Am I doing better?!? *lol* (3 pics)

[Meganfitz]

Here are some pics we took today, with the wonderful advice we got about camera settings and extra light!

OB Zebras, male and female 3-4 inches each
http://cichlidcircus.com/011104cc051.jpg

Male Acei "Boss Hog" 5 inches
http://cichlidcircus.com/011104cc048.jpg

2 Red Zebras, 2 Cobalt Zebras 3-4 inches each
http://cichlidcircus.com/011104cc052.jpg

Let me know how they look, if anyone has any suggestions, feel free! :lol:
(we now know we need to clean the glass first! :lol: )

ha ha, those are great, I am glad this is helping you. This was EXACTLY the point of this forum. I am glad it's working already. My heart swell with pride :).

Excellent photos. Old ones were good, these are great, I love the last group shot and the rock formation in the tank is really nice. Did you still use flash on those or just a lot of flood light. THe gravel seems very bright and lit up.

[CDM]

The last 2 photos are great, especially the last one. It got some luck to take a good shot for 4 cichlids without using flash which all 4 cichlids were still (or almost still). The 1st photo is still off focus a bit. What's the focus mode you used? When the subject is not in the center of the view window, it sometimes lost the focus.

[Gordeez]

Good Pics!
I really like the last pic the most.
Its like the # fish are guarding the ''King'' :D

[Meganfitz]

Paradise: We went out and got some "shop" lights (flourescent) and put those over the top of the tank...no flash!

CDM: The first photo was taken from far away, we cropped the misc stuff out of it, that's probably why it's a little blurry. By what focus I used, what do you mean, on the camera, or the subject? I'm not hip to all the photography lingo yet! :lol:

Gordeez: Thanks for the nice comments!

BTW, I wanted to explain when I posted, but forgot to...the "yellow" red zebra is really the same color as the "orange" one, but I think the extra light washed him out a bit! :shock: :wink:

I'm still practicing, I'll post more soon!

Those shop lights may need to be toned down a bit, or pulled up higher. They are washing out the colors a bit too much. Or, at least compensate with your camera by making shutter smaller a step at a time until you see the right brightness in the viewfinder.

A question: do you have a macro feature on your camera? if so you should be using it for closeups and turning off for tank shots and the ones like the first one where it was big and then you cropped it. Also, In my experience, that almost never produces the right quality of shot. It's always a little off, as it is supposed to be looked at from the distance it was taken at.

Another question: do you use the camera zoom to pull up closer and away from the fish? if so, don't. Zooms on most cameras, even the better ones, make it more difficult to focus. I prefer making the distance by moving closer and further away, not using any zoom features, all the way back.

Try these things, and post some new pics. This is fun.

[Gordeez]

Im going to get a shop light today.
One of my piranha tanks isnt lit enough for me.

Paradise: The Digital zoom is what causes the pictures
to be grainy. I use the optical zoom on %90 Of my pics.
I have the digital zoom turned off on my sony.

yes, but she's taking pics with the camera all zoomed out. Digital zoom does not turn on until you zoom in to a certain point, usually it's the higher ISO that does the grainy stuff.

[Gordeez]

Ahh, I understand now.
I thought you were saying ALL zoom is bad.
My fault