Aquarium photography..

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dunc

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Hiya ladies and gents, first post here :)

I have a Canon EOS 400D with 28mm-105mm lens and 18-55mm (the cheapish lenses that tend to come with the 400D kit), with a Speedlite 430EX.

I'm currently in the progress of developing a tropical fishkeeping resource website with over 1000 profiles and 30 full articles (our database is around 700,000 words). Obviously it is much better if our profiles can have photos - we've bought a fair number, but I'm finding myself taking more and more aquarium photographs.

I love it anyway - I love watching fish and love taking photos of them.. but it's very difficult in certain situations.

I read a thread on here about marine fish photography, but it's quite different circumstances - marine tanks tend to have massive lighting and bright, colourful fish which are fairly easy to focus on and take photos of.

In tropical conditions, especially with the more rare species that I'm photographing, there is often very little light and the fish are more subtly coloured.

I'm trying to use the widest aperture possible with ISO1600, but I'm still struggling somewhat with focusing and blurriness.

There are a few photos up here (though that is a link to a fish website, it isn't an advertising link as that site doesn't/won't exist; we're just using it temporarily to host stuff) and here.

Some of the photos are alright - but none are breathtaking and they were the brighter tanks.

I've ordered a 60mm F2.8 Canon macro lens and hoping that will give me some better results, but other than that.. any tips?

Cheers!
 
The 60mm lens is a macro lens and will probably not focus quickly enough for your needs. Can you provide some additional light to help with focaus?

Macro lenses tend to hunt a lot in low light since the focal range is greater than normal lenses. You may have been better with something like the 85mm f1.8 or 50mm f1.4 although these lenses don't focus as close. The AF is fast in low light compared to a macro though.
 
Conversely, I think the 60mm Macro will suit your requirements well enough. Yes, focussing from 1:1 to infinity can be slow, but you wont be using it from more than 20cm away and i would imagine you'll be focussing manually to get beyond the glass.

most fish dont permanently zoom round the tank so patience, as always, will be the virtue - timing and anticipation the key :)
 
Hi dunc

I have a very extensive photograph library of tropical fish both freshwater and marine as there isnt much in the way of fish i havent kept over the years including tankbusters, poisonous and oddball species :D

Some of these pics were taken with a simple point and shoot 2 megapixel olympus but are still of usable quality :D

If you would like to PM me i can maybe send you some pics of the rarer species etc ;) and some info on them ;)
 
Yeah, Lofty? Cool!

I'll PM you a few of the species we're looking for. We have looked fairly extensively though.. :(

I thought a macro lens would be what I needed for up-close, close-focusing aquarium shots. I didn't realise it wouldn't be a quick auto-focuser, though. I found manual focusing to be impossible when catching pics of some more active fish (though perfect for the slower moving chaps).

Worth investing in a 80mm wide aperture jobby then?

Thanks for the replies guys :)
 
dunc said:
Yeah, Lofty? Cool!

I'll PM you a few of the species we're looking for. We have looked fairly extensively though.. :(

I thought a macro lens would be what I needed for up-close, close-focusing aquarium shots. I didn't realise it wouldn't be a quick auto-focuser, though. I found manual focusing to be impossible when catching pics of some more active fish (though perfect for the slower moving chaps).

Worth investing in a 80mm wide aperture jobby then?

Thanks for the replies guys :)
Click to expand...

The 60mm is fast at focussing when you've prefocussed maunally to about the right distance. You just need to remember that, as a 1 to 1 macro lens, left to the focus automatically from infinity to macro it will take a long time as this represents a massive distance. As you've ordered it I'd urge you to expermient with it on arrival before pre-judging. a 50 or 85mm with wide aperture is great for low light, but rubbish for getting in close. Its horses for courses...... as always!
 
Hi Dunc,
I've just got myself my first ever fish tank and put some Zebra Danios in last night (I know they're not exactly rare :D :D ;) ).
Anyway, I'll now have a chance to find out how difficult they are to photography. I expect them to be v diff, cos they're always shooting around the tank so much.

Rich
 
Rick,

You'll likely find that their activity/speed is the greatest problem. Lighting should be fine, they're midswimming fish that don't mind a decent amount of light. Let me know how you get on for sure! :)

Jonny,

Not pre-judging mate. Am eagerly anticipating the lens' arrival - it turned up today when I wasn't in so is now being held at the local post office. Hopefully I can grab it tomorrow lunch time.

Spent a fair bit on gear yesterday actually.. Hama tripod, circular polarizing filter, 60mm lens, lowe bag and a 2gb memory card :)
 
Oh and Rick - Zebra Danios are great starting fish, tough as nails! :) When I worked in an aquatics department, we had a customer smash into the glass of one of our display tanks with their trolley. Big crack in the side (though very thin) that nobody noticed (and she didn't report). Over night about 99% of the water leaked out, there was millimetres of water on the bottom of the tank.. the only fish alive (out of 6 or 7 different types of fish) were the Zebra Danios, which are still - to this day - alive in a different display tank :D
 
Jonnyreb said:
The 60mm is fast at focussing when you've prefocussed maunally to about the right distance. You just need to remember that, as a 1 to 1 macro lens, left to the focus automatically from infinity to macro it will take a long time as this represents a massive distance. As you've ordered it I'd urge you to expermient with it on arrival before pre-judging. a 50 or 85mm with wide aperture is great for low light, but rubbish for getting in close. Its horses for courses...... as always!
Click to expand...


