually take a couple hundred pictures everytime I take pictures of my tank and then weed out the 180 bad ones and keep the 20 good ones.
12. Good luck

What model is your camera? Might be able to help with settings if you give me that.

 

[travis99]

Get some halogen lights, and light up the room like it a bright sunny day. Then you should be able to get a fast enough shutter speed to stop the blur, and you won't need a flash.
Travis