Taking Good Pics Of A Low Light Tank

[iroc]

I have a 4' X 12" X 16" 55 gal tank which has about 1.6 watts per gallon. No matter what white balance settings I put the pics always seem very dark. It does get a little better if I chose the inside lightbulb setting but even still the image is way darker then it actualy is.

An Example

A very old shot...........

Here is one I took the other day

So does anyone know any tricks besides the turn off all the other lights, and have cam on a tripod. I have a Nikion S10 in case that matters

 

[RadaR]

Increasing the ISO should help a bit (over 400). However the "noise" will also increase. So be careful and experiment.

 

[paul_219]

The tank looks very nice. BUt hope u will be able to get a b\etter photo.

 

[idlefingers]

As RadaR said, a high ISO will help, but also (if your camera allows for it), put it in fully manual mode. Use a high aperture (low numbers = high aperture) which means more light can pass through the lens. Also use the lowest shutter speed you can get away with without getting blurry fish pics!

A good editing package with options for tweaking the colour levels and curve (like photoshop) would be helpful, too.

Good luck!

 

[mlawson]

I'm sorry, I can't help you with photography tips, but I had to mention that your tank looks very nice indeed.

 

[iroc]

I will see what I can do about the ISO, and the shutter speed. As far as editing I have PS but haven't been very impressed with what happens to this image when toyed around with.

 

[CANADIAN1]

turn on the iso to 200 , and turn on d-lighting.

 

[idlefingers]

actually, an ISO of 200 is quite low and will do the opposite of what you're wanting to achieve.

If you're interested to know why: ISO is the speed at which film reacts to light (and is imitated on digital cameras).. A high ISO of 400-1600 will mean the film (or imitated film) is more sensitive to the light and therefore means you can use a higher shutter speed without getting blurry photos. A low ISO (<400) means that the film has to be exposed to light for longer, and therefore is suited to high light conditions or where the subject is completely stationary and shutter speed is not an issue.

The problem with using a high ISO is that it is also more sensitive to noise, so getting the balance right between ISO, shutter speed and aperture is essential to getting good low-light photos.

(fallen asleep yet? )