Macro shots of fish?

Hi everyone. I have just got my first Digital SLR.....a Canon EOS 1000d plus 100mm macro lens.

I just wondered if anyone had any tips on getting close up macros of our fish. They are completely unwilling to stay still for a second . I managed to get half decent ones with my Fuji Finepix F10 point and shoot digital but still abit baffled on how best to get great shots with my new one.

Thanks for any help

Since you're new to DSLRs, I imagine you don't have a shoe-mount flash such as the Canon 430 EX Speedlight. Having a light that reach over your lens and that is also able to be detached and used expternally with a shoe-mount extension cable would do you a lot of good because fish that get close enough to be really Macro shots will need something other than your built-in flash. Then glue your eye to the viewfinder and shoot when a fish comes into the focal plane.

So, without an external flash, get some bright lamps (try one on each side of the lens) to point into the tank.

Focus will be a problem. Your best bet might be to just manually focus on a given plane, set an aperture that is fairly narrow (a higher f-number such as f/5.6 or f/8 depending on lighting) and a relatively high ISO (400-800, depending on the lighting) with a shutter speed that will hopefully be fast enough to "freeze" the movement of the fish but also allow a good exposure.

I'd suggest getting a couple of hooded "shop lights" if you want to go inexpensive. You'll want to probably use a custom white balance to make sure you get accurate colors.

And, put the lens right up against the glass to avoid light reflections and to get any spots on the glass out of your range of focus.

Have fun!

A few more tips:

Turn off any lights in the room that you aren't using to light your pictures. Furthermore, pull the shades on any windows in the room. Doing this will cut down on the reflections you get off the glass. Of course, this is only if you have some flashes or such to light the shots.

The best way I found to focus is to manually focus on some object in the tank (plant, rock, piece of wood, etc.), then back off that focus so that your focal plane is actually just in front of that object. Have your camera on a tripod. Whenever a fish swims in front of that object (and thus into your viewfinder), take a pic.

And feeding time is a pretty good time to do it, because you know the fish will be active then.

I've never tried this, but others have had success using a rubber lens hood that you can jam right up to the glass. Then you can use flash without worrying about reflections.

Makes sense to me...

-js

Do you know what the exposures were? Set that exposure in M mode & pop up the cameras flash.
Put your (hopefully) rubber lens hood against the glass & take a shot using AI Servo AF.
See what you get.
Try a low shutter speed of 1/30sec & a higher one up to 1/250 sec.
Try putting a sheet of white tissue paper above the hood to soften the flash.
Try Tv & Av modes so you can adjust using FEC.

This is a forgotten art called Testing. It's even easier now that you don't have to pay for film!

In your manual index, look up AI Servo AF, Using the Built In Flash, (FEC = ) Flash Exposure Compensation.

More:
On Assignment: Zebra Fish and Zygotes

Flash options for aquarium photography

Tips - Aquarium

Reef Central

Photographing an aquarium - not sure where to put this thread!

You could take the shots from the top of the tank as the fish come up. I have done this with my little beta and it works great. I don't have any of my beta ones handy but this is a tarpin from Culebra:

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Aquarium photography is what got me started into photography.

You want to shoot as high of a shutter as you can and typically around 400ISO. What i found that works well was to use a peice of the white insulation i had laying around and i had my wife hold it over top of the tank this gave me something to bounch my flash off so the light would go up off the insulation and down into the tank.

I always shot with a CPOL filter to reduce the glare and reflections from the glass. and used my 580EXII at pretty much 3/4's power if not full power.

here are some of my results.

Thanks so much everyone for your tips and ideas. Had definately given me some things to try out over the next couple of day.

Those are fantastic pics Michael and Kronie

I've been practising like mad for the last couple of days but haven't perfected it yet by any means. I think it's going to take quite a while to learn all the terminology and get all the equipment I need. I'm waiting for a shoe cord so I can concentrate the light going down into the tank. This fish in particular is in a really awkward place to get too and doesn't have good lighting.

Also finding it hard to get the whole fish in focus as you can see from these examples.

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How about these:

Does the 1000d have live view?

On my XSi, I set mine to manual focus and use the live view zoomed in to catch the eye in focus with the camera on the tripod. I also use a remote shutter so the camera doesn't move and change my shot when I push the shutter.

Some fish are easier to photograph than others. Clownfish are hard - they wiggle around a lot.

To get the whole fish in focus, you need to use a smaller aperture (bigger f number). A beta tank probably doesn't have the lighting a reef tank does, so you might need to add light if you can't get a decent shutter speed at the ISO you want and a smaller aperture.