Anyone using the FujiFilm A920?

[Oxymoron]

Hi there I've been trying to get the most out of my camera. Does anyone have any experience with this camera? Any idea what the optimal settings would be for taking tank shots?
This is the best picture I've been able to take to date. This is without any kind of photo editing at all. Any constructive criticism as well as any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[fkshiu]

I'm not familiar with that camera but the basics are the same with any camera.

It looks like you're using a flash - don't. You'll get a much more natural picture with only your tank lights on and the room lights off.

Turn off all the pumps too before taking a picture.

To prevent blurriness use a tripod as well as shutter delay.

If it is a point-and-shoot, use macro mode.

Play with as many settings as possible while shooting exactly the same picture. One of the most important settings is White Balance. Learn how to adjust it on your camera to adapt to your aquarium lighting, which often confuses cameras because it is so blue relative to sunlight.

[Oxymoron]

Here is the pic after messing with a free photo editor for 5 mins.

[Oxymoron]

Ok thank you.
I guess the next step will be grabbing a tripod and experimenting with the same exact shot like you suggested.
I will continue to experiment with the white balance and see if I can't figure it out.
Any idea what this ISO setting is all about?

[fkshiu]

ISO is the how sensitive your camera is to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the camera is to light. Generally speaking, lower light requires higher ISO. The downside is that higher ISO settings will cause a lot of graininess in pictures especially with lower-end cameras like point-and-shoots - low light performance is one area where SLRs will blow point-shooters out of the water.

The basic rule is use as low an ISO setting as possible because you will get smoother richer colours.

The upshot is that most point/shooters can only take high quality aquarium pictures with very bright aquarium lighting and have a lot of trouble in low light situations like actinic-only shots.

[balistidae]

which photo editor were you using?

[Oxymoron]

Originally Posted by balistidae

which photo editor were you using?

Here is a link to the program. It is called photoscape.

http://download.cnet.com/PhotoScape/...html?tag=mncol

[Oxymoron]

Originally Posted by fkshiu

ISO is the how sensitive your camera is to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the camera is to light. Generally speaking, lower light requires higher ISO. The downside is that higher ISO settings will cause a lot of graininess in pictures especially with lower-end cameras like point-and-shoots - low light performance is one area where SLRs will blow point-shooters out of the water.

The basic rule is use as low an ISO setting as possible because you will get smoother richer colours.

The upshot is that most point/shooters can only take high quality aquarium pictures with very bright aquarium lighting and have a lot of trouble in low light situations light actinic-only shots.

Thanks alot for your help. In your opinion does the white blance need adjusting as well or is this something I will need to figure out with a tripod and multiple shots of the same scene using different levels?

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by Oxymoron

Thanks alot for your help. In your opinion does the white blance need adjusting as well or is this something I will need to figure out with a tripod and multiple shots of the same scene using different levels?

It's one of those settings that you'll need to experiment with. Different cameras have different White Balance settings and tendencies. Some will handle weirder lighting like for reefs better than others automatically. For Canons, at least, the best White Balance setting without having to custom set one is "Cloudy".

Most photo editing programs can compensate for White Balance issues to varying degrees. For example, I use iPhoto with a Mac which has "Temperature" and "Tint" adjustments.

One thing I forgot to mention is to be very, very patient. It may take dozens, or even hundreds of tries before you get a great photo.