Hi Everyone, Just looking for some tips on how to get some better pics of my aquarium. When I use the flash, it washes out the light and makes it look dark, no flash = kind of blurry.

Also feel free to give feedback on the tank.




flash 1



flash 2




In this tank are 5 Convict Cichlids (soon to be 2 when I re-home three of them) and 5 Gambusia. Java Moss and Water Clover.

turn all the lights off in the house and have lights on tank, has worked really good for me, turn the flashoff on the camera, i have a cannon rebel T1I i have it set for action pics and does good

__________________
What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

+1 lights in room off, lights of tank on, no flash. It works best at night.

and if you want pics of a specific fish or plant, put the lens up to the glass

__________________
75g Blackwater Oscar tank, 55g rescued Koi tank, 55g Native tank, 55g Community tank, 29g Community tank, 25g Bolivian Ram tank, 20H GBR tank, 20L Black Convict, 20L in progress, 10g Fry tank, 10g Dragonscale betta tank, 3g Crowntail betta tank.

Old wedding photographers know they can shoot photos of the bride primping in the mirror with their flashes bolted firmly on their cameras without fear of glare ruining the shots as long as they can't see themselves in the mirror. Think of the aquarium as a mirror and get off at an angle far enough to avoid your reflection in the picture, then flash away for sharp, action stopping pix. If you have control of your shutter speed shoot at a thirtieth or so and at the widest F-stop your flash allows so you don't just get black backgrounds. Have fun: digital film is cheap!

Fish tend to be nervous of the lens, it looks like a big eye. Get them used to it by leaving it sitting pointed at the tank when not in use. Sit as much as you can in front of the tank to get them used to you and the camera.

Get a tripod, or find something you can set the camera on so you dont have to hold it.

Look for the "timer" feature on your camera, and set the timer so you have a chance to walk away from the camera. Your fish might appear blurry in the pics, but your tank will look great.

Wait for night to take your pictures. Turn all the lights in the room off. Do not use a flash on the camera.

If you want to use your flash, do not take direct pictures.... angle the camera and position the picture so the reflection of the flash is not in the picture. Use the camera's zoom feature while standing back away from the tank.

For interesting close ups, place the camera lense against the glass and use the flash. This maybe difficult for some camera's to focus... but can come out with some great pics.

__________________

Maybe you could try to change the light on gimp or something like that.
You can get much more colorful image quite easily.

Some people think it's cheating but... You decide !

My avatar is one of my picture which was quite dark and bleu/green. And with a few changes, I came to that.

Good luck !

__________________

Awesome! Thanks for the tips everyone. I will try some of these out soon and post the results.

Thanks Again!

Now you have to post pics for us so we can see if it worked .

will these tips work with mobile camera? i dont have a digital camera you see.

For the most part they should still work although the quality will always be limited by the quality of the camera. Some mobiles have pretty good cameras these days. Whatever camera you have it's worth a shot, you might get some nice pics and you are learning how to get the best shots if you get a better camera later on.

its just a 5mp on a black berry. i have an SLR camera but its not digital so might be a massive pain to get good shots. ive been inspired now so ill up load pictures of there any good!