How do you get clear top-down shots?

[swannyson7]

Sorry about not posting the specs for what I shot the pics in. I took 90% of them in aperture priority with an f-stop in the 5-7 range. I started with my ISO at 400, and then boosted it to 800 (you can tell which ones by the grain). I tried to snap a few in full manual as well with an ISO of 400, an f-stop of 5.6 and i just jacked up the exposure a bit. These seemed to come out fairly well, but as soon as I boosted the f-stop, I continued to run into the same problems. Unfortunately, I don't have many options for things to rest the camera against to steady it. There's a 12x39 watt tx fixture running accross the back half of the tank which can't be removed without taking off the entire canopy, so I can only remove the three LED fixtures from the front half of the tank. to be honest, when I try to rest the camera against something, the shots come out worse because it just feels so awkward with the way I designed the canopy. Once I get the boom-arm mount made, I'll post a thread in the DIY section as well as a few pics in here. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[returnofsid]

You settings seem to be about what I'd expect. You shouldn't have to actually post your settings. I have an EXIF Viewer, which USUALLY allows me to Right Click on any image and see the EXIF Data. For some reason, the EXIF Data on your photos is blocked...lol.

Yeah, sometimes it's really tough to get into a comfortable position, to shoot from, especially when dealing with a canopy that's in the way. When you're not in a comfortable position, it's almost impossible to shoot steady! It'll be interesting to see the Boom Arm that you build and see results from it!

You know, you could also try using your timer, even though you're holding the camera. It may help some. Set it at 2 seconds, brace yourself really well, focus the camera, hit the shutter and wait.