I'm very new to photography and I'm having an extremely hard time taking good photos of my pico. I'm currently using a Finepix s9100 and I don't know if this camera even has the settings required to get accurate FTS's. If it does however, then I'm obviously doing something terribly wrong. I've tried various different settings but no matter what I try, my FTS photos are extremely bright due to my light reflecting off my sand. This brightness causes my corals in turn to be washed out. Also, when I take pics up close of corals it's nearly impossible for me to get anything even remotely close to the actual colors.

Here's a FTS to show you what I mean:


And a macro shot:

Those zoas on the right are normally a rainbowish color and the pinks in the back are a very deep pink. You can see how washed out they are in this picture though.

Any help is appreciated!

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=190521

Read that before ever posting this and taking those pictures. Still didn't get what I wanted. In regards to white balance all it says is:



I don't know if I should turn it up or down, how far to adjust it, or whether this is even my problem. That's why I'm posting this thread, so I can get more individual help, rather then a broad overview which would be extremely helpful if I actually knew what setting was messing me up in the first place.

Turn down the white balance a notch or two... I usually put mine between -1 and -2... custom white-balance is a little more involved, but if you want to experiment a bit just tweak it down until you hit the sweet spot.

I'll try again, thanks for the advice.

your blowing out the photo because of the black background..The camera metering system is metering the whole scene..and there is a large portion that is black. So its going to expose for that and then blow out the highlights from the light on the tank. If you want a better shoot shoot it in M mode and adjust the shutter speeds till you get a more balanced exposure.

Thanks, I'll try that