PaulaNeil

I have to opportunity to take photos at the large aquarium. Tanks of colorful fish, sharks and jellyfish. Any tips on this type of photography would be appreciated.
Thanks

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

polarizing filter & no flash

evandr Loc: Tooele, Utah

Sometimes you need a flash, in fact with fast moving fish a fast shutter is necessary and that means having a flash unless the tank is very well lit up or the ISO is highly elevated.

I have photographed at several aquariums and found it successful to use a flash if the camera lens is up against the glass as flat as can be so any glass not directly in front of the lens will not be in the picture and thusly neither will the flare of the flash. Of course sometimes you need to angle the camera in such a way that having the lens flat on the glass is not possible in which case a cupped hand over the opening between the lens and the glass will work. If this is a real special opportunity then getting a rubber shroud that will flex against glass completely sealing it from flare will work very well. Something else that will help is to use off camera flash in which case both hands will most likely be used and therefore a rubber shroud is a must; in either case setting the flash to 1/2 power or less is plenty and usually 1/3 to 1/4 power will do quite nicely. As for using the polarizer, I never did and got great results but it sounds like it might be a good idea, I'll have to try it, especially when shooting from a distance.

If you are trying to shoot the whole tank from a distance then try not to shoot it straight on, sometimes you can get away with using a flash if you angle the shot relative to the plane of the glass on the tank so the light of the flash does not reflect directly back into the lens of the camera.

Another thing when shooting from a distance is that usually the tank is smaller and brighter than the surrounding so be sure to spot meter on the bright part of the tank and not the whole surrounding because the camera will over expose the shot.

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

Get a soft rubber lens hood. You can buy or build one,

http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?4379-DIY-homemade-lens-hood

http://www.lenshoods.co.uk/

http://www.camerafilters.com/pages/lenshoods.aspx

and place the hood directly against the glass, this will prevent reflections from entering your lens. You can try it with or without flash.
Good luck and show us what you get!

Gordon

hobbycam Loc: Now in "Hollister, Ca."

I have had some luck, though not very sharpfocus shooting at an angle with flash. The photos I have sampled here has strong light coming from the top, the glass made this shot hard to take.
Dont be afraid to experiment , you can always view the photo and retake if necessary. :-)

I hope this helps

Shot w/flash at about 45deg angle


Shot w/flash at about 45deg angle


Shot w/flash at about 45deg angle

evandr Loc: Tooele, Utah

oops!

evandr Loc: Tooele, Utah

Shooting flash at an angle from a distance does not always work, spots on the glass or a hazy film may be illuminated, the glass has to be clean and clear for best results; also you cannot use the flash on full power because it is hard to avoid some reflective flair even on clean glass. It does require some trial and error. I took these pictures using flash.

This crab was in a restricted tank just big enough for it to fit in, I angled the camera down from about 12 inches away with the flash on 1/4 power


This one was taken with flash back about 2 feet from the tank standing at about a 30 degree angle from the plane of the glass


I had the lens right up against the glass when this was shot and again I used the flash at 1/4 power off camera, I had a mirrored reflector bouncing the on-board flash straight up.


This was a large tank (swimming pool size) I had the camera up against the glass angled down with my hand over the lense to shield it from the flair of the flash


I stood back away from this tank with no flash, ISO 1000 @ 1/125th sec. using a Bush Hawk hand held camera mount to steady the shot.

PhotoGeezer Loc: North East Ohio

My avatar was taken at the Cleveland Zoo's aquatics building. I used the on camera flash, shot in program mode and stood at an angle so the flash would not reflect into the lens. I believe the shutter was at 1/200th

Bumped up the contrast and darkened it just a smidge.

Almost forgot, there is alway a polarizing filter on all my lenses. Learned the hard way at the drag strip that you should always have some protection over the lens element out in the cold cruel world.

evandr Loc: Tooele, Utah

I always have a UV on all my lenses to protect the precious glass but a polarizer stops down the lens by 2; for me that nullifies the advantages of having a 1.4 lense so I only use one when I feel the need. I guess using a polarizer would have been a good idea at the Living World Aquarium in Salt Lake City when tank glare could not be avoided on some shots but the added f/stops provided by not having a polarizer made for more flexability.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

The goal of the polarizing filter would be to reduce glare on the outside of the glass when shooting with no flash, so you wouldn't have used one when pressing the lens right against the glass.

To help during putting the lens against the glass, one could use a short focal length lens like a wide angle and capture more of the tank in each shot then crop with software at home later, if you have a high resolution body.

evandr Loc: Tooele, Utah

I agree with your comment about the polarizing filter, I just never took many shots away from the glass so the thought of using one in an otherwise dark enviroment where glare from external sources was never a real problem never crossed my mind. As for using a wide angle lense you have to be careful, a wida angle lens at such close focusing distances can compress and distort the image so that it is quite obvious.

The image I have posted below, although not an aquarium, illistrates what I am saying. The whisky bottle is a full 5th in size but due to its close proximity (only 12 inches) to the lens it looks like a shooter that is melting on the left side. The background is the Kennecott Copper Mine in Salt Lake City

Shot in full manual, 17-35mm lens at 17mm, f/22, ISO 800 for 1/80th sec.