# How do i take a good full tank shot?



## JohnC

We need a guide!

my girlfriend and I have bought a new dslr this year with a zillion settings but it is very hard to find a comprehensive guide to tank photography. With all the expert photographers here I thought one of you guys could impart your knowledge onto the masses.

Thanks in advance,
John


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## Stu Worrall

theres a few tips and links to other sites in here.

http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9372

http://en.iaplc.com/about/application.html

and lots to read here - http://www.cau-aqua.net/index.php?o...=category&sectionid=3&id=14&Itemid=39&lang=en


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## George Farmer

Hi,

I fully recommend learning the fundamental principles of photography so you can get the most from your DSLR. This will stand you in good stead for any subject matter, be it an aquarium or a fast moving bird.

Learning the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO is a good start.

Here's an article I often recommend -

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/sho ... p?t=414088

Here's a basic run down of how I take a full-tank shot using aquarium lighting. My techniques may differ considerably to others but they work ok for me.

1. Position the camera on a tripod.

2. Ensure the camera is exactly centered in all axis relative to the front glass of the aquarium. If you have a zoom lens i.e. 18-55mm you'll need to decide on what focal length you require. Wide (18mm end) gives an increased sense of depth, but cheaper lenses will incurr barrel distortion so the tank may look rounded. Towards 50mm and the aquarium appears more as it does to the naked eye in terms of perspective. Obviously as you adjust your zoom you will need to adjust your tripod.

3. Block out as much ambient light as possible to minimise reflections.

4. Set the camera to Manual mode.

5. Set the aperture to f/5.6, shutter speed to about 1/50 sec, ISO 800, auto white balance. If you have Live View use this as an exposure preview and you can tell roughly how the shot is going to look before you press the shutter release. If it's too dark or bright then adjust your aperture, shutter speed or ISO to suit. I won't go into details about what these do here, but the article I linked is excellent.

6. Set the focuson the lens to manual and pre-focus on the foreground of the aquarium. I also use Live View for this with 10x magnification for the sharpest results.

7. Experiment with different settings such as white balance to get best results. Auto white balance is usually very accurate in modern DSLR.

8. I tend to shoot in jpeg rather than RAW because I'm too lazy to process RAW. RAW gives you much better control over the image through post-processing software. I find my jpegs are usually useable straight from camera.

Using the above technique you are limited a lot by your aquarium lighting. Generally speaking the more light you have the better, so consider trying to supplement it if possible, ideally with daylight spectrum lamps. More light means you can use smaller aperture, faster shutter speeds and lower ISO. These generally mean better quality images. 

There's other basic techniques such as equipment removal and cleaning the aquarium glass but I'm sure I don't need to explain that. 

Cheers,
George


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## JohnC

Thanks guys,

George - do you go as far as using the light box setups I have just read about on the CAU site?


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## George Farmer

hijac said:
			
		

> Thanks guys,
> 
> George - do you go as far as using the light box setups I have just read about on the CAU site?


Sure, I've tried the light box and other flash techniques but the results I get from tank lights is usually good enough for me.

To light my 60cm for more important shots I will use a 6 x 39w T5 luminaire, literally just sat on top of the tank. It works really well.

What camera do you have?


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## JohnC

canon starter dslr 1100d 

really impressed with it so far. The only lenses we have currently are the 18-55mm that came with it and I picked up a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II a couple of months ago which is loads of fun. Once i'm back working again I'll start looking at investing in better lenses.


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## George Farmer

hijac said:
			
		

> canon starter dslr 1100d
> 
> really impressed with it so far. The only lenses we have currently are the 18-55mm that came with it and I picked up a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II a couple of months ago which is loads of fun. Once i'm back working again I'll start looking at investing in better lenses.


Nice one. You'll be able get some great images. The nifty fifty is a great lens for full tank shots!


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## JohnC

George Farmer said:
			
		

> hijac said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> canon starter dslr 1100d
> 
> really impressed with it so far. The only lenses we have currently are the 18-55mm that came with it and I picked up a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II a couple of months ago which is loads of fun. Once i'm back working again I'll start looking at investing in better lenses.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice one. You'll be able get some great images. The nifty fifty is a great lens for full tank shots!
Click to expand...



Excellent, ill pop that on now and see what I can do. 

The biggest issue we are having with the camera so far is actually having the time to process all the shots we have taken. 2500 odd taken in the space on 6 months!


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## clonitza

Actually I use the 18-55mm a lot for the wider angle despite the fact that I have sharper lens. 






If mixed with proper lighting than there's a really small difference between this one and an L lens when using a crop sensor. For full frame, well, you kinda need L lens, but that's another story.



