Lets have some pointers

[RyanG]

If you have found or know of good photography techniques for shooting our tanks with a DSLR camera post them up. I know we have some very good photographers here and some that have made some huge strides in the last year or so. Help some of us slather-asses out!

 

[d2mini]

Shooting our tanks is a major PITA!!! :lol:
Especially bowfront tanks like mine. You pretty much have to shoot perpendicular to the glass to get a focused shot.

White Balance
I experiment with custom white balances. Our tanks have such a crazy mix of light spectrums. I've found that for my tank, 10,000k or even higher gets me colors that are pretty close.

ISO
One thing I do is crank up the iso as far as I can without getting too much noise. This will let me shoot with a faster shutter speed which is crucial in getting sharp pics. Some cameras have much better high iso performance than others. Some get really noisy really fast.

Shutter Speed
See above. Fish, soft corals, inverts... they are all moving. If they're not swimming, they're swaying in the current. You need to shoot with a shutter speed that is fast enough to stop the action. I try to get shoot with at least 1/100th of a second. The higher the iso and the larger the aperture (lower f/stop number) the faster you'll be able to set the shutter speed

Aperture (f-stop)
The aperture is the size of the hole in the lens that lets the light in. The smaller that hole, the sharper things will be. It's like squinting your eyes. You squint (close up your eyes) to see things sharper. So the smaller that hole, the more things will be in focus from front to back. If you want to achieve less depth of focus, you need to open up that hole and let more light in. So with our tanks, with things moving around and trying to get lots of detail, you may want to close up that hole, but this lets in less light. WIth less light, you need to have a longer shutter speed. So I end up shooting a lot of stuff with wider apertures because it allows me to shoot at faster shutter speeds.
Now if you are not confused enough already, the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (hole in the lens). So if you want less in focus, choose a smaller f-stop like f/2.0. If you want more in focus, choose a higher f-stop like f/5.6. I typically shoot around f/5.6 because it gives me the best compromise of depth of focus and shutter speed.

Tripod
If you are shooting corals, use a tripod!!
If you are shooting fish, you're gonna have to shoot hand held. But you might be able to brace an elbow or something against the tank, or try putting your foot up on a stool or chair and rest your elbow on your knee. Anything to try and steady the camera while at the same time moving it around to track the fish.

Macro
If you're camera has interchangeable lenses, and you have some cash, look for a macro lens. This will let you to focus closer to your subject and get lots of detail.

Patience
Gotta have it. Take lots and lots of shots, then take some more. Play with the different settings talked about above and look at how they change the photograph. You'll learn over time which settings work best for you.


One other thing I have not tried yet is shooting from the top down with the lens in an acrylic box where part of the box gets submerged under the water. Melevsreef website shows how to do this and he gets some incredibly clear shots that way.

Hope that helps a little. :sfish:

 

[parrotchute]

D2, excellent advice. I have a relatively new Canon Digital that allows me to change all those options, and luckily, my girlfriend is a photo expert, and gave me similar advice. I had a hard time figuring out how to manage shutter speed, aperture, and ISO...you clear it up pretty well.

I think you can shoot pics of your fish on your tripod...I loosen it up a bit so it can swivel to track stuff, but tight enough to hold the camera in place when I squeeze.


I like turning my whites off, too, everything kind of yellows out when I have them on...

 

[d2mini]

I think you can shoot pics of your fish on your tripod...I loosen it up a bit so it can swivel to track stuff, but tight enough to hold the camera in place when I squeeze.

Yes, you definitely can. I just feel too constrained. So I shoot hand held and hope for the best. :mrgreen:

 

[parrotchute]

My hands arent that steady d!!

 

[project5k]

also dont forget the composition of the photo, the 3x3 grid of focal location, and please watch your flashback, the glare you get from the flash when you are perpindicular to the tank glass...

so, speaking of photography, back in the day i used to know what it was called, but now i cant think of the proper term for it.. Picture this, your taking a picture of a golfer making his chip shot, and you fire off the picture just as the ball passes infront of his face, we've all seen that picture right? whats that called, when, because of it being a 2 dimentional picture, you cant tell whats infront of what, or is that golf ball really on the end of his nose? i know there's a proper term for that... but i'm drawing a blank...

 

[Picasso]

I think Dennis has you covered! I agree that shooting fishes and such with a tripod is difficult. If your camera needs a tripod then your shutter speed is so slow that you can't hold the camera still enough without getting a blur on your shot. If you can talk your fish into holding really still for a second or two then use your tripod. I haven't gotten my ponies to cooperate that much!

The only thing I can think to add is that I think shots are better with a side light. Think about how lighting affects your subject. Lighting from the front, like an on camera flash, is probably the worst light for most subjects. Without the interesting textures created by the shadows the subject flattens out. Not very flattering. Strong overhead lighting, like most tanks, will tend to hide the details in your subject. If you adjust your exposure for the lightest areas such as the light hitting your sand then your details of your corals and fishes get burned out. If you adjust for the coral or fish then your white areas get washed. Either way you're loosing details. If you bring a light at a 45* angle to your right or left then you create interest by creating a more natural shadow and you can expose your shot for the details and not loose your whites. If you are adept at using a quality editing software like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop you can compensate for this somewhat but it's always best to start with a good exposure. In my experience using a yellow light such as a normal lamp bulb helps create a natural coloring for my tank. Consider these two shots:

This shot of Stella was taken with a side light. The following shot of Pegasus was taken with the same camera with only my tank light:

In the first shot the textures and the warmth give a better feeling to the shot than the one of Pegs where the light is colder and the details are lost. Granted, Pegs is a black horse so she's going to be difficult anyway but I'm using an extreme example to make a point.

