# Help improving my photography - Black Skirt Tetras



## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

These are lovely ♥ Keep ‘em coming!


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## johnnymax (May 15, 2009)

Following... my close up pics are not as good as yours.


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

As it is in planted tanks, light is everything in photography. Couple of super closeups:


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## Bettatail (Feb 12, 2009)

+control light.
I can't do much with JPEG file, but hopefully you like it after simple editing.


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## mourip (Mar 15, 2020)

BluCardi said:


> Any suggestions that could help me improve would be welcome.


Consider temporarily turning off your pump and in-tank CO2 diffusor to avoid those small white specks(bubbles).

The water will look clearer and the fish will most likely slow down.


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Asteroid said:


> As it is in planted tanks, light is everything in photography. Couple of super closeups:


Wow these guys look practically iridescent!!! How much color tweaking do you do from the original picture? Also what betta is that? 

I adore macro shots.... everything looks cool when you’re really close up...


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

LidijaPN said:


> Wow these guys look practically iridescent!!! How much color tweaking do you do from the original picture? Also what betta is that?
> 
> I adore macro shots.... everything looks cool when you’re really close up...


Most of the time I do some brightening in Adobe Lightroom, but not much else. These were shot with an OCF (Off Camera Flash) which gave me really good lighting and allowed me to go to a very high F Stop (aperture) for close up detail. 

The Betta is a Koi. Nothing really fancy (Petsmart)


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## minorhero (Mar 28, 2019)

With fish there are a few things I recommend that helps to bring them out to their best.

1) Focus on the eye. Everyone always looks right at the eye, so put the focus point there. Depending on camera this can be difficult. Some of the point and shoot models do not have an option for a spot focus point, and/or the focus point is not moveable. The nicer cameras can do this. Place the focus point and then try to get the fish's eye in that point.

2) Background matters. Try to stay away from the tank walls if possible, try to get the fish either in the open or with plants as the background

3) ALGAE???!!! I can't tell you how many pictures have been ruined by some small amount of algae I didn't notice in my tank until after I took a macro shot. It might not be noticeable 2 feet from the tank, but when taking a 1:1 macro shot all of sudden its VERY noticeable.

4) Editing. Sometimes you can save or photo or just straight make it better in post production with software. Not everyone likes doing this but I find it fun. Here is one of your pictures I ran some photoshop filters on. I use the 'nik collection' addon for photoshop.


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## EmotionalFescue (Jun 24, 2020)

If you can shoot your photos in RAW mode, you'll have a lot more flexibility. That will require some level of post-processing... Like @minorhero, I enjoy that bit, but your mileage may vary.

If you're trying to freeze fish, then you have to keep your ss up. For my rainbows, I need 1/500 to freeze them reliably. With slower fish you could get by with as little as 1/125.

Here's how I would recommend keeping your ss high enough to shoot fish (without using a flash, which is a whole other conversation):

Turn on your camera's Auto ISO setting
set min ss to 1/250 (you'll probably need an f2.8 or faster lens and a really high ISO capable body to do 1/500)
set max ISO to whatever your camera can produce good pics at
for reference, my max is set to 12,800


Set your focus mode to continuous (probably labeled "C")
Set your mode dial to aperture priority (probably labeled "A" or "Av")
Set your aperture to the largest (i.e., the smallest number) available for your lens
Try taking some pics
With the above settings, your camera will keep the ss at 1/250 or faster, and it will bump up the ISO automatically to make that happen
Note that the ss will drop below 1/250 when you run up against your max ISO and the shot would be underexposed
So it prioritizes the exposure and will drop the ss as a last resort


How usable the resulting pics are will depend on how good your camera is at high ISO

I do the above for fish pics, and I also use the exposure compensation dial liberally as needed. I.e., I may set the camera to under-expose by 1 or two stops to maintain my ss when I'm bumping up against my max ISO because I shoot raw and I know that I have some headroom to boost the exposure after the fact in photoshop.


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## BluCardi (Dec 29, 2021)

johnnymax said:


> Following... my close up pics are not as good as yours.


You are too kind. Having a slightly above average camera helps. These were taken with the Sony a6300 and the standard kit lens if that helps.



