Need alittle help

[bassNspear]

As you are all pros here when it comes to take photos, i come to get some help.

I do alot of spearing in the winter time, and of course the season is now over. I try to take alot of photos of the fish in the dark house, but they just dont turn out. If you have the flash on or not. I tried to take them with my digital camera, or a throw away, and they just dont work out with a flash or not.

What do you all think i need to do. Everything is black inside the house, so your trying to take photos of the fish in the bottom of the lake!

[Dbl]

What kind of equipment do you have BNS? Any adjustable settings or pretty much pictures on the dial? The key will be taking them during the day so the light can shine through the ice. At night without some cool equipment it will be tough.

[bassNspear]

ya, im taking them in the day where the sun is up, but it seems hard to get a clear photo. I have a nikon and cannon dig camera. there not top of the line, but theres alot of open water there ya know!

[Dbl]

I think you are going to need a camera that you can adjust the ISO or use a night mode. You just are going to need all the light your camera can grab. What kind of picture are you ending up with? Can you post one, that would help to see what the issue is.

[wastewaterguru]

I would guess both those cameras have a manual mode. You need to stay away from the flash since it will reflect off the water and ice. Longer shutter speed, tripod...or method to hold camera very still, and experimentation with aperture/shutter speed combos. Nice thing about digital is that you can take a couple dozen...or even hundred pictures and throw them away until you get it right.

[Jameson]

buttons and things;

Camera on "normal" function, not "heart" or "flower"

1. Forced flash OFF

2. EV (whatever that stands for) set at somewhere between -1 and -2.

3. Shutter speed slow. My camera has 1/60, 1/30, 1/5, or 1 as settings. Set at 1.

4. ISO 800. Figured out this setting was best for me by trial and error. I just took a lot of pics with different settings and the ISO 800 settings was usually consistently good.

That's all I can think of. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will critique my settings or offer up some better buttons and things.

What do ya pro's think of my technique?

[bassNspear]

see you guys are talking out of my league right now. I just want to be able to take cool photos of the fish down on the bottom of the lake, and it wont let me know it.

[jaymevb]

i was trying to take pictures of my fishtank yesterday and here's what i learned that might help you:

turn your ISO up to about as high as it will go. you'll get more noise but i don't think it will matter too much for this. this makes the sensor more sensitive to light so everything will be brighter and the shutter time will be faster. the longer the shutter is open the more light there is, but also more opportunity for blurring.

if you can control the f value turn it a little lower. this will affect how much of the picture is in focus so mess around with it. the f value controls how big the hole is that the light comes through. a bigger hole (which is a smaller number) helps more light come through in less time.

the goal of all of this is to get as much light in the shortest time so that the fish aren't blurred from movement.

think of it like filling a glass, the f value is how big the spout you're pouring from is and the ISO is how big the glass is. A bigger spout (F) and a smaller glass (ISO) mean it will get filled quicker (shutter speed).

If that still doesn't work bump up the shutter speed and make sure you hold the camera extra still. maybe try a tripod and use the delayed timer (maybe 2 seconds) so you don't bump it while pushing the button.

[bassNspear]

thanks for the help.

I have till November to figure this out. so all the help i can get is good!

[B-man715]

I was wondering if anybody has ever made a tray (w/sides) out of plexi-glass or similar that would float on the surface? It would be like having a mini glass bottom boat to take pictures through.

Just a thought....

[bassNspear]

that is a good idea!