Tutorial – Photographing fish in an aquarium

When I was getting into photography I had a look around the web for guides to taking photographs of fish as I have an aquarium and wanted to take some pictures. I found that there weren’t any really good guides to taking photos so I thought I’d write my own.

I got together three cameras, a Panasonic DMC-FX40, a Nikon D40 with the standard 18-55 kit lens and a Nikon D90 with a 105mm Macro lens and SB900 flash. These are meant to represent the three types of camera user, the beginner, intermediate and advanced. Choose which guide best fits what equipment you have and get clicking!

Overview

Albino neon tetra - Nikon D90, Nikkor 105mm, ISO 800, F10, 1/100s

Regardless of which you go for here are some general tips to get the best from your photos:

• Use an overhead light if you have one. Most tanks will have a strip light above, this is normally great for shooting. If you have one above your tank then try to take your photos as close to the top of the water as possible to get the best light. The water at the bottom of the tank will have lost a lot of the light passing through.
• Clean your tank! Nothing worse than a big dried water drip between you and your fish in the final photo. Any glass cleaning products are fine, just don’t get them in the water!
• Try and get your fish used to you being there with a camera. Some ways to do this are to get them really used to you feeding them so they come up and say hello when you’re around or to put your camera on a tripod and leave it there for a few days to get them used to having a big black camera in their faces.
• If you’re struggling to get them to come and play then take your photographs whilst they’re feeding. My fish don’t care what you do if you’ve just given them some flakes! Blood worms are also interesting to use as you can get photos of your fish eating them.

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Jan 31, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Tutorials | Tags: fish, tutorial | 2 Comments »