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Taking Pictures of your Angels
Here are a few Angel pictures I took with my Sony Mavica MVC-FD73 digital camera.. Click on the thumbnails to see larger versions.
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Do you want everyone to know how beautiful your Angels are? You might just be proud of them and want to share the joy you feel. Perhaps you have an unusual strain you'd like to have identified. OR perhaps you have some good-looking angels you'd like to sell. In any of these cases, good photographs will be invaluable.
Digital cameras are getting much better, cheaper, and more common. Consider the work of a reef-keeper and ACE photographer Jon Bondy. He sent me a link to some of the most beautiful aquarium pictures I've ever seen. He uses the simple 640x480 Sony Mavica digital camera, which costs him over $500 and writes to an internal 3.5" diskette -- very convenient.. Over 100 pictures on his site... most about 40K, but worth the wait. Jon proves that skill and good optics in your camera can give you better results that megapixels alone: 640 times 480 = 0.3 megapixels!!!
CLICK TO SEE 640x480 SIZE
For much more on digital photography, see Jon Bondy's Reef Tank Page at http://www.bivio.com/jon_bondy/files/HomePage/ReefTankIndex.htm. Jon works mostly in salt, but I have one picture of a Gold Angel spawning that he shared with me:
CLICK TO SEE LARGE VERSIONWant to see what the photographers say? Try the USENET. There have been many discussions in the rec.photo* newsgroups on how to get good pictures of aquarium fish. Want to see how others have succeeded? See ...
- A summary
- Do a complete and FRESH search Usenet search yourself
- Read interesting clippings I gathered from discussions
SUMMARY
- Use a 35mm camera with manual focus. Lens could be wide angle, macro, or normal, with a cheap screw-on close-up lens added.
- Get close to the tank. Shroud the cameral lens to avoid reflections from the front glass -- use a rubber ring accessory, a modified sink plunger (!) or cardboard box painted flat black on the inside.
- If you have a single flash mounted on the camera, point it up to the water's surface. Better, use a remote pointed down to a diffuser at the top, and one or more remotes at the sides.
- Cover the tank back and sides with black, dark blue or green paint, paper, or cloth.
- Use a pane of glass or Plexiglas divider, or better, a rectangular 'corral' to keep your Angels up front, in a flat pose.
- Clear water is important.
With any luck at all, you'll get two or three good pictures from a roll of 35mm film!
RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
I used the Google Advanced Search tool at www.groups.google.com, with these settings:
- Search for both words aquarium and fish
- Groups: rec.photo* (which includes rec.photo.help, .misc, .equipment.35mm, .digital, .technique.misc, .technique.nature and more...)
- Number of Matches: 100
- Sorted by: date.
To see the results, you may go to the Google Groups Advanced Search and put in all of the above -- a good exercise, if you need practice using this fine tool. Or, if you're in a hurry, simply click here:
View recent aquarium photo discussions
You will find over 100 articles, about half of which are relevant.
CLIPPINGS -- stuff I found in 1998.
>How do you go about taking decent pictures of fish in an aquarium? Every attempt I have made either results in flash glare off the glass, or not enough light, or the fish moved while shooting with natural light, or all three, both, or all of the above!
First, you will almost certainly need to use flash. Other posts in this thread gave some good tips.
One thing that can help, composition-wise, is to get a piece of glass that goes the full width and height of your aquarium. Place this in the tank temporarily, parallel with the front glass, so that you make a sort of divider. Leave just enough front-to-back spacing for the fish to be able to comfortably turn around in. This keeps the fish right at the front of the tank and makes both composition and focusing easier.
-Any- floating matter in the water will be picked up by the flash and will look just terrible - like dust spots on a negative. Most aquarium photographers use a diatom filter to "polish" the water just before taking pictures. You can either use the classic Vortex Diatom from Inner-Space Products, or you can get diatom inserts for many popular power filters. Note that diatom filters are -extremely- efficient at removing things from the water, down into the micron size range. For that reason, many people recommend that they not be used continuously as they may remove "too much" from the water and stress the fishes' health. Opinions differ on this.
