I see all these great pics of fish and I always wonder what specs were used to take the pic. I think seeing examples of different parameters would greatly help in improving the quality of my pics.
Here are a few recent pics that I took using similar settings:
Canon eos rebel T1i
18-55mm lens (55mm focal length)
ISO 3200
1/400
f 5.4
Fish: Mixed African Cichlids
Any critiques that will help with improving the pics would be greatly appreciated as well.
The ones I posted are mixed african cichlids, they are Mbuna from Lake Malawi but they have been interbred alot so identifying a specific species is difficult...basically they are mutts.
My shutter speed was at 1/80 lucky for me the fish held still long enough to get a crisp shot.
I also think the difference in the lenses comes into play here I used a 50mm prime lens while you used the kit lens, my lens has a larger aperture at an F stop of 1.8 versus the kit lens at 5.4 I believe that allowed me to use an ISO of 100. If you had more light you should be able to get a crisper shot with that high of an F-stop. Then again I could be totally off base I'm still very new to this so hopefully someone will correct me if I'm too far off.
The only light in the room was coming from the tank the room lights were off. I have 16 3w Led's lighting the tank so there was plenty of light.
I'm barely even an amateur with the camera I'm still learning about the settings I just tried small adjustments until the pics started to look better and then adjusted some more, must have taken well over 50 shots just to get those 3. I got so so at taking portraits of the kids but this tank photography is much more challenging so many reflections from the tank and subject matter that refuses to cooperate.
Some real nice images here. I personally love using flash, especially with fish. There's so much you can do to modify the light, and it allows you to stop down the aperture, drop that ISO and bring up that shutter speed.
Shot with Canon 350D, 50mm f1.8 I, canon 430ex I
1/200sec, ISO 100, f11
Shot with T1i, 70-200mm f2.8L, 430ex I
ISO 100, 1/200sec, f2.8
This shot was with my Sigma macro
T1i, 105mm Sigma macro dg ex f2.8, 430ex I
ISO 100, 1/200sec, f2.8
Put the flash on top of the tank and shoot the flash down on the fish. Have the aperture set around f/5-22 to darken up the background and get the fish/flash area completely in focus. Take that shutter speed up and that ISO down.
These shots were all taken with a Canon 5DMKII, Sigma f/2.8 150mm macro lens, flash was a defused twin head MT24 in a camera mounted Novoflex bracket. SS was 1/200. f/stop was between f/11 and f/18.
1. A rescue. He was jetting his butt kicked at the LFS. He is doing fairly well, his tail is on the mend, and his color is coming back. Still a little thin in the belly but he is eating regularly.
2. A birthday gift from Sunhawk (my wife)
3. One of our glass cats. From a school of 11.
4. Mama guarding her babies. Sadly they ended up as lunch for the discus.
I've shot my friends 5d2 and it is unbelievably better than my camera lol. You much have spotless glass, everytime I try to shoot the light through the glass, all I see is streaks and spots and any glass imperfections.
I do keep the glass clean, but the way that I get such clarity is from the twin flashes on 21" flex arms, this alows me to flood the tank with light from the sides or top, overcoming the flaws…Most of the time:icon_lol:
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