Please help with settings for Nikon D3400

[Azael]

Can someone please tell me what settings do you use for takeing full tank photos with a Nikon?
I have a Nikon D3400 and a kit lens and a Nikon 18-140mm VR. I tried both lenses and played with the settings, but I couldn’t take decent photos with it.
I read the articles, but my pictures are always way too dark to edit or too blurred.
If it’s not so much trouble and you are willing to share, can you post a picture of your while tank with the exact settings you used? That would be of much help.

 

[maroun.c]

Normally for fts I try to shoot from some distance back , that helps getting a bit more dof so I can shoot with lens wide open. Shooting with lens wide open makes me gain shutter speed which helps freezing fish or coral motion. So basically ur aperture at around 4.5 -5.6 based on how much ur lense can go( smallest number) and a shutter speed of around 1/60 then u start increasing iso till u get exposure u want . Try not to go too high with iso to avoid noise in ur shots . Make sure ur lights are at full intensity to gain shutter speed.
4.5 or 5.6 with 1/60 or 1/125 and iso of around 400-800 should be good.
Try to shoot at moments where all ur fish are out and moving the least possible.
On travel and don't have access to my pics but maybe share a few of ur pics and parameters their taken with.

 

[maroun.c]

This article should help a bit more

Your Guide to Aquarium Photography #3 - Settings for Fish, Coral, and FTS Photos

In our previous article in this Your Guide to Aquarium Photography series, we looked at how you should prepare for a photoshoot of your reef. In this third installment, we will be focusing our attention on camera settings/parameters and how to get them right for fish, coral, and FTS photos...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Azael]

Thank you for your responses. I am out of town for a few days, but when I arrive home I will give it a go and see how it goes.

 

[Jedi1199]

Normally for fts I try to shoot from some distance back , that helps getting a bit more dof so I can shoot with lens wide open. Shooting with lens wide open makes me gain shutter speed which helps freezing fish or coral motion. So basically ur aperture at around 4.5 -5.6 based on how much ur lense can go( smallest number) and a shutter speed of around 1/60 then u start increasing iso till u get exposure u want . Try not to go too high with iso to avoid noise in ur shots . Make sure ur lights are at full intensity to gain shutter speed.
4.5 or 5.6 with 1/60 or 1/125 and iso of around 400-800 should be good.
Try to shoot at moments where all ur fish are out and moving the least possible.
On travel and don't have access to my pics but maybe share a few of ur pics and parameters their taken with.

I have a question here... for your FTS, do you wait till it gets dak outside? One of my biggest issues is reflection from the widows on the wall opposite the tank.

 

[maroun.c]

Either wait till its dark or close a curtain. Sometimes shooting at a small angle gets you away from.the reflections and makes for a nice composition as well.

 

[Jedi1199]

Either wait till its dark or close a curtain. Sometimes shooting at a small angle gets you away from.the reflections and makes for a nice composition as well.

Its a huge bay window.. No curtain to cover that.

I was thinking a blackout curtain around the tank itself would be best. I have a shelf over the tank that I use to store my supplies... I could add a few hooks to hang a curtain around the tank...

 

[gbru316]

Can someone please tell me what settings do you use for takeing full tank photos with a Nikon?
I have a Nikon D3400 and a kit lens and a Nikon 18-140mm VR. I tried both lenses and played with the settings, but I couldn’t take decent photos with it.
I read the articles, but my pictures are always way too dark to edit or too blurred.
If it’s not so much trouble and you are willing to share, can you post a picture of your while tank with the exact settings you used? That would be of much help.

Too dark = underexposed.
Blurred = motion - either camera or subject. Often a combo of both.


To fix the blur, increase your shutter speed. To fix the exposure, open up your aperture or increase your ISO (or just temporarily increase light intensity).

Important to note: opening your aperture will decrease your depth of field. Meaning, how much of what’s in front of the camera is in-focus, based on distance from the camera. Increasing ISO will increase noise.

Photography is a balancing act between ISO, aperture size, and shutter speed. Sometimes, you’ll need to push the limits of one or the other and fix in post-processing. The important thing is that the photo is in-focus (well, as much ans you want it to be — out of focus backgrounds can result in some great shots) and not totally black. Dynamic range of modern sensors means you can usually pull out detail even in significantly underexposed photos. Not ideal, no. But usually fixable.