Froggie Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 (edited) Often when people comment on my pictures I hear them remark, "I wish I had an expensive camera so I could take pictures like that". I typically shake my head at this. One would be surprised of the quality that you can get out of what you already have! To illustrate this point I borrowed my girlfriends Canon Powershot A75. This is a 2 year old, mid-range digital camera of 3.2 megapixels. It is essentially identical to the A70 that was released in 2003, except for a few little features. A nice little point and shoot regardless. Val has the A70. I've only used this camera once or twice in the past, merely to take a snapshot with it on the automatic settings. I spent a few minutes familiarizing myself with the menu layout, took a quick test shot or two and then moved hopped downstairs to my 240 gallon. About 10 quick shots were taken and this is what I produced, Geophagus altifrons: How did I do it? Well I included the camera settings on the pictures using a script that read them directly from the file. However I'll explain in a bit more detail, f/3.5 - This refers to the aperture setting, or f-stop of the camera. Simply, the lower the number the more light the camera allows in [faster exposure]. The trade off is you don't get as much depth of field in the shot with a lower number. In this area a P&S has an advantage over even a $2000 DSLR! Due to the design of the sensor they allow the focus to be far deeper at the same aperture. I chose the lower setting of 3.5 as it was suitable to get the entire fish in focus in my images and allow lots of light in. If you note the rocks in the background of the first picture, I could have gone even lower. 1/160 - This is the shutter-speed used, in this case 1/160th of a second. A slower shutter allows more light in to expose the image for dark situations. I normally shoot in this range as it's suitable for freezing the motion of the fish, particularly the pectoral fins. Matrix metering - This refers to how the camera evaluates the scene, on automatic it determines the settings and in this case it is limited to controlling the flash. Other settings not shown, I set the ISO to 100, it is rating that is equivalent to speed of film in traditional photography. Higher ISOs expose quicker and are better for low-light situations but are of lower quality. I went for better quality as I had enough light. I adjusted the flash intensity down somewhat so I wouldn't blow the highlights. It's difficult to not make a fish shine with direct flash. To alleviate this problem I also diffused the flash by taping a piece of tissue over it. What did I do in post processing? I didn't do much to be honest, both pictures received slight crops and the second had a few water spots cleaned up. I also made a quick levels adjustment (to darken the blacks out), then resized and saved. What could I do better? In the future I'd add significantly more light to the tank. This would allow the fish to be better lit and the images wouldn't appear so flashed. I would also set a custom white balance so the colors were "true" to the tank conditions. In this case I used an automatic setting and they came out with a bit of a hue. It could be fixed in post processing but I left it for this example. Hope this helps! Edited March 31, 2006 by Froggie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webmoose Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Thanks for posting.. Tripod used? Moose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggie Posted March 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Thanks for posting.. Tripod used? Never, except for full tank shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Prawn Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 I just did a presentation on this very thing :-D Like I always say, a good photographer can take a decent photo with even a disposable point and shoot camera. Most people who buy point and shoot digi cams don't bother to learn about its features and just assume the automatic functions is the be all and end all. Nice little write up! And nice to see another photographer who isn't always pushing better equipment. -Hideo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishBrain Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Well Thank you very much for that info Froggie. also congrats on the mod title.!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishGeek Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Very good tips. I'm going to try some of this out. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reza Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Great guide, thanks. Guess I have to play with my Canon A80 some more. Question: Were the fish swimming around much? I find my photos are ok with static fish, just tough when the arowana is gliding across the tank. Any suggestions?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggie Posted March 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Question: Were the fish swimming around much? I find my photos are ok with static fish, just tough when the arowana is gliding across the tank. Any suggestions?? Geophagus alitfrons certainly aren't the most active cichlid but they were moving constantly across the tank. With a reasonable shutter-speed it shouldn't matter if the fish are stationary or swimming about. Just makes it trickier to get a focus lock and setup the background for a really good shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lax_champ Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Great shots and great tips Sean thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reza Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Question: Were the fish swimming around much? I find my photos are ok with static fish, just tough when the arowana is gliding across the tank. Any suggestions?? Geophagus alitfrons certainly aren't the most active cichlid but they were moving constantly across the tank. With a reasonable shutter-speed it shouldn't matter if the fish are stationary or swimming about. Just makes it trickier to get a focus lock and setup the background for a really good shot. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vapor Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Great tips Sean. But now that I know it isn't my camera that is at fault you have ruined any hope for me at all.( Insert self esteem crashing sound here) . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molino Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Great example of how some good photos can still be taken with an entry level camera Sean! Prior to my current camera I had a Canon G3, which is more flexible than the one you used for this example, but still not a SLR camera and was able to get some great photos with it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggie Posted April 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Great example of how some good photos can still be taken with an entry level camera Sean! Ed had asked for me to post this example on APF as well but I declined. I think that if I used the camera for more then an few minutes I could get some shots far-far superior to these. They still fall short of the maximum potential of the equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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