Photography and aquatic newts?

[Gregh]

Just wondering if there are any tricks people wouldn't mind sharing to get clearer pictures of aquatic newts. I'd hate to take him out of this aquarium, I leave him there entirely unless moving to/from university because I'd rather not stress him, but my pictures don't turn out great even when i light the aquarium and darken the room.

Ex:

Edit: Darn, wrong section, can somebody move this for me?

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Xenon bulb flashlights (torches).
I am new to photographing them also, but this has helped me immensely. The wife will not let me use her expensive 35mm film camera yet, as I am a clumsy fool at times, so I use a cheap Samsung 10.2 MP digital. A darkened room, the flash, and what appears to be bright lighting still gave me murky looking pictures, but I found by spotlighting my subjects with my Xenon torch helps a lot. I have also found that getting the right angle helps a bit to due to refraction by the water. Another trick I use is to actually just video tape them, and then pick stills out of the movie with my editing software.

In truth though, your pictures looks pretty darn good!

 

[Kaysie]

Try using manual focus, instead of autofocus. Autofocus will sometimes focus on the glass instead of what's behind the glass, leaving your critter blurry.

LOTS of light, light light light. Bring a lamp near the tank, put a light over the tank, spotlight it with a flashlight. I agree with Johnny, xenon is good, as are LED's. Incandescent bulbs have a yellow cast instead of being white.

If you're using flash, shoot at a little bit of an angle (not too much, or your subject will be distorted). This will allow the light to penetrate, and bounce off at an angle instead of directly back into the camera.

 

[keld]

If you are able to utilise manual settings try giving yourself a higher aperture - so you increase your depth of field and have a better chance of getting what you want sharp (larger the depth of field the more of the image is in focus). The hardest part is lighting - off camera flash would be ideal I'd think but if that's not available to you any external lights may be good (as others have said).

One other thing that may help is maybe getting a rubber lens hood and pressing up against the glass as you shoot - this may help cut out reflection by the glass (just an idea,may not be greatly effective).

Ultimately - experiment with your equipment, becoming really accustomed to your camera is the only way to really get good photos out of it.