Finally, some halfway decent fish pics

[Anonymous]

Well, with much learning from y'all, and much tinkering with the camera settings, I am beginning to understand what it takes to snap a fish. But I'm still not completely satisfied. This may be due in part to having only 4 megapixels.

A couple were taken with flash, a couple without. The ones with flash I increased the shutter speed to 1/500 or 1/1000, with ISO equivalent at 100 (that's higher quality than 400, right?). Without flash, I used ISO 200 or 400, depends. 1/60 shutter speed when possible, sometimes even 1/125 but then I had to layer it many times in Photoshop to fix the underexposure.

What can I do better? Thanks!

HD

 

[Anonymous]

Two more

 

[Anonymous]

Hey HD. I came, I looked, I saw, I LIKE!

 

[Anonymous]

That very first one especially is just smashing. By far one of the best clownfish pics I've ever seen, it really captures their 'yeah screw you, bring it on' attitude.

And I love the scale detail on that 2nd to last one, too. It's rare to see a photo that captures the scales of a clownfish.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, John! You've been a world of help.

I call that first shot, "Good morning, President Clinton." 8O


:lol:

Anyway, the one of my two clowns that is most photogenic (which isn't saying much, BTW- they are NOT camera hogs) has shown signs of becoming a female, IMHO. I've had the pair for...oh...probably about a year or 15 months now. Got them as juvies. If it's not just my imagination, one has become larger and more dominant than the other, and I've witnessed some frisky behavior. I'm hoping for my tanks's first spawning event. Hubba hubba!

 

[Anonymous]

HD those pics rock! How many pics did you take to get those? I need to get some clown pics.....

 

[TrevorRobertson]

well I am super jelous, I have taken hundreds of pictures and I can not for the life of me get a picture that has a good quality even close to that!

I will try more and see what I can get!

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, thanks guys! Big tall praise coming from you two.

Scott, I took many many many many pictures. I bet I have a hundred or more crappy ones on my PC. :roll:

Here's a little secret I JUST discovered, though. I can't wait to give it another try. Take your clown pics at night after they're asleep. Turn the lights on and start snapping away. It takes them awhile to wake up and start swimming around more. They're more static when they're groggy.

Good shooting!

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, here are a couple more.

ANOTHER clown, and a banggai

 

[BlueFang]

That explains the darkish shade of colour on your clown ...

 

[Anonymous]

Well, he is kinda darkish.

 

[Anonymous]

So I take it you're using flash then?

 

[Anonymous]

Most of the time, I don't use flash, no. Once in awhile I do when I'm playing around to see what works. out of the pics in this thread, only the first one in the second post used flash.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh my bad, I didn't read carefully enough. I thought when you were taking shots after lights-out you would have to use the flash. I didn't catch that you said to turn the lights on quick. Duh. It's been a long couple of days!

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, I did try that, Sharkky- thought it would work great. And it would have, except for the fact that there isn't quite enough light to get a good autofocus. You could probably do that with manual focus, though.

The thing is, my idiot clowns sleep on top of a powerhead. Not the best setting for a great reef shot. If I turn on the lights, they are all groggy, and slowly come out disoriented. That's the best time to get them. They are some wiggly wiggly fish!

HD