Single fish pics - brighter and focus

[eds]

Tho my photo skills are still rudimentary, I'm getting a little better at the large scale shots.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/011806/_MG_4045.jpg
That shot has a shutter speed/aperture set at 4:10, with the white balance +3amber.
Comments? Suggestions?

Lately, I've been trying to get some shots of my angels.
I experienced ramping up my shutter speed and aperture.
I've seemed to get the best results at 20:4.5 or 20:5.6.
But the images still turn out quite dark, even with 260w blaring down on them from above.

Taking these, I was set up in front of the left end of my tank.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012106/_MG_4111.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012106/_MG_4133.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012106/_MG_4111.jpg

I also seem to have a bit of difficulty focussing on the fish - tho the plants behind them sure come out nice! :D

When I swung the camera to the right end of the tank, I got some nice shots of the large white angel, but they are still a little dark.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012106/_MG_4126.jpg

Here, the white one looks good, but there is a marble right in front of its tail, and a black striper below it.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012106/_MG_4113.jpg

Also, is there any way to focus on more than one fish at a time?
If you look, you can see there are 6 angels in this shot.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012106/_MG_4112.jpg

Thanks for looking and, as always, I appreciate your comments.

[hir0]

hi Eds. Nice tank and some pretty good shots. have you tried increasing your iso? iso in digital is the sensitivity of your imaging sensor to light. the higher the number, the more sensitive. of course the tradeoff is some noise and sometimes image degradation. try shooting at iso 400-800 and see if you can get faster shutter speeds.

[Obliviou$]

Oh, and if you're familiar with photoshop or any other post processing software. Crop the images much tighter!
Or better yet, get a lot closer to the subject with your camera. Which lens are you using?

[eds]

Looks like I need to get the owner's manual out again! :D
And I thought I was such a pro, manually adjusting the aperture, speed, and white balance!
As if it weren't enough work to get weeds to grow and keep fish alive, this old dog is having to learn a whole bunch of new tricks to show them off!

Those shots were taken with the lens that came with the Canon XT Rebel.
We also have a larger Tamron lens on our 35mm that fits the digital, but learning photography via baby steps over the past month I haven't gotten around to using it yet.

I have difficulty getting close to the tank, primarily because I don't know the optimal settings for that shot yet, but also because it requires more skill to locate the fish and frame the shot, or more patience to wait for the fish to enter the frame.

I also have not done any post-photo processing. After posting those, I realized the need to crop them. Yet another technology to tackle! But when it takes a bit of time and effort to take the shots, cull the many many bad ones, and get the best ones in my computer, I find I don't feel like editing them. Then, the next day or so, I always feel like taking new shots, instead of reworking the old.

I'll try to set an hour or two aside this afternoon to manipulate some of these images - crop them and brighten them up a bit.

[Obliviou$]

What's the Tamron named?
Did you use the lens at 55mm or 18mm?
Bump the ISO and go 55mm and get closer;)

[paradise]

Agree with alex. You can up the ISO safely to 400 and shoot on aperature priority, going for the smallest F number (largest aperature), on that lens is 4.0 or 4.5 I think. Make sure to have as much light as possible on top of the tank, use Auto White Balance.

[Stas]

Hi eds!
First of all I never use a flash when taking photo of whole aquarium. Try to use the following modes of your camera:
1. Landscape mode from full automatic modes or
2. Av (Aperture priority) mode from creative modes.

First one is easier if you are not so experienced and the second one is also easy, but you have to know a little bit more about aperture. In both cases using a tripod gives advantage. Be sure - your camera is perfect for the money and the good pictures will come very very soon :)!

One more thing: when you set the camera at any of the modes above all the rest of the settings will be automatic given. If the shutter speed is less then 1/20-1/15 that means you should need additional light.

And about the photos of a single fish: my oppinion is that with standard lenses from the KIT you should not obtain significant results. You can purchase a Macro lenses 50 mm/f2.5 macro for about 230 USD, or if this is expensive for you you can try with Canon 50 mm/f1.8 II which costs only 70 USD. This kind of lenses can work at lightless conditions very well.

If I am wrong with something let the others correct me.

[eds]

What's the Tamron named?
Did you use the lens at 55mm or 18mm?
Bump the ISO and go 55mm and get closer;)

I call it Bob! ;)
Just kidding. It says 62 mm on it.
I do not understand the difference between 55mm and 18mm - is that an adjustment I make on the lens instead of the camera? Sorry to ask such ignorant basic questions.

Swapped on the Tamron 62mm, cranked up the ISO to 400, and got some much better results.
AND, I even cropped my images!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012306/_MG_4229a.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012306/_MG_4176a.jpg

Thanks much.

Now that I can actually see whay I'm taking pictures of, I can tell that most of my shots are out of focus.
Got lots of shots of fuzzy fish with brilliantly focused rocks and plants!

For example, this one surprised me, since the fish was dead center, yet out of focus.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/marvinmolar/012306/_MG_4158.jpg

I'm assuming I now need to mess with the depth of focus settings.
Any hints?

Seriously, folks. Thanks a million. I couldn't have gotten this far along this quickly without your patient advice.