tips and tricks?

[niggit]

i have three tanks that i'm itching to show off but anytime that i've tried to take a picture, they haven't worked out. i have a good quality pentax camera and have taken courses in photography, but the problem i'm running into is getting enough light on the tank (without causing glare/reflection on the glass) to allow a fast enough shutter speed that my active little fishes aren't just blurs. any advice?

 

[justDIY]

here's some things to try:

take the hood / canopy / lights off your tank, and put a few 100 watts of halogen into it (any shutterbug should have a few halogen floods laying around!)

the halogen will give you enough light to focus, and maybe do a few slow shutter shots.

next, with a tripod or some clamps, mount a flash or two either directly above your tank's surface shining down and in, or mount the flash at a 45 degree angle to the glass.

when using a flash, make sure your glass is SPOTLESS otherwise it will show in your flash shots!

also, when using a flash, make sure there is nothing around the tank to reflect light back at the glass, because the glass will also act as a mirror. use black felt to matte your stand / wall behind the tank. (i got two yards of black felt cheap from a fabric store)

hope this helps!

I've yet to figure out how to macro shoot my fast fish ... if it is even possible.

 

[reefrunner69]

I've yet to figure out how to macro shoot my fast fish ... if it is even possible.

Play with the settings...exposure compensation is a big one with shooting macro shots of your moving fish, flash helps too, but usually doesn't give the best results. To get better color with your flash...play with white balance, I found that using the nikon with a flash under aquarium lights (they play hell with the white balance) I got the best results using the flourescent WB preset.