# Photo n00b=manual settings



## Aussie_hippie_2 (Nov 11, 2006)

I have just a pretty standard digital camera (Canon Powershot A75) but am having some issues taking tank photos. Any of the automatic settings (Landscape etc.) leave my tank looking full of tanins, which it dosen't have. The manual settings would look really good, BUT: they're so dark you can barely see anything. Any tips on what my F-stop and ISO should be? Or perhaps tips on the lighting? The lighting I'm using for photos is my standard tank lights, with the room dark other then that.

Thanks so much.


----------



## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

If your biggest problem is color balance, that can be fixed to some extent w/ any photo editing software.

Take the following w/ a grain of salt - I'm an old film user, so in addition to being (possibly) wrong, some of this may not translate well...

Generally speaking, if things are still, you want to try to minimize ASA/ISO settings (shutter speed), and F-stop (apeture). Doing this provides depth of field and better focus all-around. It also means you have to have a longer exposure time, so if anything is moving, there will be blurs. Combat blurs by leaving apeture (F-stop) on auto and manually selecting a higher ASA/ISO setting. The camera will figure out an apeture for whatever speed setting you choose. As you go higher and higher (speed), your shots will start to take on a grainy appearance. As F-stop increases, you lose depth of field (not everything will be in good focus). You can also try the converse... lock down an F-stop and let the camera choose an appropriate shutter speed. This is the best approach when you are more concerned w/ depth of field and focus than w/ stuff moving.

You can use the above approaches to get approximate working values for your situation, then go full manual for more control. As long as your settings are close, you can photoshop some minor fixes in later.

For *good* advice, go here


----------



## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

Aussie_hippie_2 said:


> I have just a pretty standard digital camera (Canon Powershot A75) but am having some issues taking tank photos. Any of the automatic settings (Landscape etc.) leave my tank looking full of tanins, which it dosen't have. The manual settings would look really good, BUT: they're so dark you can barely see anything. Any tips on what my F-stop and ISO should be? Or perhaps tips on the lighting? The lighting I'm using for photos is my standard tank lights, with the room dark other then that.
> 
> Thanks so much.


Along with what Squawkbert wrote, just wanted to add my two cents. Higher ISO lets more light in, but your picture will generally take on a grainy look. I have a Canon A520. When I shoot my tank I use ISO of 50, F-stop as low as possible, onboard flash aimed just above the glass. I don't know if your A75 has the red/orange meter light that projects with the button half pressed, but that is to aim your shot/flash. Hit that meter light at the top border (if you have the top brace around your tank), the flash should not reflect off the glass. Another thing I just thought of, if you can use some sort of reflective material on top, angled down into the tank, hit your flash at that material (foil?) and it should bounce into the tank. Just an idea, I haven't tried it, as I just thought of it, but worth a shot. I know i'm going to give it a shot. 
Also, if your taking shots up close, don't shoot head on to the glass, take them at a slight angle so the flash dosen't bounce right back into the lens.

Use as much light as possible, lamps, try flashlights, shop lights whatever, I don't go overboard like that, but if your room is as dimly lit as it sounds it might help. :idea: 
Then use a post production program (photoshop, paintshop pro, etc.) to crop down to the tank.

The link Squawkbert gave is an amazing resource, I am a member of that site too. Here is another link that has helped.
http://www.characin.com/photography/web-show/A-01-intro.html

Good Luck!!

My signature is a link to my flickr photos if you wish to look.


----------



## Aussie_hippie_2 (Nov 11, 2006)

You two rock! Thanks so much, I'll try some stuff out Sunday, might even have a good looking photo by the end of the month


----------



## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

Don't expect a great shot right off. For every 1 so-so picture I have about 20 junk. Play around with different ideas, that's half the fun. On the Dazzling Plants contest my spiral val shot was more of an experiment, and wanted to see what people would think. 

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquarium-pictures/showimage.php?i=4573&c=63

I didn't have my Photoshop installed due to technical CD-ROM issues, it could have been better looking post production.  The water lettuce #10 was mine also. 

Good luck, have fun!


----------



## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

> they're so dark you can barely see anything.


The photo is dark because the photo is underexposed.
Decreasing the shutter speed or increasing the aperture will correct the underexposure.
In the other modes other than full manual the camera uses metering to adjust settings to set the exposure.
The camera performs an algorithm to determine the exposure based on the metering mode.

All modes except manual mode perform adjustments for exposure.
In manual mode the exposure is indicated on the viewfinder and the top LCD display -2..1..0..1..+2
This is what I have on my camera (EOS 20D) and I would assume that your camera would have the same or similar feature. There will be a bar which is in the center if exposure correct. If it is over or under exposed it will be off center and adjust as mentioned above to move the bar to the center.

The Canon EOS 20D and the Canon Powershot A75 have three metering modes.

Center weighted mode calculates exposure based on the center image.

Partial metering calculates for a smaller center area, ~9% of the area. This covers a slightly larger area than true spot metering (available, I believe, on the Canon Powershot A75). This mode would be suited more for macro/closeup photographs.

These two modes will only provide proper exposure for the specified areas and not the entire shot.
This is probably not desirable for a full tank shot.

Evaluative metering calculates for the entire area.

Background: A basic standard is that the light in the area of interest should be 18% gray.
The camera will perform the calculation automatically but does not make setting adjustments in manual mode.
A manual method is to set the light based off of a standard color gray card which is held between the subject and the viewfinder. The card should fill the entire viewfinder and have the same illumination as the subject.



> You can use the above approaches to get approximate working values for your situation, then go full manual for more control


The use of the camera metering information is a more direct method to get proper exposure.
I have used the switching method described in the earlier post with reasonable results.



> . Any of the automatic settings (Landscape etc.) leave my tank looking full of tanins, which it dosen't have.


I have seen this problem when taking photos of tanks with low Kelvin rated bulbs (3000K).
Setting the white balance mode to custom and selecting the kelvin rating of the bulbs your using will help with this problem. 
Taking photos in raw format can allow you to use the software that came with the camera to post-adjust the settings on your PC. This information can be used to update the camera settings for future photos. There should be a tool palette available from the view or tools menu for raw adjustment.
Raw format is only available in a couple of modes on my camera. (E.g. Manual, AV, TV).


----------

