Help with closeups....

[TheJerry]

I borrowed this Canon Powershot A40 digital camera and takes close ups of other things but for some reason it won't focus in on my corals when i zoom in?

 

I tried to turn off all pumps to calm water and also cleaned the front acrylic. The camera just keeps trying to focus but never does. And it I snap the shot it always just looks blurry. If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it.

 

Thanks,

Jerry

[Reefer_Buddha]

make sure its in macro mode. If that doesnt work switch to manual focus

[TheJerry]

ok, whats macro mode? I thought that was for like if you wanted to record a macro to make the camera do things in a certain order? like a macro on a computer?

[Reefer_Buddha]

macro mode is for super close up shots

[Jpizzle]

the symbol is usually a flower- as opposed to landscape shots which are usually a mountain symbol.

[Kelpie]

Might it be focusing on the same plane as the front glass of your tank? If it is a viewfinder type camera instead of an SLR, I don't know how you would know? I am old-school with photography so I don't know how the new-fangled auto focus senses the focal object.

[EtOH_is_good]

macro photography is making small things look big. there's a couple tricks to take close ups with a camera. the most basic is the focus. your depth of field or where everything will be in focus will depend on your f-stop (3.1-8.0? on my A70). cameras generally work best in the middle of the range (less lens error), but your fullest depth of field will be the highest setting (8.0). after you work your f-stop need to actually focus the lens. with digital this is a little easier because wysiwyg, only when you blow it up on your monitor will you see how poorly it is out of focus. your best bet with close ups is either macro mode (flower on canons) or manual focus (press flower twice on A70). your screen should now display either a flower (macro) or distance (bar in inches). first macro, if you gently press the picture button, the camera will try to focus on something in the center of the screen (don't look through the camera hole because that is not what your going to get). at the highest f-stop the minimal focal distance is 10 in, so anything less and the camera will be usually unable to focus. if it doesn't focus need to pull back and recompose the picture or switch to manual focus. when using manual focus, i dial in the minimal distance and move the camera backwards or forwards until the object is focused. since our subjects are potentiall very small almost any movement will reduce the sharpness. so use a tripod so that your heart beat doesn't affect the camera. in addition, the camera has additional features to help you ie timer and film speed. use the camera's timer esp with a tripod. use the fastest speed. use more light. another consideration is white balance. the camera is not calibrated for aquarium lights, so the colors may not come out correctly. you'll need to find out what works best for you. also practice alot. the first couple times, you'll take forever to take a decent pic. after awhile it shouldn't take so long. additionally people use photoenhancement (middle of the thread) when things could be a little better. hth. gl.