Good points Jonny. Yes I'd suggest just using manual focus that way your hit rate should improve. Practice and you'll enjoy using the 60 as it's very sharp and a nice lens. You probably do need to be pretty close to get decent shots.
 
dunc said:
Oh and Rick - Zebra Danios are great starting fish, tough as nails! :) When I worked in an aquatics department, we had a customer smash into the glass of one of our display tanks with their trolley. Big crack in the side (though very thin) that nobody noticed (and she didn't report). Over night about 99% of the water leaked out, there was millimetres of water on the bottom of the tank.. the only fish alive (out of 6 or 7 different types of fish) were the Zebra Danios, which are still - to this day - alive in a different display tank :D
Click to expand...

Thanks Dunc, the fish seem to have settled in well so far. Biggest problem is me - I mustn't feed them too much :D .
Anyway, here a couple of pics I've just taken - no flash, just aquarium lights, Tamron 90mm macro lens. I took loads of shots but cos they are so quick, most were rubbish. Also had to boost ISO to 1000 to get devent shutter speeds.
danio3.jpg


danio4.jpg


Cheers,
Rich
 
:eek: You mean you've actually *ahem* splashed out and bought some little fishies Rich :eek:
 
minimeeze said:
:eek: You mean you've actually *ahem* splashed out and bought some little fishies Rich :eek:
Click to expand...

Yes Mini, believe it or not I did 'splash-the-cash'.....all £4.95 (5 fish x 99p each).:D :D :D
 
Nice one mate. Bet you can understand the problems I'm having now!

Picked up the 60mm today. Superb :) I love it. It does help fairly significantly.

Here are a few I shot. By no means perfect (the watermarks etc are awful and the actual pictures are not good pictures; but the quality is reasonable for ISO1600!).

1.jpg


2.jpg


3.jpg


4.jpg


1.jpg
 
I did try it with the flash but it totally saturates the colours :( The fish look pronounced (in a bad way) and their flanks turn a funny shade of light brown instead of the true sorta golden coat they have.
 
Where is the light coming from when you get a shot with good colours?

If it is overhead lighting it might be worth trying a diffused flash inside the tank hood triggered by cable or something so you get fast shutter speeds with similar light direction.
 
Yeah mate I reckon that's the next step. It's the current tank lighting (2x 48" tubes resting on glass in the tank's hood) that is giving me the best photos - though they're not bright enough to give 1/125 shutter speeds or so for the quicker fish.
 
Newbie question here dunc - are they some kind of cichlid ? :geek: :geek: :geek:
 
Aye mate - the "Red Hump" (that's its common name - Geophagus steindachneri) and the Three-Spotted Demonfish (Satanoperca daemon).

Both from South America; though fairly different localities and water conditions - my water is sitting about right (acidity) for the Steins but too high for breeding the Daemon. They'll live in it comfortably enough though :)
 
I used to breed those fish :D :D

Thats breed people not bread (and then fry) :lol:
 
You need more light. the images look underexposed to me. Forget the fish for a moment and try an image of the tank interior itself. Once you get that exposed correctly, switch to manual mode and try that (use the settings for a correct exposure).

Even f2.8 looks like it's slow in these conditions.
 
Aye mate - they're set at -1 exposure compensation (aperture priority mode with f2.8 set) to get as quick a shutter speed as possible.

They were shot in RAW, just forgot to recompensate once I got them on the PC :) Will have a bash when I get in from work.

And yeah, I'm still struggling to get anything above 1/60. Had 1/80 once or twice but not often.

Oh, a question about circular polarizing filters - should I have it on if I'm not using a flash? It seems to stop a little bit of light getting in (i.e. if I had 1/60 with the filter on, I'd have 1/80 with the filter off).
 
If you put a CPL you will lose even more light - another stop I think. the answer is more light. Perhaps the 100mm f2 might help. Will get you in close and provide double the shutter speeds. the 50f1.4 too will provide a higher shutter speed again giving 4x the shutter speed of f2.8 (2 stops faster).

Also try using an off camera flash with a diffuser to soften the light.
 
Wouldn't have thought the tripod would make that much difference unless the fish were still......
 
Dunc, those photos are much much better now. Well done :thumbs: .
Very attractive fish aswell
 
Dunc, a couple of my Zebra Danios unforunately died :(. Anyway the others are doing well so I now got some Black Phantom Tetras :)
Black-Phantom-Tetra-1.jpg


They're a lot easier to photograph than the danios
 
Cracking photo that Rick, what settings did you use? I used to have Black Phantoms too :)
 
Cheers Dunc.
As you know the phantoms seem to like to guard their own liitle terratories so it was easy to get this one just 'sat' there waiting :)

settings were Nikon D70, Tamron 90mm, f4.2, 1/30th sec, ISO 1000.
 
Aye - I need to up my aperture from f2.8 I think; that Leucosticta is in focus at the front of his body but not at the back!

Gonna try a few closer shots I think. Black Phantoms are nice fish; they like to show themselves off a bit!
 
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