Bettatail said:


> +control light.
> I can't do much with JPEG file, but hopefully you like it after simple editing.


I haven't gone beyond the stock editing suite that comes with Windows 10 so when you say "+control light." I'm wondering if that's editing software or a suggestion to have better control of light. I'm thinking this edit wasn't just a simple crop, right?

I like it better than the original. The detail in the black stripes look enhanced.



mourip said:


> Consider temporarily turning off your pump and in-tank CO2 diffusor to avoid those small white specks(bubbles).
> 
> The water will look clearer and the fish will most likely slow down.


I hear you on the Co2. But as for slowing down these beasties have reached the "We spawn all day every day" phase and won't stop for anything besides feeding. They've become quite violent with each other and moved from schooling as juvies to fighting over their designated prime spawning grounds (dwarf hair grass, moss, and crypts) which makes it hard to take pics.

Even when I approached to take these pics they paused momentarily, but when they realized I wasn't there to feed them, they went right back to fighting.



minorhero said:


> With fish there are a few things I recommend that helps to bring them out to their best.
> 
> 1) Focus on the eye. Everyone always looks right at the eye, so put the focus point there. Depending on camera this can be difficult. Some of the point and shoot models do not have an option for a spot focus point, and/or the focus point is not moveable. The nicer cameras can do this. Place the focus point and then try to get the fish's eye in that point.
> 
> ...


Solid points.

I wouldn't have thought about focusing on the eye. I'm not sure if my camera has spot focus but I'll check the settings and get back to you. To date, I haven't been a fan of editing but I'm familiar with photoshop and will definitely download and play around with the settings there. As for the algae, I didn't see any at the time of taking these. But I am running the light cycle for 9 hours when it really should be 8 to compensate for the age of the light unit being old and reduced spectrum...

That aside, I'll try the eye technique later today with the Co2 off.

*Edit *@EmotionalFescue I didn't see your reply until I posted the above. I'm stepping away from the laptop but I'll definitely read through your recommendations later this evening


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

At the end of the day, the most practical advise regardless of whether your using an SLR or a phone camera is to increase light. High lit tanks can not only grow picky plants they also allow good photography. Ever notice why your outdoor pics look so good with your cell phone, light. So if you don't have a high lit tank, try to put more light on top for pics. This will allow you to shoot with a faster SS and smaller aperture (larger number) With a smaller aperture more of the fish will be in focus not just the head. 

Most people aren't going to use OCF or shoot raw. The majority of my pics are jpegs without a flash. Doing things like @minorhero suggested like eye focus and cleaning the glass, etc are definitely helpful.


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## mourip (Mar 15, 2020)

EmotionalFescue said:


> I may set the camera to under-expose by 1 or two stops to maintain my ss when I'm bumping up against my max ISO because I shoot raw and I know that I have some headroom to boost the exposure after the fact in photoshop.


+1 for underexposing a little bit. You can usually retrieve detail from an under-exposed shot but if it is over-exposed it is lost.


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## BluCardi (Dec 29, 2021)

I took into account the recommendations and took too many pics. I believe I need to adjust a few more of the settings but I've noticed the eye and tail appear far less transparent, at least to me, when reviewing each pic. Regardless of where I place the focus.










A lot more work to do but I'm thankful for the advice to get me started.


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## Bettatail (Feb 12, 2009)

to control light you need external light source(s).
I have a sony a6000, sometimes I take pictures with it, but my primary camera is a canon 7DII(broken).
you can't do much with a6300 with the kit lens, if shooting aquarium macro pictures. 

for my sony a6000, besides the kit lens, I have a sigma 19mm e mount lens, a couple lens adapters to use canon EF and FD lens(manual), about 3 external flashes as optical controlled units, and some umbrellas/stands, I can setup a simple studio shooting environment with all these equipment, but it is not for aquarium because the build in flash as master on the camera will create nasty reflection glare on the aquarium glass.

The best way I can think of with what you have on hand, is to put a couple external diffused light source/bulbs on left and right of the aquarium, then shoot raw pictures, edit the pictures with sony imaging edge/edit. The sony imaging edge is not as good as lightroom but it is free.


sony a6000 with kit lens and 3 external flashes, light box.


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