Tips - Aquarium

Good day guys.

I'm planing on taking the wife and kids to the Aquarium Saturday,

Was woundering if anyone and any tips for a newbee.

I am considering picking up a cicular polirizer filter just for this.

A CP filter will darken an already dark shot.

There are probably alot more people on here who know alot more about what you should do than me but I was just at the GA Aquarium and you can see my results here:

http://jscranton.smugm​ug.com/gallery/4855690​_GS3tu

This is basically what I did:

No Flash
Shoot on an angle to the glass

The tanks are pretty light so the need to change the ISO on some tanks isn't really there. Trial and error. The fish are pretty cooperative and the GA Aquarium is quite impressive.

well i was thinking of the filter becasue half of the aquarium is out side

they have some nice top down views and peting areas.

Hence the idea of cutting the glare down.

but yha i hear yha no filter inside


jeffscra...

Where you shooting with the camera against the glass or back from it.

Nice pics.

I'm hoping my xti and 70-200f4 will be ok

havn't been to this aquarium in like 4 years but from what i remember it was lit up nice and its inside and outside.

Get close. Watch for reflections in the glass, & take a rag so you can clean it if you need to.

Whatever you do, DO NOT shoot though the glass at an angle. I have been shooting aquariums (public and private) for a while now and shooting thought glass at an angle will cause distortion. Make sure that you are always perpendicular to the glass when shooting and don't use a flash. My most used lens for public aquariums is my 17-55 F/2.8 IS. You need fast glass and you will have to bump the ISO up. You have to use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the fish so keep that in mind. You can view some pics that I took at the Aquarium of the Pacific here. All of the pics should have the exif intact so you can view the settings that I used.
http://parchen.smugmug​.com/gallery/3995033_6​yspy

Here are some general shots of aquariums that I've taken. Let me know if you have any questions.
http://parchen.smugmug​.com/aquariums

I've managed to pull a few aquarium shots myself, but it was at ISO 1600 and f/1.8.... b prepared to push the limits of your equipment!

rparchen wrote in post #5669021
Whatever you do, DO NOT shoot though the glass at an angle. I have been shooting aquariums (public and private) for a while now and shooting thought glass at an angle will cause distortion. Make sure that you are always perpendicular to the glass when shooting and don't use a flash. My most used lens for public aquariums is my 17-55 F/2.8 IS. You need fast glass and you will have to bump the ISO up. You have to use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the fish so keep that in mind. You can view some pics that I took at the Aquarium of the Pacific here. All of the pics should have the exif intact so you can view the settings that I used.
http://parchen.smugmug​.com/gallery/3995033_6​yspy

Here are some general shots of aquariums that I've taken. Let me know if you have any questions.
http://parchen.smugmug​.com/aquariums

GEEZ those are gorgeous!

Seriously, this aquarium / glass technique really interest me. I tried taking shots at an angle, but it never worked well for me.

At the end, I stuck my lens directly onto the glass to take most of my shots. But I'm not sure whether that's ideal. Here are some results:

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I always put the lens directly onto the glass if I can. It accomplishes a few things and it won't do any damage to either the lens or glass. It will first make sure that you are perfectly perpendicular to the glass and it will also help stabilize the camera so you can use a slower shutter speed (if the subject isn't moving much of course). I remember quite specifically that I pressed the lens onto the glass for this shot right here. Even at ISO 1000, and F/4, the shutter speed was only 1/13. Hand-holding at that speed (w/100mm F/2.8 lens) wouldn't have been possible. Thankfully eels don't move very quickly either.

Take something to clean the glass, if you can get your lens hood pressed flush against the glass it will help, as will a fast lens.

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I've never noticed that, & suppose it depends on how thick the glass is & the angle you're using.

That's the best solution, & having a rubber lens hood helps, but sometimes there's a railing & you can't get close enough to do that. If there's white lettering on the front of the lens, I used to put matte black tape over it.

Using a Rubber Lens Hood works very good and you can use the flash then. Try to wear dark clothes to avoid reflections.

Check :

http://www.melevsreef.​com/fotos.html

Cool. Thanks for sharing. Guess my initial try placing lens onto the glass wasn't that bad after all. I also realised that focusing on the eye always makes the picture looks better - especially on animals, birds and fishes.

More: Look at the links at the very bottom left hand corner of this page.