Aquarius Aquaria - Photographing aquaria

Photographing Your Aquarium

In this article I'll describe how to take effective pictures of your set up using the most popular equipment - SLR, compact and digital cameras.

So you've got your tank and it's inhabitants, everything looks great, in fact, it looks a picture. So you grab your camera, the one you use for special occasions and holidays and snap away.

Three days later you get the film back from the developers and the results are something like this:

75% of the photos have a big flash of glare where the tank should be
10% are too dark or too light
10% are blurred in some way
4% have some fish in it, but look awful
1% contains images that can be described as passable.

Obviously with a digital camera you don't have the sort of wait that you do with traditional photography, but the results are probably comparable.

So what went wrong?

When bad photos come out the commonest reaction is to blame a- the camera or b- the lab (I know these things as I have worked as both a professional photographer and in a photographic retailers). The problem lies in fact with the photographer not knowing the how of taking a picture. Sorry to break this to you all, but: there's more to taking a photograph than pointing a camera a pushing a button.

So what do I do?

Well, let's look at the equipment and how you can use it.

What film?

Well, colour is always a good start. Film is rated as ISO (ASA in USA), the higher the ISO the less light is required to take the photo. There is a trade off in using fast films however. Images are created on film by light reacting with silver halides on the emulsion and making them expand. The larger the silver halides the faster the film - but larger silver halides also means that the image is ultimately more 'grainy'. This usually doesn't pose much of a problem unless you plan on making large copies of the pictures though.

So, for domestic purposes I recommend at least 400iso film, or 800 if you can get it. Most consumer 'fast' films are labeled things like "zoom" or "low light", if you look on the box it'll have the ISO number.

I'm not going to recommend a make, but I will say this - you get what you pay for. Cheap films tend to have larger grain than the more expensive. Use cheap film to experiment with.

Film = 400+ISO

The compact (direct vision) camera

A compact camera is one that is virtually automatic. You may have some control over the flash and maybe zoom, but the camera does everything for you.

Above is a picture of a compact camera. The first thing you should know is that when you look through the viewfinder, what you see is not what the lens 'sees'. If you look at the pic above you can see directly above the lens is another square. This is where you look through and is in a different position to the lens.

This makes no real difference when photographing things that are a distance away, but close up you'll be looking at the subject and the lens is looking some distance below (which is why it's easy to cut off heads with a compact when taking close ups). This difference is called parallax error so be aware of it as most aquarium photography is close up.

So now you know about parallax error in case you get too close. The problem now is how close can you get, or rather what is the minimum focusing distance for your camera. Usually it'll say so on the lens or somewhere. It'll say something like 0.1m - infinity (the symbol looks like an 8 on its side). So in that case the closest you can position the camera is 10cm - it's very important to work this out as you could be lining up for a fantastic shot that will be blurred when it's developed because you can't see how the lens is seeing your piccy.

The next thing is flash - on most compacts you can turn the flash off. If that's possible, do it. Flash causes hot spots and flare that's directed straight back to the lens and leads to an awful looking piccy. If you can't turn it off there are two solutions - 1: put some black electrical tape over the flash or 2: take the photo from an so that the flash bounces away from the camera - the ideal angle is 45 degrees to the tank, but the aquarium occupants can look like funny due to refraction through the water and glass.

If you do turn the flash off or cover it with tape you should then mount the camera on a steady surface or even better - a tripod. This is because not having the flash going requires additional light - which means a slower shutter speed. On most compacts this is usually around about 1/30th of a second which can't be handheld with total success.

Digital cameras

For the most part digital cameras are the same as compact cameras in their function:

The most striking difference on most models is that you can see what the lens 'see' via an LCD screen.

The drawback with most models is that there is usually a delay between pressing the shutter button and the image actually recording - so for taking pictures of your fish you may have to try to anticipate the fish's movement in order to produce a useable image.

SLR camera

SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. What you see through the viewfinder is what will end up on the negative:

With most SLRs you can have complete control over all aspects of the image making. If you're not confident with doing everything on manual then you should set the camera to shutter priority (usually marked Tv - standing for time variance) and ensure that any flash is turned off - set the shutter speed at 1/60th of a second or faster..

Before you take any photo with an SLR ensure that what you see through the lens is sharp (in focus).

Lighting the aquarium

I've read many conflicting opinions on how to light an aquarium to photograph it - turn the tank lights off, turn the tank lights on, turn the room lights on, turn the room lights off, bring in more lights, shoot in sunlight. Well, I'll make it very simple. Turn the tank lights on and the room lights off. Your aquarium is basically a little studio and comes with its own lights (in most cases). The lights that are used for aquaria tend to bring out the colours of the fish and plants better than any household light and things like flash reflect off the fish bleaching them out.

If your camera has a light meter and it shows too little light you could try adding another bulb or tube (unless you can change the aperture/shutter speed on your camera - change that to compensate for the lack of light or use a faster film).

Taking the photo

Very important - make sure that the inside and outside of the aquarium glass is clean!

If you are using an SLR and making a light reading, use either the gravel as your reference or some dense vegetation, shooting slightly downward to avoid getting a false reading from the light.

With all cameras ensure that you do not have the aquarium light(s) in view, it will give a false light reading and result in an underexposed image (it also looks awful).

When shooting the tank as a whole, make sure that the image is straight (the bottom of the tank is perfectly parallel with the bottom of the viewfinder).

Always shoot towards the centre bottom of the tank, this is for two reasons - 1: you don't get a false reading from the light, nor do you get a reflection from the surface of the water. 2: by shooting towards the centre you don't get a reflection from the tank's sides. This ensures that photos of your fish have depth and look natural.

When photographing the fish always focus on the eye of the subject. Also try and photograph only one species at a time (or at least only have one species in frame at a time) - having a mix doesn't look natural.

Be aware of what is going on outside of the frame, you may be lined up for a perfect shot only to have it spoiled by another fish swimming into view as you release the shutter.

Try to avoid showing the substrate against the glass unless you are trying to show something in it.

Getting your photos into your computer

I'm not going to go in depth on this.

From a "traditional" camera you can scan the prints or negatives with the appropriate scanner - a certain amount of sharpening and/or retouching would be required in most cases.

Most developers nowadays offer digital service on most films - developed and then either uploaded to their server or onto a photo disk - I use neither as I have all the facilities personally :-).

From digital - plug it into your computer, use the floppy disk, or insert the smart card - whatever method your camera uses.

Some pics - all taken with a Pentax P30, 50mm lens, Kodak 400iso film @ 1/60sec

Zebra danio (Brachydanio rerio)
These are so difficult to photograph as they are never still - this was taken in their tank that has very little decoration - behind is the heater. (Notice the grain in the picture - this was due to inadequate light)

This is Jim the Suckermouth Catfish (Hypostomus multiradiatus). The only time he comes out is for his cucumber (rubberbanded onto a small piece of bogwood) - if there's none there he takes it out on my plants (you can see Hygrophila difformis just in the corner)

These are my three Fantails (Carassius auratus). From left: Whish, Dimitri and Skitt.

This is a better pic of Whish who has a tail more like a veiltail. He isn't as large as the other fantails due to gill damage.

Commercial aquaria photographers have a separate set up specifically for photographing fish and transfer the subject into this special tank. Although this is perfectly feasible for the domestic aquarium it should be remembered that moving fish causes stress and so I personally don't advise it.