Aquarium Photography
In Photography, one of the most challenging situations is “Shooting in Aquarium”.
This is mainly due to:
- The poor lighting
- Moving Fishes
- Cloudy water, etc.
Normally, under such conditions, in “Auto Mode” a typical camera (Both Mobile & Camera) tends to increase the ISO (which results in more noise) and reduces the shutter speed (which increases the blurriness of object), finally resulting in unusable photos.
Although, there is no single stop solution for aquarium shooting, let us consider some “Preferred Settings” (& few Guidelines) for Shooting in Aquarium. Essentially you need a lot of patience if you need good results; hence, you visit the aquarium, with sufficient time at your hand. Also, visit when there is less rush and this will avoid people hitting you, which will result in shaky photos.
Avoid:
- Firstly, do not use flash!!! (Which results in only glare from the glass)
- Try & avoid glare or reflective background (the rear side of the aquarium)
- Try & avoid glare falling on the glass from the external light sources.
- Avoid scratchy areas of the glass.
Photographers using the camera of Mobile Phone, in “Fully Auto Mode”: Try to understand & follow maximum guidelines, given in this post. Then ‘Place the Mobile on the Glass of the Aquarium & shoot’. If using Zoom, try to use within the ‘Optical Zoom’ range only. Take time & shoot – Also, take different shots & see whether it is OK – If the shot is not OK, then re-shoot. Using burst shot also can help you.
[NOTE: How to Take Burst Shot: Keep the ‘Shutter Button’ CONTINUOUSLY PRESSED for, say, One Second – this will take shot after shot, resulting in multiple shots – view the result – select what you like & delete the rest, (immediately – to free the memory). Also, continuously pressing the “Volume UP or DOWN” button (For One second) will result in Burst Shots. (If the Volume Button, is not working as the Camera Shutter Button, you can configure it by visiting Main ‘Setting’ of the Mobile)].
Honestly speaking, the ‘Manual Mode or Shutter Priority Mode’ will suit this situation the best.
Initially try with “Auto-focusing” – (Manual Focusing is discussed, later).
Then the prime settings will be:
Technical Parameters:
- Aperture: Lowest value will be better (Exceptions, given below)
- Shutter Speed: above 1/80 (Not less than 1/60)
- ISO: 400 to 800 for Mobiles; 800 to 1600 in Digital Cameras
- Focus = in Auto-focus mode.
Physical settings:
- Keep the camera most stable.
- Clean the glass of the aquarium to remove fingerprints.
- Keep the camera (or mobile) ‘Parallel’ to the glass.
- And, keep the camera closest possible to the glass of the aquarium.
“Then, Take multiple Shots, see the result & then re-shoot, if needed”
Alternative options with ‘Auto-focus’:
- Also, try the camera at different distances from the fish.
- Slowly move the camera, along with moving fish.
Using Manual mode and Manual focusing:
- Manually focus on an area,
- Keep the camera stationary in one position.
- Then, patiently wait for the fish to move into the frame.
Other Suggestions:
- One can try ‘Burst Shots’ (if available in your camera); some of the shots may be good.
- Use software (or App) to reduce the noise.
Finally:
The most successful solution can be using a high ISO camera (ISO limit above 25,000) with ISO value up to 3200 or 6400, Shutter Speed of 1/100 to 1/200, and Aperture 2.2 to 5.6. Then, ‘touch the camera on the glass of the aquarium with a rubber hood’ & shoot.
Hope these points will be helpful for all…
[Note: At the time of publishing, my shots are not available as I am travelling; shall post few shortly].
Have you felt any more such tips, while shooting in Aquariums?
@DeniGu @sonnyNg @MoniDi @davidhyno @KarolT @Ddimitra @marcorp @Garg_Saab @SANITAK2021 @Vinay_K
Thank you dear all…
this thread i will put my aquarium contribution. This thread is very usefull for me… Thanks 