The drawback to side-lighting in a tank is the glare on the tank. It does create issues. That's why in my shots my corals tend to be the ones with the good lighting I have more control of glare that way. My horses tend to swim right to the spot where I've got the worst glare and stay there so I can't get them. Also, I'm shooting through a bow-front so I've got extra limitations.

The only other issue that I see a lot of on this board is the lack of consideration of how your background influences your shot. Try to shoot around wires and other tank hardware. Also, before you post your shot, is something "growing" out of your fishes head? If something is in the background try to blur it with your aperture setting or editing software so the background doesn't compete visually with your subject matter.

I hope this helps. I'm always willing to help with specific questions or technical issues.

Catherine

 

[Picasso]

also dont forget the composition of the photo, the 3x3 grid of focal location, and please watch your flashback, the glare you get from the flash when you are perpindicular to the tank glass...

so, speaking of photography, back in the day i used to know what it was called, but now i cant think of the proper term for it.. Picture this, your taking a picture of a golfer making his chip shot, and you fire off the picture just as the ball passes infront of his face, we've all seen that picture right? whats that called, when, because of it being a 2 dimentional picture, you cant tell whats infront of what, or is that golf ball really on the end of his nose? i know there's a proper term for that... but i'm drawing a blank...

I think you're thinking of perspective?

C

 

[d2mini]

Good points, Catherine.

I tend not to use flash much because I try to get the lighting as close to how it looks in real life as possible, and the flash adds another color to it. But sometimes i need to light up the front of my subject for more detail so I have to use it. Using the flash will also help greatly with achieving those faster shutter speeds.

I agree, perspective is probably what project5k is talking about. The longer the lens (the farther away you are from your subject, meaning you are using a longer lens with more zoom) the flatter the image will look. This is good for portraits of people so it doesn't look like their nose is huge. But in the golf ball example it compresses the scene so that even though the ball is really 50ft from the golfer, it could make it look like there is a larger than life ball right in front of his face.
But typically this is a non-issue when shooting our tanks.

 

[parrotchute]

Is the term you are looking for "depth of field"?

 

[Picasso]

Is the term you are looking for "depth of field"?

Depth-of-Field refers to how much of the focal plane is in focus. Have you ever seen a nice landscape photo where you can see miles and miles into the distance and everything is in focus? That shot has a large depth-of-field: a large aperture number and a tiny opening in the lens when you take that shot. Shots like a traditional portraits or most of our tank shots have a very narrow depth-of-field where the stuff that's in focus is only about an inch or two deep and the background is all blurry. Those shots have a narrow depth-of-field: a small number on the aperture setting and the hole in the lens will be larger. The shots where the ball in front of the golfer are dealing with issues of perspective how large something appears in relationship to other items in that photograph. Does that make sense? These two techniques are different but similar aspects of photography.

Catherine

 

[project5k]

nope its not persepctive and its not DOF, i know both of thoes.. no this was one small word, if memory serves.. i just cant find it...

i remember studying it when i was in school working in the yearbook and the newspaper, and at my job after school as the photographer/darkroom person for a real live newspaper... but i still cant remember that term...

 

[Picasso]

nope its not persepctive and its not DOF, i know both of thoes.. no this was one small word, if memory serves.. i just cant find it...

i remember studying it when i was in school working in the yearbook and the newspaper, and at my job after school as the photographer/darkroom person for a real live newspaper... but i still cant remember that term...

I've heard it called perspective distortion (inaccurately used, perspective distortion is a lens issue), perspective illusion, and depth illusion. Here's an example"

 

[RyanG]

Rule of thirds?

 

[Picasso]

Rule of thirds?

Rule of thirds is a compositional rule. It divides the picture frame up into an imaginary tic-tac-toe grid. Usually, good composition states that you want to weight your main subject into one of those quadrants. Simply stated, position the main subject into one of the cross hairs of your grid rather than in the middle. This is often called a 'rule' or law but really it's a guideline. Sometimes the main subject looks better in the middle.

Interestingly, the rule of thirds is mathematically the same ratio as the Fibonacce sequence or "The Golden Mean" found in perspective discussions in Ancient Greece. This same ratio is found in the chamber development of the nautilaus shell!

Catherine

 

[Picasso]

Here's an example of the rule of thirds:

 

[Brian_G]

wow there is alot of awesome advice here. what about the camera itself. i want a new camera, what should i look for? brand preference? etc?

 

[parrotchute]

Good explanations Cath, I'm very green in photography and trying to learn as much as I can. What ISO do you usually use?

Brian - I've always been a Canon fan, and just got a canon SX200 IS. It's a compact, so no lens capability, but the features on it are boggling. I can do a LOT with this camera. I chose to get a compact because I used to have a camera with a big lens and never used it, since i couldn't just jam it in my pocket. I'd recommend it as far as a compact goes...

 

[Brian_G]

yeah compact is nice. have you taken reef shots with it? does it have lots of useful settings

 

[parrotchute]

https://www.livingreefs.com/alexs-75-gal-t16566p5.html

There are some shots (only the last page, the others were with my old camera and my girlfriend's pro camera)

Lots of useful settings on it for a compact, can adjust aperature, iso, shutter speed, lighting adjustments, and a bunch of other stuff. I like it, works for a novice like me, and forced me to learn a lot about photography!