Taking pictures through curved glass

Are there any tips to getting decent pictures through a curved glass?

I am trying to help a friend with a 180 degree aquarium get some pictures of his corals and fish.

Don't use direct on camera flash, which will cause lots of glare on the glass.

I would try to get additional lighting of some sort, maybe from the top or sides or bottom, because you will want to keep your shutter speed high to prevent motion blurring of the fish.

Macro shots of fish?

Technically you take pictures through curved glass every time you take a picture...

Actually, most pics would be of corals. However, since the glass is curved, it's hard to get sharp pics thru the glass.

Here are a couple pics to hopefully get more responses to this thread

Very funny


But to the original question, I've done a good amount of aquarium photos, and my previous tank was a bowfront, so I feel your pain. Unfortunately, I'm at work at the moment (yes, I should be doing actual work), so I can't see your pictures, but I'll take a look when I get home this evening. Anyway, here are some general hints:

1. Orient the camera in as direct a line through the glass as possible. Taking a clear picture through curved glass at even a small angle is difficult to impossible. This may involve moving your corals around.

2. If we're talking a bowfront here, try taking pictures through the sides where the glass is flat.

3. Taking pictures of corals towards the back of the tank is nearly impossible. The further from the glass the coral is, the greater the distortion.

4. Flash is actually very practical with aquarium photography, but you definitely need to separate the flash from the camera as much as possible. As long as the camera is pretty close to the glass, you can usually get away with something like a speedlite. Better yet, have the flash connected remotely so it can shine down into the tank. Even better, put a reflector over the top of the tank and point the flash up towards the reflector.

5. And here's the real way to take great coral pictures. . .put the lens in the water. . .no, wait, it's not as crazy as it sounds. Obviously, you have to protect the lens, but you can actually make a box out of acrylic that will allow you to shoot from the top down. If you think your corals have nice colors from the side, you should see them from the top.

One final thing. If you haven't already, try out Reefcentral.com. There's a photography forum there, with some very talented aquarium photographers. Also, Marine Aquarist Courses Online (or MACO) occasionally teaches an online course specifically on aquarium photography. It primarily deals with photographing fish, but if you can get a good photo of a fish, corals are easy.