Aquarium Photography

[johnny70]

I have been trying to take some decent pictures of my aquariums and fish, had some that are ok. Johnny70's Aquarium Album some recent pics

I'm using a 400D with a 28-80 macro lens(sigma) getting a tripod and 430ex flash in the next two weeks

I'm finding getting the settings between the lighting and speed of the fish difficult as well as getting full tank shots with the flouresent lighting.

I'm pretty new at photography and would like to improve the shots I do.

Anyone help?

Thanks
JOHNNY

[T0MAT01]

For starters I wouldn't recommend you use a flash! It'll scare the fish and you will need to fire it directly at the tank which will give you a nasty glare from the flash bouncing off of the glass straight back at the camera.

Since fish rarely stop moving you need quite a fast shutter, so to get that you either need to up the ISO or use a nice wide aperture (or maybe even both). I'd be looking for something like 1/80th sec and faster for nice sharp results.

HTH.

[sbowler]

Tripod and remote release will definately help improve things.

[jomike]

Have a look here.

Mike

[jenufa]

Agree with everything Tomato1 says above

One from my aquarium

Clicky Piccy

[LenScott]

You may want to try wrapping a black clock around the front of your lens when it is near the glass as it should cut down on reflections and light coming in from the wrong angle.

It works when shooting through glass at the zoo, so it may be worth it on your aquarium.

[stylgeo]

Well you could do something like this. I find it easier to use an image to explain, sorry for my poor Ms Paint skills.

So, you just put your external flash or a lamp on the side of the tank and use a piece of paper as a diffuser, or if you have a diffuser that's better. This way you get more flattering results for your tank and you have enough light to use faster shutter speeds, and you don't have the flash reflections because there arent any!

[johnny70]

Cheers for the replies.

I was hoping for some idea's on what settings to use ie Tv etc and what ISO etc.

Cheers
JOHNNY

[stylgeo]

Well, it mainly depends on the subject. If it's a fast moving little fish I would personally go for faster shutter speeds, if on the other hand was a bottom dwelling fish, ie a catfish I would choose a suitable aperture, since fish-movement would be minimal. As for camera settings, I would go for custom WB, choosing a white point on the available light, on the setting I suggested above and AV. You should choose the smallest aperture you can get, with shutter speeds you can get away with. It's easy to choose unrealisticly fast shutter speeds with TV, so just stick with AV and compensate with every shutter speed reading you'll get.