APSA 2014 Aquascaping Competition

Hi all

Total rookie to the aquarium world so I've been scavenging info from you all but I might be bale to help with photography, so here my attempt at contributing.

Stay away form full auto mode (that green camera icon on your mode setting) we are still able to outsmart cameras for now...
Use either Aperture (A/AV) priority/value or Full Manual/Manual mode.
Aperture priority allows you to manually set your Fstop(number at the bottom of your viewfinder from F2.8 up to F22). Fstop controls the area (depth) of the image that is in focus, the lower your f stop the smaller (depth wise) area will be in focus. The smaller the area in focus the quicker the shutter speed (speed that the shutter opens and closes). Thus f2.8 would give you a small focal depth of field but a quick shutter speed (portraits of focusing on one fish etc) larger f stop would give you a wider focus depth but slower shutter speed(f11 for landscapes). Id imagine photos of a tank should not need to be more than f8, but I GUESS f4 should be great. Some lenses allow only as low as f5.6, should be fine.
Manual lets you set the aperture as above as well as the shutter speed 1/100 or 1/2000 etc the higher that number the quicker the shutter thus the quicker the shutter speed the more the image is "frozen" but the less light is allowed in so it may turn out dark. So just play with the shutter speed till you have a sharp picture with enough light.
..oh yes set your ISO first. ISO is for all practical reasons film speed, lower values need more light so 100 to 200 in good light and up to 1000 in poor light. The higher the ISO the more "grainy" the image becomes but the less light is needed. Few cameras handle ISO of above 1000 properly.
I dont like flashes, probably cause I suck at studio work, but try the above to avoid using a flash, the flash is also what is creating that reflection. Even try other light sources from different angles.
Use your WB (white balance) setting to get the colour right. WB is just a fancy word for how warm or cold the photo is. In a nutshell if the light source is warm (yellow/red) you need to drop your kalvin value to about 2800k (incandescent (globe) light, or spotlight) if you are shooting outside in cloudy (colder light) between 6500k and 2800k. If the camera cannot adjust the calvin value just play around with the sun, shade, party, snow etc etc till you find something that works for YOU.
Get or borrow a tripod, or set up a table with a bag full of sand rice or beans to rest the camera on...makes a HUGE difference.

....my 2C as the Photo will play a huge part in the comp.

Also PLEASE post some images of your aquascapes I need inspiration from the gurus that work with what is available to us.

Cheers

Keith

 

122Lx60Bx45H
mine

 

But you can't enter...

 

Hey guys, submissions extended till the 9th of March 12pm 2014.

So start snapping your tank pics and enter

 

Results are out
http://www.apsa.co.za/board/index.php?topic=11055.0

 

WOW some stunning tanks .. good job guys and (girls?) ...

 

Stunning tanks!! Well done @ivan !!!!

 

Wow amazing tanks.

 

sorry, forgot to post the result thread!

APSA Aquascaping Competition Results 2014

congrats to Ivan for placing 1st!



Congrats to Trevor, Gerhard and Danelle winning 2nd, 3rd and honory respectively!

 

Excellent work there by APSA! Double thumbs up! :laugh: Looking forward to seeing next years comp.