Aquarium Photography

[darkness30]

Hello,
I have a nice aquarium with lots of Rainbowfish in it. I would like to photograph fish but I know it is tricky. If someone has any experience please help. I have R equipment.
Thanks,
Mehmet

[stuny]

I've done some of this, but other than remaining very conscious of the backgrounds and angles, I see little difference compared to "dry" semi-close-up photography.

[earleygallery]

Maybe use a rubber lens hood which you can press right up to the glass to avoid reflections, or of course a polariser filter.

You'll need to compensate for the colour balance at the shooting or printing stage.

[pgk]

Assuming two things:

You are shooting with an SLR, and that you are trying to take details rather than the whole aquarium.

Firstly, you must always have the lens axis perpendicular to the aquarium glass, any deviation and you'll get some unpleasant and increasing softness depending on the angle.

Secondly, you will almost certainly need to use flash and ensure that this is well off camera and that it does not illuminate light coloured elements outside the tank. You might want to use a large piece of black card, with a hole cut for the lens,in front of the camera. This will minimise reflections - although it is best to have the lens as close to the glass as possible.

I usually have the hood against the glass to help square up and minimise reflections, and have undertaken a great deal of aquarium photography over the last 25 years. Polarisers are of little use though!

[darkness30]

Stuart, James, Pgk thank you for your kind and informative replies. I am not going to shoot the whole aquarium, just the fish. I have R9 and 100mm Apo macro lens. I also have 50mm summicron with closeup lens and a circular plarizer and a 60mm macro elmarit. Which lens will be appropriate to use?I have mostly 100 ISO slide and negatives but i will receive some 400 and 800 ISO slides from States. I have a vivitar thyristor flash and i think i can use it at least from its cord length distance. Any other thing that i should pay attention to?

Thanks,
Mehmet

[darkness30]

James, where can i find more info on color balance correction for polarizers?

thanks,
Mehmet

[earleygallery]

Originally Posted by darkness30

James, where can i find more info on color balance correction for polarizers?

thanks,
Mehmet

Mehmet - you shouldn't have any issues with the filter, I was thinking more in terms of the lighting (assuming that you would be shooting with the aquarium lighting, if you use your flash then its not such a problem).