Fish photos?

[drnoob]

Hello all! I'm a noob at all of this lol! I got my first dslr camera (d3200) the other day and I love it! I bought this camera so I could get close up colorful pictures of my African cichlids (fish) in their tank! But the are not coming out like I would like I wanted a close up vivid color photo with a darker blurry back ground so the fish really stands out! So any suggestions would greatly be appreciated! Thanks

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[ian.bertram]

Here's a few things to try.

Put a piece of dark coloured cardboard behind the fishtank and then light the tank itself from above, from the side etc, rather than trying to use a flash which will give lots of reflection off the glass. The more light the better, just don't cook the fish!
Depending on if you have Mexican Fighting Fish (they barely move) or something a little more lively, you will need to select a shutter speed fast enough to stop the motion but slow enough to allow enough light in. The rule of thumb for shutter speed is that the minimum speed should be the inverse of your lens (ie 50mm lens=1/50 of a second minimum shutter speed)
Focussing can be fun on a moving target. You should be able to set focus on your camera so that it follows the movement, rather than locks once.
Zoom is great because your fish look bigger, but the higher you go the more critical your focussing will be. If you get enough light in your tank you may be able to set your F stop to 8 or 11 which will make getting everything in focus a lot easier.
A tripod will help.
...and remember, practice makes perfect. You may need to take a whole bunch of images before you get some that look good (and by 'a whole bunch', I mean potentially hundreds).

Good luck, and don't forget to post your successes.

Ian

[chrisk]

yepp. you need to light it from the sides with flash for best results, and preferably use a longer large aperture lens. the overhead lights aren't strong enuf. here's a couple of examples.


Altolamprologus compressiceps - Gold by .Chris.K, on Flickr


Untitled by .Chris.K, on Flickr

[drnoob]

What settings did u use for those awesome pics?

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