Article and photographs by Adam Blundell & Shane Silcox
With a quick internet search or
visit to your favorite aquatic website you can quickly find pictures from Terry
Seigel, Bob Fenner, Corey Kruitbosch, Shane Silcox, Skip Attix, Greg Rothschild,
Jake Pehrson, and Lorenzo Gonzales. And aren’t those pictures amazing?
Have you ever wondered how some people take those amazing photographs of their
aquariums? Do you see many aquatic pictures on the internet and in
magazines and wish they were pictures of your tank? Well, hopefully with a
little help and a lot of practice you can.
Aquarium Photography Basics
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Exposure |
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explaining standard photography there are some terms and definitions that should
need to be familiar. The first and most important aspect of photography is
exposure. Exposure is how the final picture turns out and is the result of a
combination of shutter speed and aperture. This picture has poor exposure, and
therefore is blurry even when the subject is (or was) in focus |
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Shutter Speed |
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Shutter speed determines the length of time the camera
shutter is left open allowing light to come in to the sensor or film to
capture the image. A fast shutter speed prevents blurry pictures
because the camera and subject do not have time to move relative to each
other in that time. However a fast shutter speed does not have time
to allow as much light to enter the camera and therefore the pictures may
be dark and underdeveloped. Having more light coming from, or
shining on, the subject is necessary for taking pictures with a
faster shutter speed. Notice the difference in these
pictures. A faster shutter speed allowed the authors to get a clear
image on the bottom picture |
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Some important differences exist
between full control (left) and point and shoot cameras (right), even for
the amateur photographer. |
The other aspect of exposure
is aperture. Aperture (sometimes also known as F-stop) is a term to describe
how wide the camera lens opens. This is very similar to a human iris. Basically
it can open wide creating a large opening for light to enter, or be closed down
and allow little light to enter. Too much light and the image is washed out and
overexposed. Too little light and it is dim and underexposed. Although a larger
aperture opening seems like a better choice, the
more open the aperture the shorter the depth of field. In other words,
(without too much photography techno-babble) opening
the aperture helps to let in more light, but makes less of the picture in
focus.
Now that we have gone over the basics, here are some
quick tips to taking better pictures. We will address most issues
with two types of cameras in mind. We are classifying cameras as
either 1) small point and shoot cameras, or 2) large, full control
cameras.
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White Balance |
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When using a digital camera,
arguably the most important part of aquarium photography is the “White Balance”
setting. Using white as a reference, the camera adjusts the color balance to
give as true as possible a white, which in turn changes all the other colors of
the picture by doing this. For example, in a photograph of a white wall
with a very blue light shining on it (kind of like aquarium lights!), the wall
would look blue. Being able
to adjust the white balance appropriately would render that “blue” wall white in
the exposed picture, the accurate color of the wall. This is why it is
so important to set the white balance correctly, or the resulting pictures may
turn out either too blue or too yellow. Never trust the camera’s “Auto White
Balance”. It is rarely able to recreate the correct coloration of the subject.
Shown here is the same clam with camera settings for different levels of
white balance. Notice that the color changes can also be seen in the
surrounding substrate, which is a useful indication of the true nature of
the photograph. |
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Flash |
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For most aquarium photos, it is desireable to
turn the flash off when taking pictures. By using the light of the aquarium, you will get better color rendition and avoid the “washed
out” look from a flash. If the photos are too dark and underexposed, a slower
shutter speed or larger aperture may be required. In point and shoot cameras it will be in “manual mode”.
Consult your user manual to find out if your camera will support it. Camera
flash as well as reflections from windows and lamps can hurt the clarity
of the image. Avoiding the use of the flash as well as turning off lights
in the room helps avoid this. |
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Close-ups |
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Setting a slower shutter speed will
increase the potential for blurry images, especially for very close up or macro
photos. In these instances a tripod is an absolute must. Any movement to the
camera or even vibration from pushing the shutter release can cause opportunity
for blurred images. Using a remote shutter release or even putting the shutter
release on a timer will help to limit the amount of vibration in the camera, and
help to get those very focused, clean shots. Also, when photographing corals, it is helpful to turn off the aquarium pumps and powerheads in
order to avoid the blurry images of “swaying” coral. Note also the bellows
on the front of the camera which aids in achieving sharp focus on small
subjects by increasing the focal length of the lens. |
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Focus - Aquarium Glass Distortion |
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This leads to the next important
area to address, keeping the subject matter in focus. First off, it is
important that you place the camera perpendicular to the glass and the subject.
If the camera is placed at an angle to the glass, the glass will distort the
light making it difficult to get a clean focus. In addition to the
distortion from the glass itslef, automatic focusing cameras often times
can not properly focus when taking pictures on an angle to the glass.
Notice the poor focus and "carnival mirror" appearance of the bottom
picture. |
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Focus - Depth of Field |
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With a point and shoot camera with auto-focus only,
attaining focus can be tricky. Try holding the camera close to the
glass, if that does not work, then try standing back and zooming in.
Having a manual focus is very useful when working with a short depth of
field. Otherwise the main subject matter may be out of focus. |
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Focus - Small Objects |
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Next, attaining focus on small
objects is easiest accomplished in manual focus mode. Also, many
cameras have a “flower” mode or some type of macro setting that will
automatically adjust the camera settings to properly take close-up shots.