Personally, I recommend the Vortex Diatoms. They are rugged, over-built, super-powerful, and can "polish" a tank in a half-hour or so. I believe they are running somewhere around $50-70US these days, but they have been made in virtually unchanged form for over 20 years, so they can often be found used.
To remove reflections from the glass caused by flash or ambient light, you can make a sort of "shadow box". Try to imagine a black cardboard box with an open top and a hole in the bottom to put the lens through. It should be as tall as the camera-to-tank distance you want to use. You put the open top of the box flat against the front tank glass and put the lens through the hole in the bottom. It must fit snugly against the glass, with no leaks. Get the idea? Instant cure for all reflections! Obviously, you can't have a flash inside the box with the camera, or the effect is ruined. :) These are easy to make - just play around with some cardboard boxes and black spray paint. Once you find a size you really like you might want to have one made out of wood or something and have a tripod mount built into it, with black foam to seal the front edge against the tank.
Black backgrounds often look the best.
Finally, the angle of lighting is very important. Most fish have "iridescent" colors that you want to bring out. These will only show if the angle of the light is correct. Each species is different, but usually something about 30 degrees forward of vertical (using the fish's axis as a centerline) is a good starting point.
>A friend of mine has just spent a lot of time and money in building a salt water aquarium and I would love the opportunity to take some photos of his fish.
>Unfortunately I have no idea what the best way to go about this is and would therefore really appreciate any help or pointers you can give me. He is also concerned that a flash may distress the fish and has requested that I don't use one. Is there any literature on the subject that may allay these concerns or some method of working round this.
Well, I can't tell you the *right* way to do it, but I can tell you some of the things I ran into and offer some random thoughts...
My first set of pictures I took of a reef tank, I used Fuji print film, Super HGII, 200 speed. I shot the pictures in the middle of the day with just the tank lights, which were about 400 watts of 2 different 'colors' of fluorescent tubes. I didn't use a flash because I was concerned about reflections off the glass. My hardware was a Nikon N50, a tripod, a 35-80mm zoom, and some close up (+1, +2, +4) lenses.
With a reef tank, you don't have to worry about the subjects moving much, but I had the tank owner shut off all water pumps to make it as still as possible.
Several of the pictures actually came out quite good, but most suffered from reflections off the tank despite efforts on my part to avoid them. Even though I couldn't see the glare, with the long shutter times I had to use the film was able to pick up the glare all too well.
Color under these circumstances was acceptable, though by no means as vibrant as the subjects appeared to the eye.
The next time I shot, I waited until night time, and had all the room lights off. This completely eliminated the glare problem, and I recommend you work in a very dark room if at all possible.
On the second shoot I used the same equipment all around, but used a 400 speed film (again Fuji). This time the colors were all extremely muted. They didn't seem tinted or misbalanced, just very very flat. Probably the natural sunlight in the first set I took was the only saving grace color wise. (A word of caution - I'm mildly colorblind, so my word regarding color is nowhere near gospel). The pictures (two rolls of them, ack) were an extreme disappointment.
Things I've learned since then that you might consider:
The tank lights, while they appear bright to the eye, are not nearly bright enough for photography (hence long shutter times). Pour all the light you can into the tank, while still keeping the room dark - good luck :-). Things you might try are to open the top of the tank and point a flash down into the water from above. A flash will probably improve your color balance as well.
If you want to avoid using a flash, point some studio floods into the water instead. Get as much light as possible on the fish. Honestly, though, I doubt that the flash will cause any post-traumatic stress syndrome in the fish :-)
The fish photos you see in magazines and books are often setup using a very narrow Plexiglas box in the tank. Get the fish into the box, and he'll be forced to present a full side to you, instead of moving around a lot. Every time I tried to take a fish photo, the stupid critter turned to look at me ("Hey, I wonder if that guy's gonna feed us?"). If you can corral them, you'll get better pictures. You'll also be able to get your focus and depth of field set up in advance, and just wait for the fish to get centered in the frame.