 



Managing the photo library and RAW editing is really easy in *Adobe Lightroom*, also the barrel distortion George mentioned is easy to fix in it. Take your time to learn it and you'll be amazed by the results.

I take RAW photos and I think twice before pressing the button so I won't have many photos to edit. 

If you have time, join a photo club, take a photography course, it's fun and you'll learn way faster than watching youtube videos and reading books.

Mike


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## JohnC

Two shots here of my corner tank showing the specific issues I have with taking good photo's of it.

The first taken with the  50 mm f/1.8 II





Second taken with the wide angle setting of the 18-55mm 






Still some playing to do to get the best shot. I like the image quality much better on the 50mm but because I have to have the tripod so far back the mirror effect of the angled back walls of the corner tank lead to "ghosting" of the tank contents on the left and right sides.

The wide angle setting allows the tripod to be much closer avoiding this reflection issue but amplifies the rounding effect of the curved frontage of the corner tank. 

I'll take some more shots tonight to find the best of both worlds.

Best Regards,
John


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## clonitza

Looking very good so far John. And such a nice setup, glad you've taken a proper photo of it.


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## JohnC

clonitza said:
			
		

> Looking very good so far John. And such a nice setup, glad you've taken a proper photo of it.



Cheers,

It's one of those, "I was meant to be breaking this tank down 9 months ago" set ups . I was growing the stems out for a friend but have kept some and have been playing around with bulking them out and pruning. About to give them another adjustment right now. As ever with this corner tank the viewing angles are so different. The right hand side angle is much nicer then the full shot in my opinion as it is the one you see most when walking through the house.

I'll do some more tonight.


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## schraptor

clonitza said:
			
		

> Actually I use the 18-55mm a lot for the wider angle despite the fact that I have sharper lens.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If mixed with proper lighting than there's a really small difference between this one and an L lens when using a crop sensor. For full frame, well, you kinda need L lens, but that's another story.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Managing the photo library and RAW editing is really easy in *Adobe Lightroom*, also the barrel distortion George mentioned is easy to fix in it. Take your time to learn it and you'll be amazed by the results.
> 
> I take RAW photos and I think twice before pressing the button so I won't have many photos to edit.
> 
> If you have time, join a photo club, take a photography course, it's fun and you'll learn way faster than watching youtube videos and reading books.
> 
> Mike




Mike, care to share the photo details and scene setup for the bottle and glass shots?


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## clonitza

I placed both on white paper with a strobe with soft box in the back as background set to minimum.
The bottle had an umbrella on the left (8 o'clock) and the glass the same umbrella and a soft box on the right (5 o'clock). ISO100, 1/160 and f/11 I think. 

This is the strobe kit (3x250w):



From UK (ebay)

Cheers,
Mike


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## schraptor

Thanks Mike ! Nice equipment btw


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## JohnC

Hi,

Just bringing this thread back as i've been practising my photography a bit.













I stuck a 400w halogen lamp over the tank to give extra light and it worked a treat but i'm having issues with the colour balance. Obviously the bulb is more in the yellow end of the spectrum but I aimed to correct it in photoshop. The results were a bit all over the place. Which has led me to start looking for a more full daylight alternative to avoid so much post processing (although i am reasonably skilled in photoshop so its not so much of an issue).

Other then the professional photography kit shown already in this thread what do you guys use to throw more light onto the tank for a decent shot.

Best Regards,
John


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## HarryRobinson

I suppose using like a large handheld halide lamp they have at construction sites might do the job  like this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5 ... AA300_.jpg


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## JohnC

HarryRobinson said:
			
		

> I suppose using like a large handheld halide lamp they have at construction sites might do the job  like this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5 ... AA300_.jpg



That is EXACTLY the one I already have.


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## JohnC

I have spent an evening researching if I can put a 70w metal halide daylight bulb into the same r7 fixture but came to the conclusion it might just blow up.


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## JohnC

I'm considering investing in a new lens for more close up stuff. Any suggestions for the next affordable step for my starter cannon 1100d?


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## Aquadream

JohnC said:
			
		

> I'm considering investing in a new lens for more close up stuff. Any suggestions for the next affordable step for my starter cannon 1100d?


I have Canon 600D body and use currently with it Micro Nikkor PC Auto 1;3.5 f=55mm. It is a macro lens made in 1972. You can buy some of those for about £100 give or take. Of course Nikkor lens will need adapter to get fitted on the canon bayonet. 
There are some sample pics that I have made with it.
The pictures are not in their full resolution in here, because I dont know if it is possible to upload HD pics on this forum.


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