Advise on camera settings for tank photo

[o2bubble]

Hi, I was trying out the various programmed modes such as landscape, portrait, closeup, auto etc as well the the White-balance default settings such as shade, tungsten etc for my Canon 450d but the still not able to capture a good photo of my planted tank. The best is either using default landscape mode or P mode with daylight for WB which produces slightly yellowish compare with my green java ferns. I'm using the 18-55mm kit len and my tank light is 8000k T5. Can anyone recommend some good set of settings that I can use? Thanks!

[tawauboy]

since your light is 8000k, why not use manual white balance. set to 8000k.\
if you have live view, you should be able to use it to fine-tune your white balance setting.

[Simon]

Try shooting it in RAW then JPEG, so you can manually adjust the white balance. As for shooting mode, I personally uses M the most then AV or Tv at times. You certainly need to practice more and experiment around with the other functions on your camera. But since your problem is just on the white balance, set it to auto and shoot in RAW should allow you flexibility to adjust it correctly via software.

[o2bubble]

Thanks guy, I will try out the suggestions. Also, I read about putting a white or grey card in the fish tank and shoot it to use for custom WB settings. Will this be more accurate than above?

Bro Simon, if shoot in JPEG also can adjust via PS right? Why RAW?

[Simon]

You still can adjust in JPEG but it is through color adjustment, in RAW, you can adjust through color temperature, which is so much easier to use.

And yes, in-situ calibration using a grey card would be the next best choice

[o2bubble]

Thanks, I tried the custom white balance method using a white card infront of my tank and turns out much better now Did not adjust using PS as I'm a bit lazy and also do not want to waste time trial and error with the WB See my tank photos in aquascaping section. Thanks all!!