aquarium photos

[Nikki Casali]

Larry Blanchard wrote:
> I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
> digital camera. I've tried with and without the flash.

Flash will be difficult to use as it reflects off the glass.

> They always
> come out blurry.

The blurriness could be to do with two things. The camera could be
trying focus on the glass, or the shutter speed has been reduced to
compensate for lack of light. If it's the shutter speed, any movement to
the camera will cause blurring. Use a tripod. If it's trying to focus on
the glass then try to use manual focus - if that's even possible with a
low definition LCD.

> I didn't try turning the tank lights off and using the
> flash because it would just reflect off the glass.
>
> Am I doing something wrong or is this a problem peculiar to digital
> cameras?
>

Some digital camera are less sensitive to light than traditional stills
cameras. The only way to compensate is to reduce shutter speed, open
iris up fully and increase gain, all which serve to increase blurriness.
It's less difficult if you can switch everything to manual settings
though to gain complete control.

Nikki

[Siegfried Bäsler]

Hi Larry,

it would be better you could show some of your pictures. Ithink it isn't
hard totake some good pictures from Aquaria, but you have to exercise.

Siggi

Larry Blanchard wrote:

>I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
>digital camera. I've tried with and without the flash. They always
>come out blurry. I didn't try turning the tank lights off and using the
>flash because it would just reflect off the glass.
>
>Am I doing something wrong or is this a problem peculiar to digital
>cameras?
>
>
>

--
Email
Homepage www.naturundfoto.net
Fische www.aquanet.de/Privat/naturaquarium/
phone +49 30 755 18 770

[Larry Blanchard]

I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
digital camera. I've tried with and without the flash. They always
come out blurry. I didn't try turning the tank lights off and using the
flash because it would just reflect off the glass.

Am I doing something wrong or is this a problem peculiar to digital
cameras?

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[McEve]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
> digital camera. I've tried with and without the flash. They always
> come out blurry. I didn't try turning the tank lights off and using the
> flash because it would just reflect off the glass.
>
> Am I doing something wrong or is this a problem peculiar to digital
> cameras?
>
> --
> Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

Try angling the camera just a bit, so the flash doesn't rebound. Try takin
the picture in the evening, with the lights in the room shut off, use a
flash and leave the tank light on. Make sure the focus on the camera is set
right. And like Mikki said, try using a tripod.

Some if my pictures:

http://public.qtopia.no/catfish/

Not the best pictures I know, but it is possible.

This is a closeup of one of my catfish :)

http://public.qtopia.no/lda33close.jpg

[2pods]

> Try angling the camera just a bit, so the flash doesn't rebound. Try takin
> the picture in the evening, with the lights in the room shut off, use a
> flash and leave the tank light on. Make sure the focus on the camera is
> set right. And like Mikki said, try using a tripod.
>
> Some if my pictures:
>
> http://public.qtopia.no/catfish/
>
> Not the best pictures I know, but it is possible.
>
> This is a closeup of one of my catfish :)
>
> http://public.qtopia.no/lda33close.jpg
>

Great pics !
What camera did you use ?

Peter

[Margolis]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
> digital camera. I've tried with and without the flash. They always
> come out blurry. I didn't try turning the tank lights off and using the
> flash because it would just reflect off the glass.
>
> Am I doing something wrong or is this a problem peculiar to digital
> cameras?
>
> --
> Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description


don't use a flash. Just the tank lights. You can also try turning off any
room lights. The tank lights will be enough. A flash will reflect off of
the glass, not to mention freak out your fish.

as far as being blurry. That is either the camera's fault or the
photographers fault, or maybe a little bit of both. It is not a problem
inherent to digital cameras, but a problem with any autofocus camera. The
camera doesn't know exactly what you want to focus on, so it picks it's own
spot. That is why I like manual slr cameras. So just take a lot of shots
and dispose of the ones that are blurry. Surely not ALL of your shots are
blurry.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[Amateur Cichlids]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
> digital camera. I've tried with and without the flash. They always
> come out blurry. I didn't try turning the tank lights off and using the
> flash because it would just reflect off the glass.
>
> Am I doing something wrong or is this a problem peculiar to digital
> cameras?
>
> --
> Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