Another benefit of corralling the fish and getting your focus set up in advance is that you can put the lens right up against the tank glass. Doing this will eliminate any worries about glare off the glass, and allow you to direct lights at the front of the tank instead of the top. Use a rubber hood on the lens to avoid scratching either it or the tank glass/acrylic.
Fish photos look most dramatic (in my opinion) against a dark background. If you can keep your depth of field narrow or shoot fish against the darker areas of the tank, you'll be able to isolate the fish in the image. When I had five tanks, all of them were painted black on the back. Why are all my hobbies expensive, I wonder?
Lastly, if you're forced to use the tank lights, look into what kind of lights they are and see if you can find film balanced for that lighting (an advanced topic that I've heard about but not studied yet - you're on your own). Or you might try shooting with a variety of filters to change the color balance.
Good luck. I wouldn't blow a lot off film the first time out if I were you. Maybe try a few shots at the end of rolls until you've figured out a winning combo, then go nuts and shoot several rolls.
You must be very careful not to overdo the photo sessions, I did a shoot in my living room once for lack of space and had a strobe head near my saltwater tank. The popping of the flash killed a few fish, I don't think their little hearts could take it. Strong flashes of light are very unnatural.
>Does anyone out there photograph aquarium fish? Is so what equipment and techniques do you use?
I have had some good luck recently using a RD-175 digital camera, a 100mm macro and a 1200AF macro ringlight (all Minolta.) The flash is TTL controlled by the camera, and shoots a pretty short duration. I shoot at a slight angle to the glass so that the flash does not reflect back from the glass.
The flash allows hand held shots, which means you can follow a fish to get a good shot.
I've done several aquarium photos using my Nikon 6006, and SB22 flash off-camera with the SC-17 cord. I use a 20mm lens, but a 24-28 could be fine, too. To eliminate reflective light, I hold the camera with lens up to the glass as close as I can - even touching the glass. The flash is also held against the glass at about 30-45 degrees above the lens, and within about 12" of the lens to keep it somewhat close to the camera. I also use the flash's built-in diffuser to widen the flash angle. Photos have turned out great using automatic TTL flash. The closer the fish are to the glass the better.
> ... The one thing I really didn't like was the reflection of the things in the tank on the back wall of the aquarium. If it was just plants, that'd be OK, because it'd look like it added depth, but the fish were duplicated as well. I heard that painting the back wall of the tank on the outside with a flat black would help this. Any advice on that?
I use black paper as a permanent background (on the outside, obviously). No reflections that way.
BTW, why don't you use a flash? I mounted a flash on the top front of my tank, pointing 45 degrees down. A simple sync cable from the camera to the flash, and there you go. I didn't even use a tripod! I took some great pictures this way, and the fish don't seem to notice the flash, let alone be disturbed by it.
If the aquarium is lit properly, i.e. from above with a diffuser over the open tank top, then there are no reflections from the glass. Daylight, by the way, comes from the same direction. Any other lighting will appear unnatural.
Cover the inside back wall (and perhaps side walls) of the tank in either black or dark blue to prevent reflections off the the back wall -- you don't want to see the same fish twice. You can cover the outsides, but you will not fully get rid of reflections.
Angle flash or flood into the tank from the front off to the side. This will give the light, but you will not see the light reflected off the front glass.
Shoot square onto the tank, through a hole in a large black curtain. The front glass (facing you) will always act like a mirror, but if it is reflecting a black curtain, it will appear that nothing is being reflected. This is good technique for photographing artwork under glass, as well.
I have a saltwater system and have shot several rolls using a flash positioned right on top of the water. it does not bother the fish(my tank is a fish/invert system- 3 angels, 3 shrimp, anemones, clownfish, crabs etc.). I use another tripod to hold the flash in position and shoot at a slight downward angle- I haven't gotten unwanted reflections using this lighting method, however- I have had to use a fast film (at least 200) to achieve shutter speeds over 1/30. the color has been true to life. the challenge is tripping the shutter when the fish is/are in a good position. I have gotten excellent shots of anemones and shrimp.
when I was first trying to figure out how to do this I went to the camera store to buy an off camera chord for the flash. by miracle of miracles the person next to me in line introduced himself- he was the photographer for the Scripps(sp.?) institute of oceanography! my jaw hit the floor. anyhow- he said what he does is place hi-powered flash units on both ends of the tank and on top. this way he gets enough light to use any shutter speed he wants.
