getting good shots of aquariums?

[praline3001]

Yesterday we went to the aquarium and I of course took the chance to practice on my photography. I got a few good shots but the majority didn't come out very well. We have an aquarium membership so I can go back for free 100s of times. I am going to start going over there to practice while my kids are in school as I really enjoyed taking photos of the sea life.

The place was packed yesterday! No chance for a tripod and I only had a few moments at each tank before I was pushed out by new viewers. This environment really challenged me and I had to wing it several times ~ sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't.

I didn't use any flash.. though several times my photos were messed up by someone next to me using one. I pulled my ISO up really high ~ like 1600 or higher. Since I was hand holding the camera, I couldn't go any lower with shutter speed then about 1/40-1/50 without getting blur and even at that speed, they weren't super sharp. I used my kit lens and tried to keep my aperture at f/4.0 as that is the lowest F stop I have on it.

Does anyone have any advice or help for those taking photos of aquarium life?
I would love to get some ideas and suggestions on how to get better photos!

[digirebelva]

Put the lens as close to the glass as u can to cut down on reflections from the lights hitting the glass

[dlambert]

Aquarium shots are one of those notoriously-difficult low-light action shots that really push equipment to their limits. The two problems you've got are controlling glare and stopping action. In this case, I'm not sure a tripod is really going to help you a ton because you're not just trying to control your own movements -- you're trying to stop the action of the swimming fish.

I visited the zoo & aquarium just before x-mas, and it was packed then, too. I didn't take a ton of shots, but of the ones I shot, here are some observations:

* The reef tanks (coral) are much more brightly-lit than some of the fish-only tanks. This improves conditions on one hand, but I found that it highlighted water spots and imperfections on the glass (inside and out), and caused more problems with glare than the lower-light tanks. I didn't have any "keepers" out of these shots.

* Big tanks with big fish seemed easier to shoot. Use a high ISO (1600 or better) and the largest possible aperture (smallest number) to boost shutter speed. I shot a hammerhead shark at 1/400 and f/2.2 that turned out passable. The low light in these tanks, while being a little more challenging for the camera, seemed to produce less glare. With your T3i, I'd start at 1600, but use 3200 or even 6400 if you need that to stop action.

* If you can isolate fish, try panning. I got a couple more shots in the big tank at speeds as low as 1/60 by panning with the fish. This Sohol Tang came out ok, I think, and this wrasse had decent detail. In both cases, the fish were essentially gliding by -- neither were really moving a lot while they coasted, so panning worked fairly well.

I wouldn't consider any of these shots to be especially stunning, but I think if you catch the aquarium on a slow day when you can practice a bit, you should be able to do better than these.

[Hill Country Hack]

Timely thread praline. I was just to the zoo with an aquarium. I did nlt do too well. I got a couple of passable shots by shooting wide open and standing close. I was lucky as it was not too crowed, but did get bumped a few times by excited kids.

I expeirmented with my on camera flash and THAT did not work. I did try holding the camera with one hand while using a couple of fingers of the off hand to act as a bounce card to deflect the light up. It did reduce/move the flash spot to an area I could crop out.

There was another guy taking pics. He had a nice camera/lens/grip and off center flash mount with speedlight just snapping away. Not being sure if the guy was a photographer or a fauxtographer like me, I didn't ask how his shots were turning out.

[praline3001]

Oh I love your shark photo!!!

Our Aquarium has a HUGE shark tank, it covers the entire room. I didn't get one decent shot of that tank though =( The sharks were moving way too fast and with the crowds in the room I did horrible =(

Here is what most of my failed shots did:

sea dragon by praline3001, on Flickr

I went with a shutter speed of 1/100 but it still wasn't enough for a clear shot. I am not sure if it was more my movements that caused it or the sea dragon's movements. I am still pretty new at this and can't tell... that's why I was wondering if a tripod would help me. Its not like sea dragons swim a 100mph lol

For this shot I did use my 50mm f/1.4 lens. I know it has a longer focal range then what is wanted for tanks but out of my lenses that is the only one with a good aperture for dark photos. My others are 4.0 and up. I figured I would attempt it with the 50 to see if I could get more light out of the aperture. I am still doing a TON of experimenting to figure out what works and what doesn't. I didn't get any glare in this shot and the lighting was good, I just couldn't get the shutter speed high enough.

