Basic tips on aquatic photography

[amiidae]

Well, guys,

I’ve been receiving PMs from various forums with some common questions like;


What camera do you use ?

What is a good camera for aquatic photography ?

My subject is always so dark in the photo, what should I do ?

The image of my subject is always blurred, how can I improve it?

How do I shoot a fast moving fish while achieving a sharp image ?


The followings are some photographic settings and techniques that I've personally been practicing for the past few years, which I hope would be helpful to you.


Cheers !

Ben

[amiidae]

The Equipments



The camera
Basically, your camera must have the following features / functions.

1) Hot shoe to attach external flash
2) Full Manual mode
3) Macro mode and
4) Some zoom capacity







Some accessories






Note : Some of the accessories will not be required if your camera has the wireless function to trigger the flash remotely.


My usual settings with the above hardware
Set to Manual mode
Speed set at 1/125
F at 8
ISO at 100

[amiidae]

Some pointers for taking aquatic photography - standard home aquarium setting.


Some basic preparations:

• Clean the external and internal faces of the glass tank to remove traces of algae, water stains, dust etc.

• Have set/s of extra tank light(s) (if possible).

• Change the water at least x hours earlier to allow the sediment to settle.

• Ensure the tank surrounding is dark (shooting at night in pitch darkness will certainly help) & cover the "air gap". Only the tank and/or the subject to be photographed should be lit up.

• Switch off the filter or air pump if possible during the shoot.





Shooting a top swimmer (dark colored subject)
• Place the flash a distance apart from the subject
• Reduce ISO setting

Shooting a light colored top swimmer or subject in a bright tank
• Place the flash a distance apart from the subject
• Cover the flash with tissue/tracing paper or reduce the output power of the flash
• Reduce ISO setting

Shooting a subject in a shallow tank
• Place the flash a distance apart from the subject
• Cover the flash with tissue/tracing paper or reduce the output power of the flash
• Reduce ISO setting

Shooting a fast swimming species
• Set to higher speed, say 1/125 or higher
• Set the aperture (F) number higher
• Set ISO higher, to say 200




And my last piece of advice - practice, practice & more practice… Remember, most of us are first fish keepers before turning into photographers, amateur or otherwise....




Cheers !!!

p/s: For better results, try taking yours shots using more than 1 set of flash.

bro thanks for the info, very helpful to me. thanks

[naser90096]

very informative ... i've been using auto setting all this while cos dunnoe to work it in manual. will try the tips given. if no external flash can? tank light is bright enough ...

[amiidae]

you won't get very sharp image if you take moving object as compared to shooting it with an ext flash.

also, your subject may not show the true color in the pix

I shoot all my pics with no flash. It's a better than using the inbuilt flash but if the fish moves fast you've had it. Luckily my camera has a great lens and sucks in a lot of light from the tank lights, still not enough to get the shutter speed up though
In some cases due to the shutter speed being too slow with no flash I physicaly track the fish with the camera. It's very hard to do. This is why in some of my pics the background is blurred while the fish is as in focus as I can get it.

I think I need to invest in an external flash, if it keeps the colours true unlike my inbuilt flash it will help things no end.

Thanks for the tips amiidae, I like the tracing paper one

[bsplenden]

Is there an alternative for the flash if my camera does not have a hotshoe?

I'm using the Canon S3IS. Only got the built in flash which doesn't work quite well most of the time when taking photos of my fishes.

Got to angle it such that there is no reflection of the flash.

[amiidae]

you may need to go for wireless slave flash but it is gonna be an expensive solution.

Alternatevely, try the followings :

have as many tank lights as possible,
set your camera to Manual mode,
push up the ISO reading,
set the speed at 1/80 & F 5.6

However, don't expect the pix to be as sharp as compered to those shot taken with flash.

bro thanks for your info.