I frame the shot on an area that has a dark purple background (liverock) and focus for just in front of the rocks. then I wait for the fish to come by. I have very active fish so I don't have to wait long.
The SC-17 allows you to have the flash physically remote from the camera's hot shoe. so I set the flash about 12" from where I am going to shoot and have it mounted on a tripod. The I hand hold the camera and frame the shot and shoot. The strobe will never be in the pix since it is off to one side or the other...and using the 105 macro, there is no visible reflection from the aquarium glass on the opposite side. I have the AS-10 and SC-19 as well but have never tried two flashes. that would probably be better than just one as I do it.
Here is the technique I have used with very good results. I bought some tank dividers from my local fish store. This will confine the fish to a smaller section of the tank. Next I place an electronic flash on the glass tank top pointing down at 1/2 power. Then I place a second electronic flash on the side of the tank at 1/4 power. Don't forget to calculate your f-stop if your not lucky enough to have a dual TTL flash system.
About the tank dividers, be sure that they have bunches of little holes in them so that the water can circulate through them. I use 2 of them to confine the fish I want to photography to the 1/4 of the tank area that I have the lights setup for. Also think about your background. Do you want to change it with color paper to give the fish your are photographing better contrast. I like black the best, but a dark blue is also good.
I have had good results using the following method:
Place a sheet of plastic with hole in it to confine the fish to a smaller part of the tank.
Next I position a strobe over the top of the tank (be careful) I used a light stand with a boom, with another strobe to the side of the tank.
Then I place my camera with a rubber lens hood right next to the front of the tank, almost touching the glass.
Then it's only a matter of waiting for the fish to come into position.
In regard to reflections caused by flash.
One thing you could do is make a lens shade from a toilet bowl plunger (preferably new), spray paint the inside flat black, and cut out a circular hole on top so your lens is snug. Now you can actually use a camera mounted flash that has a tilt head, point the flash so the light will go through the glass up toward the surface of the water and bounce back down onto your subject. Put the "suction cup" part of your new lens shade directly on the glass flush, you should be able to move your lens freely to any angle and not have a reflection of the flash. Of course, you should also make sure there is a background of some sort behind the fish, so you don't get the light bouncing back from the glass on the other side of the fish tank.
If your lens does not focus close, you may need to get a macro capable lens, put your lens on extension barrels, or even just get your self some screw on close up filters. I've actually used the screw on close up filters with good results. But as always, with macro (close up) photography, you have to make sure the subject (in your case, fish) is parallel to the film plane to make sure everything will be in sharp focus, when doing macro photography, with lens extensions or close up filters, your depth of field will be very shallow, so you will have to close the aperture down quite a bit, and like I said keep the subject parallel to the film plane.
>I am trying to get good shots with an Elan2e. I have a saltwater tank with lots of fish, anemones, shrimp etc. the challenge is getting a good focus on the creature and not the glass. also lighting seems to be presenting a challenge as well. I haven't tried using the built in flash, but that's my next move. any tips- basic or otherwise would be gratefully welcome.
I have an EOS 10s. I place a rubber lens hood on my 28mm and press it against the glass. I also have the off-camera shoe cord ($45) hooked up to my 430EZ. Manual focus as everyone else has said. The fish are fast, so I try to pre-focus on a spot and wait until a fish comes in. I hold the flash over my tank for my African Cichlids; and to the side when shooting in a public aquarium.
Some folks recommend using a macro lens, but I think that makes the focusing even tougher for fast moving fish. I think a wide angle works better, since it has great depth of field and focuses pretty close anyway. A 28mm is all I have, but I think a 20mm is way better for the job.
I can get 2 or 3 "good" shots per roll.
>I'm in need of some tips in how to photograph my aquarium fish. I tried to do it but the results were not so good, in fact they simply weren't!!!...
I may be wrong but I assume you have an electronic flash of some sort and a macro lens or other lens with extension tubes. It would be very difficult to do this type of photography without them for the best results.