I did get a handful of decent shots. Nothing that will win prizes or anything but I am happy with them for a beginner. I will upload those later. I am trying to study my failures much more closely then the photos I like. That way I can figure out what went wrong.

[dlambert]

Thanks, Praline. The sea dragon's not too bad -- the colors are fantastic. I think those little fluttery bits may have been moving a bit here, even if the dragon wasn't. That's one of the deceptive parts of aquariums -- there's almost always something moving somewhere, even if it's just the current pushing it around. All my keepers were with my 50mm f/1.8.

The flash idea is intriguing. I wasn't about to try that with the aquarium packed the way it was, but I'd think that you might be able to use a flash if you got it far enough away from the lens so it didn't cause a huge glare problem. Maybe even use a short snoot of some sort to seal the light against the glass?

[praline3001]

Thanks, Praline. The sea dragon's not too bad -- the colors are fantastic

It looks really good as a thumbnail image

I am not sure if I know how to set up that type of flash lighting. The best I could probably do in a public place like this is use my speedlite as a wireless slave unit while I have my loving hubby hold the flash in the air ... looking like an idiot

[Hill Country Hack]

Originally Posted by praline3001

Oh I love your shark photo!!!

Our Aquarium has a HUGE shark tank, it covers the entire room. I didn't get one decent shot of that tank though =( The sharks were moving way too fast and with the crowds in the room I did horrible =(

Here is what most of my failed shots did:

sea dragon by praline3001, on Flickr

I went with a shutter speed of 1/100 but it still wasn't enough for a clear shot. I am not sure if it was more my movements that caused it or the sea dragon's movements. I am still pretty new at this and can't tell... that's why I was wondering if a tripod would help me. Its not like sea dragons swim a 100mph lol

For this shot I did use my 50mm f/1.4 lens. I know it has a longer focal range then what is wanted for tanks but out of my lenses that is the only one with a good aperture for dark photos. My others are 4.0 and up. I figured I would attempt it with the 50 to see if I could get more light out of the aperture. I am still doing a TON of experimenting to figure out what works and what doesn't. I didn't get any glare in this shot and the lighting was good, I just couldn't get the shutter speed high enough.

I did get a handful of decent shots. Nothing that will win prizes or anything but I am happy with them for a beginner. I will upload those later. I am trying to study my failures much more closely then the photos I like. That way I can figure out what went wrong.

Looks more like camera shake to me. Are you stabbing the shutter release?

When I'm pushing the low end of hand holding shutter speed I treat it like firing a rifle. Breath control and trigger squeeeeze. I take a deep breath in, slowly exhale about half the volume and hold my breath while slowly pressing the shutter release. Sometimes the camera fires when I want it to and sometimes too soon or too late. As stated earlier, panning may help.

[praline3001]

Looks more like camera shake to me. Are you stabbing the shutter release?

When I'm pushing the low end of hand holding shutter speed I treat it like firing a rifle. Breath control and trigger squeeeeze. I take a deep breath in, slowly exhale about half the volume and hold my breath while slowly pressing the shutter release. Sometimes the camera fires when I want it to and sometimes too soon or too late. As stated earlier, panning may help.

One of my biggest issues is my hand shaking. I have always had a shaky hand and it has become a real problem now with my photography. I am working on the issue and trying to find ways to minimize this. I have been reading how using the eye piece as a 3rd point of contact helps. I have been doing this for close ups. When it comes to distance, I have issues with focusing with the eye piece. I have bad eyes and they are getting worse with age

I have been debating getting a monopod and using it everywhere I go. I have shopped around for them and haven't found one that works for what I want.

I have been keeping a log journal of places/exposure/issues that I have. This way, when I return to the place or am faced with something similar I have a general guideline.

I think if I boosted my ISO to 3200 and my shutter speed to 200 and use the exposure compensate on my camera it might be enough. I wish the 50mm had IS on it!!!! I will have to run it pretty heavy through noise ninja but that program is pretty good about keeping the details.

[ccting]

How about backlit + Top + Bottom + side lighting?