i keep seeing all these really clear, excellent pictures of fish...how do you guys do it??? i sat in front of both of my tanks for almost an hour last night trying to take pictures with my digital and all i got were some blurry pics...how do you guys do it???

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g318/dev...te03/mrfish.jpg

lol i have the same problem as u but after playing around with my camera for 30 minutes i managed to get some decent ones..just keep trying. Gorgeous betta btw!!

haha i've been messing around a lot with my camera as well...

lots of PATIENCE i suppose is key.

i've noticed (from my messing around)....
that if i make sure i have good lighting, turn the flash off, and set my camera to a higher shutter speed, the pictures come out to be pretty decent.

but i'm still messing around.

we've got some really good photographers here on koko's...
i'm sure someone will chime in and give us all the goodie tips!

I agree with Tink. First off, you need to have a decent camera, and if you don't, it's likely you won't get very good pictures. However, with adequate natural lighting even my camera can get a good shot of my fish. So make sure you have a really bright room and turn off the flash, and the higher the shutter speed, the better. Bettas typically move a lot slower than goldfish, but if you want that perfect shot, make sure it's FAST.

I find that when I photograph my fish, even with my boyfriend's really nice camera, it takes a LOT of photos to get one good shot. In my last "photo shoot," I took over 200 photos, kept about 20, and only thought about 8 were good enough to warrant sharing on Koko's.

Good luck!

I agree with Tink: patience and light are very important.
I find that I have trouble with light when I take fish photos; fish tanks usually have poor lighting for photos. If you have to use a flash to get enough light, try diffusing the flash by holding a piece of paper in front of it (but don't block the camera's lens) so that it doesn't cause too much glare on the glass. Also, when using a flash don't get too close to the tank (a foot or two is a good distance for close-ups with a diffused flash).

It took a lot of tries before I got good photos of my betta...

i think i got a couple good ones tonight....hopefully. i have finals this week so i wont get them posted until friday or so.

Tink is right.

1. Lots of good light, in the tank.

2. Watch for reflections on the glass from light outside the tank (including the flash if you must use it).

3. If you have to use a flash, make sure you are a little off angle. Enough to keep the flash from reflecting off the glass into the camera lens, but not too much to distort the fish.

4. If you can manually change shutter setting, use the highest setting possible in general.

5. Sometimes you can pre-focus by pressing the shutter button halfway down, then wait for the fish to came to the spot where you pre-focused.

Then... patience, and practice.

Then assume a 10% ratio of decent shots is good. 1 out of 10 may be good enough to keep.

Have fun!

do most of you use digital or 35mm? i have both but i havent tried the 35mm...

I take a 100 or so pictures and hope one looks nice.

only 100?? lol...i'm going on 200 or so by now. he's a bit shy at the moment so i get a ton of half fish, half plant pics.

I haven't had a 35mm camera since I was 15 years old! Since I typically only get a few good pictures out of hundreds, I wouldn't want to use a 35mm. Too expensive, and it takes too long!

Digital is nice because you get instant feedback and can change your settings accordingly.

a lot of my breeder friends will get a beanie baby box or a clear glass container or glass and put the fish in to get clearer photos and they swear natural light is better than artifical light

good idea...never thought of that. i'll have to wait on that for a bit tho...he's not too excited about being moved around anymore at the moment.

about the digital vs. 35mm thing...lol...i have a 35mm that i would like to take some fish pics with...but i'm going with digital until i figure out how to do it right!

lovely betta. Very nice colors.
Dont give up with those pics either (:

Here's kind of an unusual pic of my little girl betta I took last night. I do use flash 'cause it's the easiest way to get enough light. Angles are very important to keep glare/reflection off the glass. Just play with different angles til you find what works best. And yes, diffusing the flash is good--I just cover half the flash lens with my finger and that turns out pretty well--paper sounds like a great idea, too. Natural light is awesome if you can do it. I have some that way with other bettas--I'll post a couple if I can find them.

Here's some in natural light--