Aquatic Photography

[subzero]

I have been trying to take Close-up pics of fishes in the aquarium tank but not very successful. I am using Nikon Coolpix 4500 2cm Macro function, however only 1 out of hundred turn out to be presentable. Either it turn out fuzzy because of the fish movement or the lighting of the pictures.

I guess it is a little different from taking insect or flower as it is hard to focus through the glass and water.

Is there any techniques that i can learn from experts here to take good pictures with my intermediate level camera?

Below is the link to some of my better taken pictures

Shrimp Pics

 

[steven68]

Can you take a picture of your aquarium? Want to take a look at your aquatic environment. What type of fish are you breeding?

Cheers,
Steven Lee

 

[canturn]

Reflection from the tank is tricky. What I've done b4 is to use big black colour card board, cut out a hole in the centre and put my lens thru it.

Off shoe flash is the best bet, another alternative is to bounce the flash off the white surface. Should'nt cast any reflection.

One other trick is to get a zip lock bag and place a slave flash unit in it and place it IN THE WATER. These will trigger off and light up the background or provide some form of side lighting. The Morris slave flash which I use runs on AAA batteries and each unit costs about $42. Got this idea from those people who placed SB80-DX in water to shoot Kingfishers :devil:

 

[subzero]

Hi Canturn,
The reflection is definately a headache for me, i will try the two methods that you suggested.
Not sure if i could replace the slave flash unit with my Macro Cool-Light SL-1. I will put that in zip-log bag and try it out. If not successful i will buy the Morris slave flash that you recommended. I will keep you updated with the results. Thanks Cantum

Steven, I am aquarium hobbylist and i'm trying to take good pictures of Asian fishes with my friend. We are hoping to compile it to make it a catalog since there're not many good close-up pics of the fishes on the internet as well as book. I'm keeping Killifish too, currently still building up the photobase. I've testing site to upload my pictures, you can go to


http://www.petmaniac.com/killifish

and

http://www.petmaniac.com/killifish

These pictures are still not up to standard as i do not have a good SLR camera. I'm hoping that experts in the forum will help me to produce a better quality picture

 

[canturn]

Just a word of caution.

Make sure u test out your ziploc bags b4 your submerge the flash. You can go for double layer if your not comfortable Just a disclaimer, moi is not responsible for any short circuit

Reason why I go for the Morris slave flash because it's cheap and expendable. Another reason is because it gives a wide coverage (it's in the shape of an orb). Try using those pebbles or plants to hide them.

 

[canturn]

Forgot to mention something...

Somehow these slave flash tends to be forgotten... I've left them all over the place b4 and forgotten all about them until I reached home.

You won't want to leave them in the tank for too long, hehe