For me one of the great things about keeping an aquarium is being able to capture what I see for posterity and be able to share photographs online. This can be helpful for several reasons.
Firstly you may want help identifying a fish, and short of inviting knowledgeable forum members to your house for a cup of tea and a fancy, in return for finding out what fish you have, clear accurate shots are a must if you are to get a reliable species I.D.
Secondly, when you’ve spent time and money setting up an aquarium and spend many hours nurturing your beloved fish, it’s only natural that you should want others to see what gorgeous fish you have! Of course there may be the odd time when unfortunately a fish is injured or unwell. A good photograph could help forum members with a diagnosis.
Lastly, once this photography thing gets you, you might find family members give you odd looks as you spend your evenings in pitch black with nothing but tank lights, getting yourself into all sorts funny angles, and all in the name of that most illusive of accolades, a winning shot!
I am no pro when it comes to fishy photography, but I have picked up a few useful tips along the way, so I thought I would share them with you.
Your Subject
1.If you were having your lounge shot for an interiors magazine, you would tidy it first and arrange all the furniture so that it looked its best, same goes for your aquarium. Try to conceal filter tubes and heaters if possible, hoover up all the waste before shooting so that the substrate is clean, and if you haven’t got a background to your tank, consider one as shots look better with a dark background.
2. Next make sure your glass is clean inside and out. The camera is very unforgiving of the slightest watermark on the outside of the tank and any algae on the inside. It’s well worth spending some time ensuring the glass is clean because these things can spoil a great shot.
3. In my experience there is not a time of the day when your Malawi’s won’t perform for you. You quickly get to know which ones will eyeball you while you shoot, or start showing off by shimmying at anything that moves once the flash starts popping as mine often do! You will also get to know which fish are camera shy, these fish will get used to your antics in time and you may need to be patient to get that shot. Have you ever tried capturing a Malawi yawn? Patience is the key!
4. Lastly, you may well want to turn your filters down a little if like me you have them at full pelt aerating the water with tiny air bubbles, obviously calmer water looks better on camera.
Your Camera
For close up shots of fish you are always going to need to use the flash to ‘freeze’ the fish
And show its details clearly. So for this reason I wouldn’t get too concerned with shutter speeds because with flash a minimum of 1/125 is going to be sufficient. If you feel your 'on-board' flash is making your fish look over exposed and blazen with hot spots, try attaching some fine tissue paper directly over the flas(avoiding the sensor). This will give a softer less harsh effect. For the ultimate in fish photography, a second flash can be used to light your subject from above using a 'slave' remote(i.e goes off in response to the original on board flash). This can create superb shots without any shadow. Of course you may need some tape to secure the flash above your tank so that it doesn't fall into the water!
In fish photography it’s the aperture(the f number) that is always going to be more important. The aperture controls something known as the ‘Depth Of Field’. When you see a great fish shot where the fish is in focus and the background is blurred and not distracting, the shot is likely to have been taken with a smaller aperture.
Simply speaking, the aperture is controlled by a ring around the lens barrel which is calibrated by numbers called ‘f’ stops which follow a sequence: i.e f2.8, f3.2, f3.6, f4, f4.5 and so on. The smaller the number the wider open the barrel of the lense is and therefore the faster the shutter speed will be.( To explain this, think of a barrel with a hole in the top being filled with water. A wide holed barrel will fill with water quicker than a barrel with a small hole. Water = Light. Thus a small aperture will have a faster shutter speed than a larger aperture.)
For close-ups of fish you usually want a smaller f number so that the fish appears totally in focus. For a long shot of the tank where you may want as much of the tank in focus, you may need to experiment with larger apertures to increase the depth of field.
If you have a macro setting(and most camera do these days), set the camera to this. You will find that your camera will allow you to get much closer to your fish and still be able to focus. All photo's I take of fish are taken in macro mode, it opens up great opportunity's to see parts of your fish that even the naked eye misses.
For full length tank shots I have found getting the fish as well as the tank in focus calls for some experimenting with both aperture and shutter speeds because for this type of shot you are better off not using flash.
With lights off you are going to have a slower shutter speed to allow longer for available light to enter the lense. If you have a tripod use it.
This is the dilemma of fish photography. You need to experiment with speed and aperture when taking long shots of your tank to get the look that’s right for you. The best tank shots are where lighting is adequate and all the tank contents including fast moving fish are in focus.
Have a play around with your aperture and speed setting. Take a note of what the speed and aperture were when you achieved the look you wanted. Those with a light background, light substrate and rocks will find the full length tank shots easier I suspect than those like myself with an overall dark setup.