With larger, full control cameras the focus is usually not a problem as
manual focus removes this difficulty. If you find it difficult to
find a perfect focus, try zooming in to your subject, then slowly rocking back
and forth until you achieve focus. Larger cameras also offer the advantages of
interchangeable lenses to provide better optics for close range (although
admittedly a pricey solution). For larger cameras with interchangeable lenses,
you can also get relatively cheap extension tubes and close-up lenses that will
allow you to increase the magnification of your setup. Just remember that
putting additional glass between the camera and the subject will potentially
decrease the quality of the photo. |
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Clean Glass |
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Remember to clean the aquarium
glass (or acrylic). It may not look bad to you, but once a picture is taken and
you zoom in it will certainly be noticeable. Shown here are Blundell Buttons,
although they are difficult to make out behind that dirty glass! |
Tricks of the Trade
Okay, so you’ve practiced taking
pictures for a while now but still can’t get those professional pictures.
If you aren't up to purchasing a high grade camera, another trick of the
trade is available if you are shooting digital pictures. Actually it would
work with film cameras but would be quite costly. What we are talking
about here is simply taking a lot of pictures at different camera settings.
When we say a lot, we mean that for an article like this, showing around 30
pictures, the authors may take 400 pictures. By taking multiple shots at
different shutter speeds, aperture settings, and white balance settings, you
will be able to find the shot that most accurately depicts the subject.
Digital photography also affords the opportunity to "fix" otherwise less than
perfect picures
Advanced Techniques
- Digital Manipulation
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Digital Manipulation - The Good |
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Learn to use the crop tool. Often times you can not zoom in or get close
enough to take a picture of that small item. Try shooting the picture at
high resolution from far away, and cropping the picture. Now you can
enlarge the picture (obviously loosing quality) and be able to show that item. Computer
programs can also be of great help in aquarium photographs. |
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Subject Matter
This topic is important enough that the authors decided to give it its own
category. Most photographs that are being taken by hobbyists are not
intended to be artistic nor well designed. It is in no way the authors’
intent to discourage creative works, but this paragraph is merely intended to
help the average hobbyist. Wet Web Media as well as many other website
receive daily emails requesting identification of a very small sessile
invertebrate. It is important when taking such photographs to make sure
the subject matter or animal in question is filling as much of the picture as
possible. Please remember, a clearly focused close up picture is a wonderful
thing to see. If you need to, take the picture on a high setting from far
away, and then crop the picture to the subject matter. This will of course
lose clarity, but as will be discussed below pictures are cut in size before
posting anyway.
Photography Etiquette
When working with aquarium photography there are some etiquette rules or
guidelines worth mentioning. The first guideline was already mentioned. That
is, the photographs you take and share should be as close to portraying the
actual item. In other words, it would be deceitful to take a picture and alter
it to look different from the real image. This is a growing trend which needs
to be curbed.
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Photos of fishes should always display
the left side of the fish. The picture on the left is the original,
and the picture on the right is the same picture which has been digitally
"flipped". This technique is acceptable as long as the fish is
symmetrical and that nothing in the picture belies the "trick" (like
text). |
A second guideline for taking aquarium pictures deals specifically with taking
pictures of fishes. When displaying a picture of a fish it is proper to take a
picture of the left side of the fish. In other words, the fish is facing left.
This isn’t always possible, and in general a picture of a fish facing right can
be flipped and mirror image is used. There are of course exceptions to this
rule including: never flip a picture that has a human in the photo, never flip a
picture of a non-bilaterally symmetric fish (i.e. flounders), and internal
dissection pictures are taken on the right sides of the fishes.
A third guideline for taking aquarium photographs is adjusting the file size.
It is always best to take pictures in the highest setting/best quality possible.
After such pictures are taken they can be manipulated for color and cropped for
subject matter. Then remember what you are doing with these pictures.
If they are to be printed in a large size than it is certainly best to keep them
in their large format. If the pictures are to be emailed or used for
online posting, then it is best to shrink them down. Wet Web Media and
many other websites prefer photographs sent with approximately 150 pixels in
width. [Editors note: Most folks (us included) who
plan on reproducing submitted photos online prefer digital photos that have been
cropped for subject matter, but that have not been shrunk or resized.
This ensures maximum quality of the final image once it has been placed online.]
Conclusion
There are some tips and tricks that
can be used by anyone to obtain better aquarium photographs. Additionally some
items are just purchased (more advanced cameras, computer software). It is
important to ask yourself what you wish to get from your pictures, and how much
time and money you are willing to invest to get them. Lastly, it is always a good idea to
have a spare set of batteries and extra film or memory cards on hand at all times. You never know when you will
get an opportunity to take a bunch of photographs only to realize your batteries
are
dead or you are out of film.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks are owed to the home
owners who allowed the authors to visit and photograph their systems. We would
also like to thank the editorial staff of Conscientious Aquarist for their
support of this article.
Author Information
This article was researched and
written by The Aquatic & Terrestrial Research Team members Adam Blundell and
Shane Silcox. Adam and Shane are aquarium hobbyists who are happy to contribute
to the aquarium hobby. Adam can be found at wetwebmedia.com and Shane can be
found at
www.utahreefs.com.
Input and suggestions are always welcomed.
