Help with taking photos of moving fish w/out a flash...

[Anonymous]

Can this be done? I was attempting to take pics of my titan trigger last night and wondered how y'all get such nice still pics of your fish, and yet have them look like the same coloration they get when viewing them normally. Whenever I take pics with the flash to get 'moving' fish pics, the colors don't match up with what i'm seeing with my eyes.

Is there a way to do this? Some setting I'm not changing? For the record, I'm using a Nikon CoolPix 880 camera.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Peace,

Chip

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
Do white balance with your flash, or use the flash setting for white balance/lighting.

It is impossible to take good picture of a moving object in dim light without flash unless you want to use a infrared light source with IR film, or UV or X-ray. Practical advice is to use larger aperture, but not always work well.

 

[gee_lo]

Blurry Photos......

Try using a quicker shutter speed. I am not familiar with you camera, but many have the option to adjust the shutter speed. (The amount of time your "film" is exposed to light.) The adjustments will be in fractions of a second (1/60, 1/125, etc.) The larger the bottom number the quicker of a shutter speed with be.

The shorter the shutter speed, the crisper the picture....a quick shutter speed is essential when photographing sports, fast moving animals etc...

BUT....The shorter the shutter speed, the less light that is allowed in to the camera.... IE: Darker Pictures. Luckily, our reefs are VERY bright, (hopefully).

Remedy #1: Use a quick shutter speed, and open your Iris (The size of the opening that lets light pass through lens.) This may still lead to dark pictures with a quick shutter speed.

Remedy #2: Raise your gain (if your camera has this). This does however lead to grainy pictures.

MY SOLUTION: Use a quick shutter speed, Get the sharpest moving still possible, and allow the image to be underexposed (dark). Dont worry...keep on snapping and get the best shot. THEN....open up any image editor...(Photoshop etc...) and adjust the brightness, contrast, and levels. Your pictures will look outstanding.

-Angelo

My Method...Use a

 

[gee_lo]

Blurry Photos......

Try using a quicker shutter speed. I am not familiar with you camera, but many have the option to adjust the shutter speed. (The amount of time your "film" is exposed to light.) The adjustments will be in fractions of a second (1/60, 1/125, etc.) The larger the bottom number the quicker of a shutter speed with be.

The shorter the shutter speed, the crisper the picture....a quick shutter speed is essential when photographing sports, fast moving animals etc...

BUT....The shorter the shutter speed, the less light that is allowed in to the camera.... IE: Darker Pictures. Luckily, our reefs are VERY bright, (hopefully).

Remedy #1: Use a quick shutter speed, and open your Iris (The size of the opening that lets light pass through lens.) This may still lead to dark pictures with a quick shutter speed.

Remedy #2: Raise your gain (if your camera has this). This does however lead to grainy pictures.

MY SOLUTION: Use a quick shutter speed, Get the sharpest moving still possible, and allow the image to be underexposed (dark). Dont worry...keep on snapping and get the best shot. THEN....open up any image editor...(Photoshop etc...) and adjust the brightness, contrast, and levels. Your pictures will look outstanding.

-Angelo

My Method...Use a

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
... I thought you want to take picture of your fish at "night," with lights off...

I have a CP990, and the setting should be the same as for the CP880. Many other people in RDO also have the same CoolPix series, and be able to help you out. My advice is that put the camera in the "A" mode, and it should take care of itself. If it does not work, PM me with your settings and we can go from there.

 

[jamesw]

Actually, put the camera in manual (the cp990 - dunno if the 880 HAS manual) and put it in S (for shutter priority) mode. Turn off the flash.

Set your shutter at 1/125th

Aim at where the fish will be and see what f-stop the camera selects. If it's f2.8 (or less, 2.8 is usually the lowest on a digicam) then you may not have enough light to get a picture. You can take a picture that is too dark and bring up the levels in photoshop.

HTH
James Wiseman

 

[danmhippo]

I take pics without flash, and garf it up under photoshop too.

(No, the avatar are not a garfed pic. Seahorses are pretty good with staying still...........)

 

[64Ivy]

You might also want to bump up your 'ISO' setting if that camera allows. ISO is basically your 'film speed'; the higher the ISO, the more sensitive it is to light, or in other words, the more light it can capture at any given shutter speed or aperture.

 

[dgin]

Use a tripod to steady your shot and set the timer. This will eliminate any movement from the camera that could add to the blurryness.