Aquarium Photography Resources and References

[fort384]

Here are some articles regarding Aquarium Photography:

Decoding the DSLR: Terms, Tricks, & Tips – Aquarium Advice

How to Photograph your Saltwater Tank with a DSLR – Aquarium Advice

How to Touch up Your Coral Pictures in Photoshop CS5 – Aquarium Advice

Please feel free to post additional resources and references, but let's refrain from discussion in this thread. If you would like to discuss specifics or have questions, feel free to start a new thread in the subforum and we can get a discussion going!

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

Thought that I'd share this link I was just reading. It has some great tips. http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-An...how-to-take-great-photos-at-the-aquarium.html

 

[idonthavegills]

I know a little about cameras and have worked as a photographer and would like to ad some advice if I may.

If you're a beginner and all the technical stuff goes over your head here are a few simple tricks.

• turn all the lights off in your room so only your aquarium lights are on, if you need to add lights above your tank then do so, don't add to the sides or in front
• put a black piece of card, or black material on the back of the tank
• put your point and shoot on sports mode (or fast shutter) to reduce blur
• if you know how to change ISO put it up high, 1600 if you can, just change it back to auto when you are done. What this will do is force your sports mode to tighten aperture to give you the most amount of your tank in focus
• try to avoid using a digital zoom, if you dont know what this is, just don;t zoom in too far, maybe 2/3rds of the way at most
• don't use a flash on your point and shoot camera, it will bounce off the glass and ruin your shot
• if you're shooting with your phone, don't use the flash, you can still get good results by turning off lights in your room

If you know you're way around DSLR's and you get where I'm going with the above list. Here are a few tricks you may or may not know.

• get a macro lens if you can afford one, 60mm for apsc crop or 100mm / full frame
• if you can't afford a macro prime lens then check out a diopter aka close focus lens (search close focus diopter at your gear site) they screw on the front and become a poor mans macro but you will lose longer focus ability and it might be harder to track a moving target
• when you use a macro or a diopter to get in close your dof is going to go crazy shallow. This is a property of shortening focal distance, you can combat this by getting your aperture to f10 or tighter, f16+ if you can. Boost your iso high as you dare and add light, slowing the shutter as slow as you dare can gain you a stop or two of light as well
• if you're shooting flash then get your flash off camera and trigger it either with pocket wizards or a cable, you want to get your flash mounted above the tank where it can't reflect off glass. Get your flash diffused as well, a piece of white translucent paper across the top of the tank can diffuse it nicely. Don't worry about spill light off the paper as it will be negligible after it has bounced around your room. A large diffused source like paper will work better than a gary fong on your speedlite

If you have a question I'll do my best to answer, happy shooting !

edit:
a cheap 50mm f1.8 prime lens with a close focus diopter on a lower model aps-c DSLR can create awesome, awesome shots without costing you too much

 

[54seaweed]

Wow I never realized how I'm getting old , I just bought me a new DSLR camera with all the bells and whistles , I know we are in that new techno savvy world where directions are obsolete , but how is a old man supposed to learn how things work with out directions ,

so I went online to find a small directions booklet with do's and don't s , well I found a guide went to print it out to find it's not a guide but a book it has over 2500 pages I about dropped dead ,

All I am interested is to learn the basics on how to work my camera and to understand when to use the different lenses and filters , If I wanted to read a book I would have gone out and bought me a good Stephan King novel ,

I have a Nikon 3100D and half the time can't get it to work if anyone can point me in the direction of idiot proof directions that's not a book I'd be grateful

 

[Brookster123]

Watch a YouTube video.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[TMaier]

Watch a YouTube video.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

You tube is awesome. So thankful for all of the individuals who take time to share their knowledge.