Set up one light over the camera and one to the side (90 degrees from the side of the tank is fine although better "modeling" comes from a less severe angle).
Cut a black mat board to a size that doesn't block your flash on camera and a hole the size of the outer diameter of the lens (this will prevent reflections of the camera, flash or both).
Set the flash on camera to f8, for example and the flash on the side to f11 (if you must sit the second flash at 90 degrees, I'd reverse this). Take the shot at f8 with negative film and f11 with chrome (and bracket with chrome).
For a background, any brown or green close to the colors you'd expect to see underwater (a drab, earthtone). It'll be out of focus anyway so it's just the background color you're trying to achieve. I've often put branches with leaves in front of a blue, green or brown matboard so that just a small amount of matboard shows. The end result is just right.
I've found a 100mm macro gives me a good working distance..
If you have very active fish, they sell small transparent plastic boxes that you can set over the fish. It keeps them in confined quarters, doesn't hurt them and will not show in the final photo.
If you want quick help from the experts, please go to The Angelfish Forum!
Guests may add comments or questions here.
Topic: Sony Mavica 90: Pros and Cons
Author: Jon Bondy
Email: jbondy@sover.net
Date: 18 Jun 1999
Time: 17:45:57
Remote Name: arc0a72.burl.sover.net
Remote User:
Comments
I purchased a Sony Mavica 71 after seeing and using one which a friend owned. I purchased a Mavica 91 about 2 months later.
The Mavicas have received mediocre reviews, but they are selling well. They have a few features which other cameras do not, and these features are key when photographing in a fish tank.
First off, the 91 has a huge zoom range: 14x. Most other digital cameras have a 3X zoom range, at best. A good zoom helps you compose the image properly, eliminating extraneous areas.
The 91 also has an extreme macro (closeup) capability. You can take a photograph of a postage stamp and have it full screen. This means that even small aquarium creatures can be seen clearly with the Mavica.
Unlike some other cameras, the 91 has a variety of exposure modes. This is not critical for fish shots (where there is not enough light to use the flexibility well), but it is nice when used outside.
The 91 has a spot meter. This allows you to point at a particular spot and expose the image properly for that one part of the scene. I use this all of the time in the tank, preventing pictures from being either too dark or too white.
The 91 has a good manual focus facility. At times, there are so many things zooming around in the tank, that auto focus can become confused. The result is a blurry picture. With the Mavica, I can be sure that I focus on what I am interested in.
The 91 writes its images to a diskette. In 640x480 mode, this means about 15-22 images per diskette. In 1024x768 mode, it is more like 10 images per diskette. This may not seem like a lot, but diskettes are cheap, and it makes it very easy to send the pictures to your computer.
When you consider the cost of the camera, consider that you will be saving about $10 for each 20-30 pictures you take with the Mavica. There are no processing costs. Each picture is "free".
I can print nice 3x5 inch prints from the 640x480 images I usually capture. I can print fairly nice 8x10's from the 1024x768 images I sometimes take.
Unlike the model 71, the 91 has not only an LCD screen (for looking at pictures), but also a normal camera viewfinder (with a tiny color LCD screen inside). This makes it much easier to use when shooting not only aquarium shots, but other shots, outside.
Finally, the Mavica 91 has a color balance system which is wonderful. Tank lighting is rarely the same as either indoor or outdoor lighting, so most of the digital pictures I took with the Mavica 71 were either yellow or green or blue. The 91 allows you to select color correction for 1) indoor lighting; 2) outdoor lighting; or 3) custom color correction.
Custom color correction works like this. You put the lens cap on the camera (it is special, a translucent white plastic) and aim it at the light source you wish to color correct. You then press a button, and the Mavica figures out what is "white". You can then shoot pictures which have virtually no color balance problems.
See my web site http://www.sover.net/~jbondy if you want to see some of my Reef Tank pictures. And write to me jbondy@sover.net if you wish to ask questions.
Oh, yeah. The cons for the Mavica. It costs over $800. But, other than that, it is quite a wonder!
