So, I've been reading lots of the posts in here. I must admit that I am really new at attempting good looking macro shots, and I'm about half way through the user manual. I'm not very good at this yet. Here are a few pictures that I have taken so far. I've taken lots of them, but these are the only ones that are even remotely worth looking at. If you have any tips for me, let me know, as I'm not the most artistic person. My camera is a Casio Exilim FH-20.

looking good. you have an eye for composition.

are there any specific issues you are having?

Thanks. I'm just not happy with them really. I know that I need MUCH more practice. I'm having an extremely hard time with the focusing of the shots in the fish tank. On my camera there is a manual focus, but to use it, you have to push the button left and right. The interface to do it feels clunky, and I don't really understand it. Also, with the crab, the picture just doesn't seem sharp to me. I know it's not a professional level camera or anything, but I do want to try to get some good looking pictures of my tank.

judging by the angle of the sand bed, it looks like you weren't shooting directly into the tank. the glass will distort the image if you try to shoot through it unless you're shooting straight on.

also, you could benefit with some color adjustments -

You're right. I'm not sure if I was shooting straight into the glass on that pic or not. Also, the color adjustment does help. I need to invest in a tripod, even if it's a cheap one, just to get the camera steady. Did you just use photoshop to fix that pic up? i have Photoshop 7, but it doesnt offer support for RAW files, so I'm working with jpegs for the moment until I can get my hands on a copy of CS4. What do you have a certain way that you adjust the colors? or a certain setting? And thanks for the help.

for that one I used the auto white balance setting in GIMP, I'm sure there's a similar setting in photoshop. if the camera supports RAW files, then it should have come with the software needed to process them. that software should give you the option to apply white balance settings, adjust curves, etc. before you save the image as a jpg.

I think when I snap the picture it saves in JPEG and DNF. The Disc for the camera is out in my car, and it's blizzard conditions outside, so I might wait until tomorrow to go grab that. I'm looking online to see if i can download the software off the Casio web page. Thank you for the tips.

yeah wow, after a quick search online apparently the camera doesn't come with software to process raw files. odd move, lol. google's picasa should be able to edit your raw files, and it's a free download (and a GREAT program for organizing your images).

Cool, I'll download that now. thanks

I'd have to disagree with this. ^

Much better start than a lot of beginners.

Lalani,
I see lots of pictures on this page that are simply incredible. I know that a hermit crab isn't the most amazingly interesting subject, but something about that picture isn't that good. Yeah, I guess the picture is Ok, but it's missing something. To me it seems to be something about the focus like I said earlier. There isn't any "pop" to the picture and the colors seem less than fascinating. I'm sure that some of that has to do with my camera, as I purchased it for it's slow motion capability. If you haven't seen them, youtube Casio Exilim FH-20. It's pretty crazy. Maybe it's the reds that it captures. I don't really know if it's my lack of skill at making things sharp, camera, or a combination of both. But thank you for the compliment.

It just takes time to hone those skills. Believe me, if you saw the pics I took the first year I started photography, you'd laugh.. I know I do, heh.

Like I said before, you're already a step ahead of a lot of people who try macros.. and macrophotography is one of the more difficult techniques, imo. Keep in mind that an object you think is uninteresting may be interesting to someone else, and changing something as simple as the angle or lighting can drastically affect the look. Post processing can really enhance even the dullest of pics, with a few tweaks to levels, curves, contrast, sharpness, etc. The changes don't have to be drastic either.

Just keep trying different things, take a ton of pictures, and every time you feel comfortable with a shooting style try something completely different. You'll eventually find your own style.

The last pic is a little bit blurry. I'm not really sure what happened on this one.