Aquarium shots

[Jpatten]

Alright, we went to the Georgia Aquarium today and I took along the camera, and based off my Last attempts to take pictures and how dismal they were I went with my fastest lens, a nifty 50. I was able to get a decent amount of light for most of the shots but none of them are as sharp as I'd like. I'm sure part of it is due to the shutter speed, mostly around 1/100th, and I am hand-held, plus the fish don't stop moving to pose, but how much do I lose because I'm shooting through several inch thick plexiglass? I have a couple of shots I am fairly sure are do to distortions from the glass because there is chromatic aberration as well.
I am still working on processing and will post later. Just wondering if I can chalk some of the fuzziness and blur to the glass or if I really did a lousy job.
Some of them seem pretty clear, but those are usually ones i took from farther away so I guess its less noticeable.

[Jpatten]

i know i misspelled the Title! I don't even know what i was thinking

[timbop]

It depends on the thickness of glass, shape of the glass, and the angle of the glass to the camera. That is, when shooting through curved glass it is almost impossible to get a decent shot. When shooting through flat glass, as long as you are shooting perpendicular to the surface the glass is less of a factor. Thinner glass is also much less of a factor, so smaller tanks give better results than really thick glass.

Unfortunately, most aquariums focus only on safety and not optical quality of the tank walls. One thing that can really help is shooting fish very close to the glass versus deeper into the tank, since water also hurts image quality as well.

[PhotosGuy]

Aquirum Fixed it! ;)

Macro shots of fish? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=598283)

Ideally, you could bump up the ISO & have enough light to work with. If it was too dark, I might try an off camera flash in manual mode, but I'd want the light to mostly come from above the fish.

In your position, I'd set the exposure in M mode & pop up the cameras flash.
Put your (hopefully) rubber lens hood against the glass (reduces reflections) & take a shot using AI Servo AF.
See what you get.
Test. Try a low shutter speed of 1/30sec & a higher one up to 1/250 sec.
Try putting a sheet of white tissue paper above the hood to soften the flash.
Try Tv & Av modes so you can adjust using FEC.
And don't forget to carry a few rags to clean the glass first. ;)

[Jpatten]

I will have to try that next time... But the Aquarium isn't cheap, especially when taking the family along! Also, dont have a hood for the 50 at this time.

[Jpatten]

1)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3610/3419653343_5de8832958_b.jpg

2)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3582/3420439780_03bf8dafe9_b.jpg

3)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3621/3420404144_f4be42f180_b.jpg

[Michael_Lambert]

I find using a Cpol filter helps, reduces the reflection on the glass and keeping your flash as high up as possible. I connected mine using a ebay remote and holding the flash high up pointed down..

And this is a sample taken from a Las Vegas Aquarium.

[Viffer06]

I find using a Cpol filter helps, reduces the reflection on the glass and keeping your flash as high up as possible. I connected mine using a ebay remote and holding the flash high up pointed down..

And this is a sample taken from a Las Vegas Aquarium.


Michael,

Did you set the flash close to the glass too? I'm going to do aquarium shots today and planning to use off-camera flash.

1. I'm going to get my lens to touch the glass
2. I'm not sure how to set the flash

[Jpatten]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/3419649717_8cdff94c9a_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3384/3419592691_36a6e19900_b.jpg

I thought about the CPL, but was afraid Id lose too many stops. I also have an XT and from about 400 up its gets really noisy.
So I was trying to minimize noise

[Michael_Lambert]

I did not worry about holding it up to the glass, Just high enough so i did not get the flash refection in the shot,

Yes using the Cpol filter will cause the loss of stops which is why you really need to use a flash for it.

I would not worry too much about holding up to the glass.

[timbop]

I find using a Cpol filter helps, reduces the reflection on the glass and keeping your flash as high up as possible. I connected mine using a ebay remote and holding the flash high up pointed down..

And this is a sample taken from a Las Vegas Aquarium.

Holy cow those look fantastic. That's a very good idea using the CPL with off-camera flash - I never thought it would work but apparently it does. Does the flash bother the fish, though?

[Jpatten]

depends on the fish... several displays say NO FLASH.

[Michael_Lambert]

yea it does depend on the species.. If there is a sign saying no flash photography i respect it... other than that its open game.. In Vegas i asked one of the attendants and she said all there fish where use to it not to worry.

[Michael_Lambert]

Couple more examples.

[PhotosGuy]

The shots you posted aren't terrible. They just need a bit of tweaking next time. Also, dont have a hood for the 50 at this time. You can find a $6 rubber one in most any camera store.

[ppusa]

I once tried a nifty fifty at an aquarium but I got much better results with an f/4 lens that had a lot faster auto-focus.