Beginner Tropical Aquarium Photos

[cw318is]

Or as I like to call it, "Fishtography" We've just started keeping tropical fish again and so far I'm rather enjoying it. Just a few community fish in at the moment but thought I'd try to get some photos. All of these were taken in a dark room just using the tank lights, and I'm not too happy. A few pointers would be well received on technique please, technically all these are way out of composition but I was using the centre AF point only, spot metering and around 1/200-1/250 @ f4, ISO 1000-1600. The danios are definately the hardest as they just don't stay still, but the barbs are a bit easier.

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IMG_7440 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7443 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7467 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7479 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7483 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7486 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7492 by cw318is, on Flickr

 

[LCPete]

Hi Nice fish and tank
I keep fish myself
It is tricky photographing them especially small fish
Good shots am vewing on my phone but they look in focus with nice light
Only thing I would say is you need to get a bit closer to the fish if you can and fill the frame but with smaller fish that's tricky
I've had the most success without flash using a 50mm 1.8 lens at F1.8
With the camera on AV and focus AI servo
With a fairly high iso 800 or so that should give you a a reasonable shutter speed
Just follow the fish keeping focus with AI servo and fire off shot's

 

[cw318is]

Thank you for stopping by and commenting, thats a nice LC as well (had a 350 powervalve in my youth!)

I'll have to give it a go with the 50mm, but I seem to really struggle with tracking as they zip everywhere. Hopefully we're getting some clown loaches next weekend, bigger and slower so they should be a bit easier! In the interim I had another go with the 100mm f2.8 macro, virtually touching the glass (or rather acrylic), taken in a dark room with just the tank lights. Heres the results;

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IMG_7535 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7537 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7548 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7563 by cw318is, on Flickr

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IMG_7571 by cw318is, on Flickr

 

[mattd85]

Hi,

I kept fish for many years but got out of the hobby to fund my obsession with photography instead lol.

The fish look a bit soft to me, maybe sharpen them up a tad. Also if you have an external flash try having that above your tank, makes a big difference.

 

[cw318is]

Thank you! I wasn't sure about using a remote flash as I've only got one trigger at the moment and its quite a wide tank. Is from above the best bet as surely I'll end up with a lot of shadows underneath?

 

[LCPete]

Hi caleb yes ive still got the LC its a mk 1 powervalve

The second shot's do look better
Matts idea of a flash above the tank is a good idea

 

[mattd85]

Thank you! I wasn't sure about using a remote flash as I've only got one trigger at the moment and its quite a wide tank. Is from above the best bet as surely I'll end up with a lot of shadows underneath?

Yes, I've posted an example below that I took today at the Blue Planet Aquarium.


Baby Lionfish by mattd85, on Flickr