Larry,
As mentioned by many others, turning off all external light sources and
having just the tank lights on helps. I often add another strip light to the
top of the tank for photo purposes. The more light in the tank the better.
If the speed of your camera is too slow, a flash may be necessary. The
reflection everyone keeps talking about can be avoided with either and
external flash or by shooting your camera at the tank on an angle. This
avoids the reflection from bouncing directly back at the camera. If you have
an SLR or a digital camera with a manual mode, try setting the aperature as
low as possible, set the film speed to 800 or faster and the shutter speed
at a minimum of 80. If your aperature goes low enough, you can take some
great pics without a flash using a film speed of 800 or 1600.
Tim
www.fishaholics.org
Examples of some of my pictures.
http://www.fishaholics.org/graphics/tropheus/t_moorii_ilangi.jpg
http://www.fishaholics.org/graphics/neolamprologus/sexfasciatus2.jpg
http://www.fishaholics.org/graphics/chalinochromis/c_ndobhoi1.jpg

[Jon Pike]

Larry Blanchard > wrote in news:33gcluF3vrh2aU2
@individual.net:

> I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
> digital camera. I've tried with and without the flash. They always
> come out blurry. I didn't try turning the tank lights off and using the
> flash because it would just reflect off the glass.
>
> Am I doing something wrong or is this a problem peculiar to digital
> cameras?

This is a problem for photographic tanks in general.
Cheap digicams never do a good job of it, nor do expensive ones, or
expensive film cameras, but the nice thing about digital is the instant
feedback.

--
http://www.neopets.com/refer.phtml?username=moosespet

[McEve]

"2pods" > wrote in message
...
>> Try angling the camera just a bit, so the flash doesn't rebound. Try
>> takin the picture in the evening, with the lights in the room shut off,
>> use a flash and leave the tank light on. Make sure the focus on the
>> camera is set right. And like Mikki said, try using a tripod.
>>
>> Some if my pictures:
>>
>> http://public.qtopia.no/catfish/
>>
>> Not the best pictures I know, but it is possible.
>>
>> This is a closeup of one of my catfish :)
>>
>> http://public.qtopia.no/lda33close.jpg
>>
>
> Great pics !
> What camera did you use ?
>
> Peter
>

Thanks :) The pictures on the webpage is taken with a Canon Ixus, the
closeup with a Nicon coolpix - my christmaspresent :D

[McEve]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, says...
>> I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
>> digital camera.
>
> OK, thanks to everyone for the comments. I'll try the angle shot first
> and then dig out the camera manual (about 300 pages) and see about the
> manual settings. I know there's a lot of them.
>
> --
> Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

Here's a link you might find useful

http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/misc/photography.html

[Larry Blanchard]

In article >, says...
> I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
> digital camera.

OK, thanks to everyone for the comments. I'll try the angle shot first
and then dig out the camera manual (about 300 pages) and see about the
manual settings. I know there's a lot of them.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[James]

Something I have done (recently) is to use my 8mm recorder and capture the "Live aquarium" and select my shots from within the captures. Now that is way cool :-)

__
James
"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message ...
I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
digital camera. I've tried with and without the flash. They always
come out blurry. I didn't try turning the tank lights off and using the
flash because it would just reflect off the glass.

Am I doing something wrong or is this a problem peculiar to digital
cameras?

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[Dan White]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, says...
> > I've been trying to take some pictures of my planted aquarium with a
> > digital camera.
>
> OK, thanks to everyone for the comments. I'll try the angle shot first
> and then dig out the camera manual (about 300 pages) and see about the
> manual settings. I know there's a lot of them.
>

Some digital cameras can only shoot 8" away. If you get any closer to the
subject than that, it will be out of focus. Also you might check to see if
there is a close up or macro setting. I have found in shooting just about
anything is that with the right resolution setting you can shoot from
further away and then crop out all the stuff you don't need later. The pics
are generally very large when dumped to the pc, so you end up with a decent
sized fish pic once you crop it.

But then, I'm no expert on digital cameras.

dwhite