Taking actinic pictures

[iain360]

As the title suggests, i'm just after people's views on their setings they use. I understand the white balance, iso speeds and aperture etc, but just cannot get the camera to show the colours that I see under actinics. Is it something I am missing or is there an art to it?

The 2 cameras I use are;
Nikon D40x and Sony Dsc t-100

Actinics are 2 x 39 watt giesemann actinic plus.

Here is an example, This Lobophyllia is a stunning orange, I just can't show that:o

Thanks in advance for the help guys.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj261/iain360/DSC_1272.jpg

[MoOriginal]

Nice
Im no expert so cant offer any help
Apart from ... do either of the cameras have an underwater function? or scene setting.

I use that on my canon - and it makes the colours much more natural as it takes account of the blue in pictures

[iain360]

Have tried the scene settings, still not having much luck, comes out too blue and very dark, think it is time for trial and error:D

[Paul]

if you white balance the pic against the light under the actinic then the cam is going to think that that light is white (when its not) and adjust the pic to give you a relatively normal colouration, where as thats not what your eye sees under the light, as your eye is white balanced agains real white.

You will need to crank up the ISO to get pics of yr fish in the subdued light or moving things, if thats not important and you are shooting sessile inverts, then keep yr ISO low and decrease your shutter speed (preferably using the timer and a tripod to avoid camera wobble/shake)