How to Photograph Aquarium Tanks

[NixonPhotos]

I am going to the city aquarium to shoot multiple tanks and multiple angels. They will not let me take lights, tripod or anything just the camera. Any advise on how to get good shots with just the camera flash?

The problem I see is the flash bouncing off the glass tank. So, I am still trying to figure this out.

THANKS<
Richard

[acidhouse]

The best thing to have is a rubber lens hood, press it upto the glass, this will cutout any reflexions.

Your flash will only scare the fish, best not to use.

[Buddy Thomason]

http://www.fototime.com/8F8C3838166D1D1/orig.jpg

Got this one using the basic technique described above with ISO increased, shutter speed not too fast - about 1/45, f2.8 or 3.2

[kennmon]

yeah, in tropical tanks, reef tanks etc (basically all the exciting colorful fish/corals/plants) the lighting will be very good.

just get as close to a piece of the glass that doesnt have handprints or nose grease on it and fire away.

rubber hood is a good idea too.
no flash.

[fomoz]

The best thing to have is a rubber lens hood, press it upto the glass, this will cutout any reflexions.
Thats frickin' genius, never thought of that.

[NixonPhotos]

lol....Thanks everyone...I just know that inside the tanks it is dark...so I was not sure how to do this...Again Thanks

[Mike R]

Bring a very small spray bottle w/glass cleaner and a rag to clean where your lens/hood will be pressed to the glass

[ronosmena]

The best thing to have is a rubber lens hood, press it upto the glass, this will cutout any reflexions.

Your flash will only scare the fish, best not to use.

And just make sure while you are zooming in and out no fish swims buy with big TEETH! that would surely knock you off your feet......its like JAWS eating you up with the magnification factor...when you get up all you see is a little puffer fish.... "what was this guy thinking!" (say's the fish):rolleyes:

[Thornfield]

Great shot Buddy

[okiebass101]

sometimes you can bounce the flash at an angle and reduce the glare..

http://AllensPhoto.smugmug.com/photos/60086535-M.jpg

[Billginthekeys]

do without the flash if you can, the hood thing sounds like a good idea. also, try to shoot as ead on through the glass as you can. shooting through that thick glass at angles can kill the quality completely.

[Mullet]

There has been some good advice here. I shoot at a slight angle to the glass if I have the flash attached to the camera. It is definetly angled up and I use a diffuser on it. I try for most fish shots to use the flash overhead and pointed down into the tank. This is more natural lighting for fish as they are receiving their light from above as well. Here are a couple of samples. As you can tell here, make sure your glass is cleaner than mine :)



http://safhl.com/albums/Victorian-Project/IMG_3599.jpg



http://safhl.com/albums/Victorian-Project/photocontest1_001.jpg

http://safhl.com/albums/Victorian-Project/photo_contest1.jpg

[staereo]

I run without a flash, the ISO boosted, and the aperture wide. This is through 2 seperate (plexi?) glass walls.

http://www.staereo.com/rep2.jpg

[399Retouch]

If they have a regular schedule for cleaning the water-side of the glass, you might want to do your photography soon after that.

399Retouch

[fatdeeman]

There has been some good advice here. I shoot at a slight angle to the glass if I have the flash attached to the camera. It is definetly angled up and I use a diffuser on it. I try for most fish shots to use the flash overhead and pointed down into the tank. This is more natural lighting for fish as they are receiving their light from above as well. Here are a couple of samples. As you can tell here, make sure your glass is cleaner than mine :)



http://safhl.com/albums/Victorian-Project/IMG_3599.jpg



http://safhl.com/albums/Victorian-Project/photocontest1_001.jpg

http://safhl.com/albums/Victorian-Project/photo_contest1.jpg


Mullet what kind of cichlids are those?

[Mullet]

1. Xystichromis phytophagus-Lake Victoria Basin

2. Thoracochromis brauschi- Fwa River , West Africa

3. Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi- West Africa

Fishkeeping is another passion of mine. African cichlids, mostly westies and Victoria and some Tanganyikans(Tropheus). Just picked up some very rare Ptychochromoides katria from Madagascar last week and I am very excited about those

[danedel]

hey Buddy Thmopson,

I recognize that fish, its across from the sharks and the Denver, ops um the downtown aquarium...

[switchblade5984]

do not use glass cleaner on acrylic tanks!
it will seep through the acrylic and kill/harm the fish and or ecosystem

[Mike R]

Switchblade- Thanks for the tip before I did someting stupid!

[Buddy Thomason]

Great Ciclid shots, Mullet!!

[princer7]

If they allow any flash at all, try to tether the flash so it can be as far away from your picture as possible but still offer the benefit of the added light. Setting the lens as close to the glass as possible is good too. My eldest son gets to hold the flash. Best outcome for sharpness is to have the camera looking straight into the tank. Shooting at an angle will add distortion to the picture. A really good lens is the 50mm f/1.4 to compensate for the low light levels as sometimes a f/2.8 can still be slow without a flash. The lens that gets the most use at the public aquariums is my 28mm f/2.8 when using the flash as it can get most objects with a 1.6x crop camera.


Here is a pic from Sea World in San Antonio:

Flash Not Fired:
http://jpaustin.dyndns.org/gallery/Sea%20World/May%202006/IMG_2441%20Copy%20Small.jpg
Focal length 28.0mm, Exposure time 1/15s, Aperture 11.0, ISO 400

To get detail you are going to want an aperture of at least f/9-11. With fish in the picture, you will also want a higher shutter speed and possibly higher ISO.