photographing aquarium fish

[harper]

hi all can someone give me a hand. im trying to capture some shots of my pet fish from my aquarium but it just not working out for me.

any pointers and settings will be appreciated.

[kiwi]

More information ?

[Speedway]

As Kiwi said, but if reflections are the problem you could try a CPR to reduce them.
Keith.

[mpb]

Hi, I have no experience or advise from myself but you could have a look at

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?555-Some-advice-if-possible&highlight=frankman

[harper]

im trying to take the shots without using a flash if possible, the fish are quite small and are a breed very easily prone to get stressed out and die :(

the tank is lit by 4 fluro lights and the room they are in is not very bright.
havent had any decent enough shots to see about the refelections

[harper]

Hi, I have no experience or advise from myself but you could have a look at

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?555-Some-advice-if-possible&highlight=frankman

thanks mark this was quite helpfull

[Xebadir]

Another piece of advice, shoot at night and make sure only the tank light is on. This will allow you to avoid reflections.
Make sure the glass is very very clean, for my marine system I tended to use windex on the outside to get it sparkly clean to minimise the internal reflections. The same could be said for water movement, it might be easier to turn the filtration off to minimise flow within the system.
If possible use a black background, this allows you to make the fish pop more.
Use your continuous AF system, low ISO and a tripod, set up such that you are shooting one part of the tank and let them swim through it. Shouldn't have any trouble in nailing the focus. Aperture wise, treat it like a portrait, somewhere in the 4.5-6.3 range should do.

Hope these are of assistance, what kind of fish are they?

[harper]

thanks mate

my fish tropheus, a very beautiful looking fish

[Rattus79]

I was shooting my guys the other day. (various cichlids from malawi and a couple of Frontosia) things i found:

clean tank ... Twice
High ISO - i think i got up to 1200
I started at 400, but it was just too slow to freeze them. At that stage I was wide open F: 2.8 @ 1/80th on a 28mm prime)

Alot of this will have to do with your lights too. I have 2 x 4 foot Fluros, 1x red 1x blue on a 6' x 18" x 18" tank. If you're using incandecent or LED lighting, you may find you will get higher shutter speeds. especially if your tank is shallower.

Polarisers loose a bit of light, but will cut down glare and marks on your tank.

If your fish don't mind too much, off camera flash is the best method. It helps to avoid the glare and freezes action all in one hit.

[crf529]

Yup off camera flash will always yeild the best reults. I've got 78W of T5HO lighting over a 14" deep tank, and that is barely enough.

[James Axford]

hey harper
I'm not sure how much help i can be as i don't have much experience. I took a few shots at the Melbourne aquarium a while ago, took a few lenses and my 5dmk2.
I found I tended to used my 50mm the most. you have to get real close to the glass, better to be against it so to avoid reflection, also stops motions shack.
also the more light the better, but no too much as to scare the fish.

here's a murry cod from the melbourne aquarium taken with the 50mm
Date Taken: 2010-11-03 15:02:26
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure Time: 0.005s (1/200)
Aperture: f/1.4
ISO: 1600
Focal Length: 50mm (50mm in 35mm)

http://jimmyax.smugmug.com/Other/Everyday/IMG5075/1117171485_7NSQK-O.jpg

[crf529]

Just to be clear, when I say off camera flash, I mean fired from above the tank facing down trough the surface of the water....

[harper]

thanks guys

im slowly getting the hang of it