Not to talk this to death, because I've touched on it in the past, but how do I know what color a fish in a picture really is? So often I see pictures of bettas labeled as a particular color (usually green) but the picture looks blue or turquoise to me. Bella has mentioned she has noticed that it is more frequent for men to be a bit color blind. I can understand that, my brother is. It is so rare to see a picture of a betta that actually looks green. Yeevs has some. Are they green in real life? The only place I've seen green listed and the pictures look green is Luv My Bettas. Are those green in real life? I've also noticed the same situation with red vs orange and blue vs purple (which I'm guessing Jamie has incountered first hand).

Nutty; one reason is a lot of digital cameras have a hard time picking up the color green. It's very hard to get a photo of a green that shows the true green color. They almost always come out looking bluish or turquoise, even when they are very green to the eye.
Hope that helps.

I thuink light refraction may have something to do with it.
The camera picks up, and translates light and colors slightly different from our eyes.
This may be in part why blue fish might look purple, and gren fish turquoise.. And why certain light setting can make a red fish green, exposing hidden wash.

I don't know if this article might help ormake you more confused, but I thought eh.. why not.
Stuctural Color

This is interesting. Gets into the topic of something I have wondered. How do you take a pic of a black lace betta? He always comes out navy blue. Furthermore, my mostly purple fem looks blue. And don't even get me started on trying to get pics of my corals in my SW tank. Then there's the clownfish that swim too fast for pics. Best tanks I have found for pics include my Malawi cichlid tank and my angelfish tank. Both cichlids. I dunno why that is.

Try putting him in front of a light background.. and try indirect lighting. What is probably happing is his underlying blue color is coming through.
I had a red fish once, a VT.. solid red, but in every picture I took of him, he always looked mostly green.

yeah, tried it.. he was a black blob.
Plato... too silly for his own good.
I wish I could get a good pic too... all ya'll would melt.

Oh yeah, dark colored fish are one of the hardest to get good photos of.
Hey Belle, I'm taking some photos of the Old Man's kids today. REally! Yes. REALLY! I am.. honestly.. I swear.. maybe. :rolleyes:

Can you adjust your camera settings?
If indirect light isn't working, try putting a bright light right on top of him with a neutral background.

Kinda hard with a 10 yo. dig. camera.
I might cup him one day and take him outside.
Just to get a pic... seems like a lot of work.

I know what you mean!

I thik it ended up in brood photographs? But I have a photo how to pinned. A little step by step thing that might help you take some better pictures, even with an older camera. Another one of the main things is that people don't realize that how DARK indoor lighting is. If you have a dark colored fish, put up a white or light tan background, and get as many portable lights and direct them to the front of the tank (if your dad or some one has one of those automobile EX: is really usefull because they are positionable and you can direct the light) or take a small tank and go outside on a sunney day and try it.

Wow, nice light there, I'd have never thought of that. Duh. My BF is a mechanic too. ^_^

My BF used to be a mechanic. He has one of those too. I tried it and just got glare. Outside we go. Soon too.
Plato has never been outside.
LOL!!!
ROADTRIP!!

:lolo:
Mine take lots of road trips. My BF isn't a mechanic anymore, now he sells cars or manages stores rather.
I take mine over to see my Mom alot! She loves it. She's confined to a wheelchair after her stroke and totally paralyzed on her right side. She's sort of like a little girl now. I love to make her happy.

Most of my fish are used to road trips too.. I take them with me when I go to MY moms house too.

:lolo: Crazy huh?

The similarities.

I think maybe a bit scarey too.. but I have grown used to the similarities between the two of us.

Yup. We knew it from the first time we emailed one another huh.

Oh man, this :coffee1 is sooo good!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh. :WOU

Kindred spirits indeed..
But I'll bet after a month as say neighbors, we'd be ready to kill each other, because we reflect ourselves back to us.

I bet you're right. We'd see all the weaknesses too.

I was just telling my cousin, I didn't like her husband back when they were dating, because I saw in him all the flaws in me..l. And what I didn't like about HIM was the things I didn'tlike about ME.
Of course, at 16, I would DIE before admitting THAT.

OF COURSE! I still don't like to admit those things. Well, I am better.

I think I have gotten better.
At one time, I would tell someone why they were telling me I was wrong.
Now I have learned to disagree to myself.

Same here.

Try angling the light. Have the tank on a table, and the lamp pointing at the tank at an angle, or the same if you have a camera with a flash. If you don't have flash on, you can get away with a 90 degree with the camera, but have the light at an angle and look through the veiw finder to see where the glare spot is, and adjust. Half of the problem with taking fish pictures is because the light wants to reflect off of the aquarium before it reflects off of the fish. The camera is lazy and wants to "pick up" the first thing it sees. If you make it so the camera HAS to see what you want, you get the picture that you want. We want to replicate sunlight or use sunlight because it is disperce and every where.

When taking pictures outside, look for a slightly overcast day. A bright and sunny day (a day where you look at the shadow of something is a crisp and distinctive line between the light and the shadow) might be a little too bright to successfully take pictures. Slightly more diffused light should spread the light better and reduce extreem contrast, and will give you the slight layering of shadowes that gives you the best detailing.

Great info Jamie. Thanks.