Questions On Photographing Your Tank

Dan the Fish said:
your F-stop should be 60 at least or i believe its ISO on a digital.
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To avoid confusion, i'll clear up the mixing of three different terms here.

F-stop refers to aperture. You want the lowest possible aperture for the widest opening. If you have a zoom lens, zoom all the way out because your widest apertures aren't going to be available at higher zoom.

The 60 he's referring to is a 1/60 of a second shutter speed. That's a good place to start for hand holding. Any slower than that and you'll probably want to rest the camera on something or get a tripod.

ISO is completely different still. It's the light sensitivity of your film or imaging sensor. Higher numbers mean more sensitive, but you'll get a grainier picture. For fish photography, you're in very low light, so go with the highest ISO you can get. For film, get a good quality 800-speed film. For digital, go with the highest your camera will support.

If you have ways of getting more light over the tank temporarily, go for it. If you can get more light, your first step is to use a faster shutter. Then if you have a fast enough shutter, give yourself a lower ISO for a better photo. Leave your aperture wide open. That'll narrow your focus to the fish itself, throwing the fore- and background out of focus.
 
CajunCC said:
To avoid confusion, i'll clear up the mixing of three different terms here.

F-stop refers to aperture. You want the lowest possible aperture for the widest opening. If you have a zoom lens, zoom all the way out because your widest apertures aren't going to be available at higher zoom.

The 60 he's referring to is a 1/60 of a second shutter speed. That's a good .
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oops sry i meant shutter speed yes, sry about ISO confusion I don't have a digital camera.
 
CajunCC has it all together but only if you have a camera capable of doing that. I would only disagree with one thing, the low f-stop. Nevertheless, we are getting into personal preference (I would rather see the entire tank in focus).

If your camera can do ANY of what CajunCC said, DO IT, it will help. Most cameras have manual over-rides even my 2.1 HP can go into a pseudo manual mode - with limitations. I never successfully stopped motion with a 1/60 shutter speed unless synched with a flash, which you do not want to use (exceptions apply but not relevant)... I tend to think then type and it is usually useless information.

Anyway, poke around the menus of your camera and see if you can adjust any of what CajunCC suggested, if not do not forget its digital and you can keep snapping until you get what you want.
 
tmpadmin said:
Anyway, poke around the menus of your camera and see if you can adjust any of what CajunCC suggested, if not do not forget its digital and you can keep snapping until you get what you want.
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Better advice has never been given. Take LOADS of pictures. Fill up your memory card on only one fish. Aquarium photography is very very difficult and until you have a lot of experience, getting a really good photo is gonna be mostly luck. Don't be surprised if your shot ratio is 50:1 or worse. I know I've shot full 128MB cards and not gotten a single decent shot.

As for the depth of field thing, it kinda depends on what you're taking a picture of. If you're getting a full-tank shot, you might want to close the aperture a little bit to get the full depth in focus, but if you're trying to get one specific fish, a wider aperture will throw everything but the fish itself out of focus, drawing the viewer's attention to the true subject of the photo, not the "junk" in the background.

For those who are a little more photographically inclined... Some of my best fish photos have come from a circa 1970's Konica Autoreflex TC. I use a remote triggered flash high over the whole tank for more light. Lens is a Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 prime lens. Film is either Kodak High Def ISO 400 or Fuji ISO 800, depending on which fish i'm trying to shoot. Using a tripod and cable shutter release, I've gotten some pretty good shots. Unfortunately, I don't shoot much this way, as film is very expensive and my shot ratio is still about 20:1. I'm lucky to get 2 good shots on a roll of 24.
 
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