An aquarium is a great photographic opportunity for many reasons. The fish are very attractive to the eye, full of color, textures and the underwater images, due to their rarity and the difficulty in obtaining them, become a very interesting scenario both for those who make the images and for those who observe them.
Now, no one said it was easy. Aquariums bring together everything that a photographer fears when he looks for quality in his images: lack of light, reflections and movement. There is nothing 😉
- Set the camera to manual
- Or in speed priority mode
- Check your histogram values
- turn off the flash
- Focus AF-C or AI Servo mode
- Choose a bright optic
- Get closer to the glass
- Prepare your composition and wait
- Investigate their customs
- shoot in burst
- Adjust white balance
- Work in RAW format
- Be patient
Let’s look at these tips one by one.
1. Set the camera to manual…
- Once you are in manual mode you must indicate a minimum speed to freeze the movement of fish. Since they are constantly in motion but tend to do so slowly, with a speed shutter speed 1/125s you may have a perfectly frozen image. However, check in situ the result on the enlarged screen and verifying. If you need more speed, move up another point.
- Works with diaphragm openings wide enough that a good portion of the scene is in focus, but without giving up the little light you have. A good aperture to go with might be f/5.6.
- Once you have defined the above parameters, set the ISO so that the exposure is correct. Remember that the higher the ISO, the more noise, so try to keep the minimum possible once you get a correct exposure.
2. …Or in speed priority mode
If you just landed and manual mode makes you look like you ate a lemon, don’t worry. First, because learning to master it is much easier than you think. Second because, in this case, the shutter speed priority mode (S or Tv on the mode dial). In this shooting mode, you define the shutter speed (1/125s) (which your camera will keep fixed), obtaining a correct exposure through the game with the aperture values of the diaphragm.
3. Check your histogram values
In a dark environment, you may be able to see your images perfectly on your fantastically bright state-of-the-art touch screen… only to find when you get home that all your images are unfortunately dark. There you will surely try to rescue them, and you will only get a big glob of pixels 🙂 . Because if you are already working with a high ISO, there is nothing worse to add to the quality of your image than an underexposed image.
So, moral, you should always, always have the histogram activated when viewing the parameters of your image. Only he will tell you effectively and truthfully if your presentation is correct.
4. Turn off the flash
If you don’t want images with a white flash in the center and white dots everywhere, turn it off. This time it is not going to help you at all, and much less the one with the camera. Also, you disturb the animals, so prohibited.
5. Focus Mode AF-C or AI Servo
This type of autofocus is characterized by being able to follow moving subjects. If you have enough light and your camera works properly in those conditions, it can be very useful.
In case the camera misses the moving subject, you will have to focus on manual.
6. Choose a bright optic
We have already mentioned that aquariums are places where there is not much light, so working with optics that are as bright as possible will be of great help.
Depending on the images you want to obtain, you can work with a Wide Angle, to concentrate most of the scene on the image; a Macro, for details of the fish; or a 50mm, the King of Objectives here would be great for you 🙂
7. Get closer to the glass to avoid reflections
Surely you are not alone in the aquarium, surely it is full of curious and fish lovers everywhere sticking their noses to the glass. The only way to try that all the spectators (including yourself) are not part of your compositions, is to try to get as close as possible to the glass. If you have a rubber sun visoryou can stay a few centimeters away from it (so we don’t scratch anything 😉 ) and it will serve to isolate the image from reflections.
8. Prepare your composition and wait
The best way to get nice aquarium pictures is choose a good composition beforehandregardless of the fish. If you have patience, then you just have to wait for your dear friend to appear in your frame in the way you had previously planned.
9. Research their customs
You don’t need to do a master’s degree in marine science before going to the aquarium. By observing in situ for a while the different behaviors of each of the fish, you will be able to get an idea of where they like to move, if they have any pattern of movement, etc. This will make it easier for you to prepare your compositions and wait.
10. Shoot in burst
For items in movement, as in this case, the burst shot gives you a perfect opportunity to catch them on the fly. This way you make sure you get the image you want without staying with the bitter taste of photos “for a little”.
11. Adjust white balance
You have several options although, for once, we are going to recommend the automatic mode (always under your supervision 😉 ). The automatic white balance mode usually works quite well. It also prevents you from forgetting to configure it every time there is a change in light and from having to throw all your photos in the trash. However, make sure it’s working properly before you start shooting like crazy.
12. Work in RAW format
The RAW format is the one that stores more and better information of the scene, that is, your camera does not interpret nothing but is limited to collecting ALL available information. The RAW format works very well if you plan to give it a touch of processing later, because it allows you to make certain corrections (such as white balance) without losing or losing little image quality. Now this translates to heavier images, (sometimes very heavy), so you must take this into account when storing them on your memory card-computer. Also, if you shoot in burst mode, shooting in RAW may slow down the number of frames per second (fps).
13. Patience…
Which is the mother of science 🙂 . Don’t be in a hurry, enjoy, do tests and more tests, try different compositions and frames, play with the diaphragm, and even with the speed. Photography is art and you are an artist, so now you know, let’s create!
I hope you have enjoyed the article. If so, please share it on your favorite social network so someone else can benefit from it. Thank you very much and until next time 🙂