Aquarium fish photography lighting advice

[tolstoy21]

So what's the best way to light an aquarium if your interest is photographing the fish specifically and not the larger aquascape?

Lots of light from above from LEDs or using a flash suspended above the aquarium?

Imagine money and portability are not part of the equation. Which works better? Does one work better for specific uses cases, and vice versa.

I'm not rich (I wish!) but, like I said, just trying to get a pure perspective on how to best light the subjects (i.e the fish) independent of the cost and other considerations, like portability. 

[Ash F]

My favorite way to get good fish pics is to actually take a video with my phone and then pause it on my computer and take screen shots.

[Streetwise]

I always use the grid overlay on my iPhone shots. I choose one point, two point, or three point perspective for each tank shot. For fish photos, I try not to worry about framing the tank.

Room light sometimes helps, but not always. The same can be true for sunlight. Some lights have a manual setting that is different than the schedule, which can be useful.

I tend to just photograph my tanks in their current conditions, with other lights off.

[smoore]

Yesterday I built a fishy photo booth using a 2.5 aquarium, black substrate, a rock and a few plants.  I put some guppy girls in there today to see what I could get in the way of action shots and I could use some suggestions.  

My thoughts;

• I used their aquarium water to fill the photo booth and there are too many particles from the substrate that I scooped up.... lots of girls swimming around has stirred the pot.

This aquarium is too small for a sponge filter (I think)... do I need to do lots of water changes?

The fish won't be in here long, just for a photo shoot.

• Lighting is not quite right.  I'll need to figure it out because these girls look washed out in here.  My eyes pick up much more color.

Maybe I'll look for that video that Jimmy did....

I used the light setting with all of the colored lights on these pics, except one picture which I used only white light.

• Too many girls in the tank?

Edited July 14, 2022 by smoore

[nabokovfan87]

Jimmy has a few videos on the topic.  There's one where he talks about putting the lens right on the tank itself.  I can't find it, but it's a good one!
 

 

[tolstoy21]

@smoore I was thinking about doing the same with a 2.5 gallon tank I have sitting around.  If I had a suggestion as to your setup, I'd either go with minimal, few well washed substrate (something like the old-school aquarium gravel that has like zero dust), and I'd let it sit and the tank settle a day before putting any photography subjects in there.  Also, get the glass real clean the day before, inside and out. Doing it the day before allows the stuff you cleaned off the glass to settle and get you clearer water.

For me, I find some fish very very hard to shoot, like endlers, and some tetras, because they are always in motion and my camera's focus cant keep up with them.  My personal hope is that the smaller tank allows them less room to wander and gives me a fixed space/range of focus.

Anyway, good luck and post back any photos you take!

 

[smoore]

On 7/15/2022 at 4:05 AM, tolstoy21 said:

@smoore I was thinking about doing the same with a 2.5 gallon tank I have sitting around.  If I had a suggestion as to your setup, I'd either go with minimal, few well washed substrate (something like the old-school aquarium gravel that has like zero dust), and I'd let it sit and the tank settle a day before putting any photography subjects in there.  Also, get the glass real clean the day before, inside and out. Doing it the day before allows the stuff you cleaned off the glass to settle and get you clearer water.

For me, I find some fish very very hard to shoot, like endlers, and some tetras, because they are always in motion and my camera's focus cant keep up with them.  My personal hope is that the smaller tank allows them less room to wander and gives me a fixed space/range of focus.

Anyway, good luck and post back any photos you take!

 

Thankyou for your input!!!🙂

The 2.5 I have is a used tank and has some scratches.  I wonder if they are "buffable"?  I used the female guppies first because they are calmer than the males.  I need to try a few different things to get good pics, I think.  Watching Jimmy's videos now.  I'm using an old iphone because it's the only camera I own.  

My plan is to;

• get some plain black substrate, like you suggested.... not used from their tank.
• use white light only
• remove plants and rock and go with the minimal look
• use fresh water that has set out for a day or so

I wrapped 3 sides of the tank with a black garbage bag and I was trying to hide wrinkles with the the plants and rock.... we'll see what it looks like, I guess.  I can always paint the tank if needed.

Anyway, this has been a fun project!

On 7/14/2022 at 4:03 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Jimmy has a few videos on the topic.  There's one where he talks about putting the lens right on the tank itself.  I can't find it, but it's a good one!
 

 

nabokovfan87 Thank you for posting this!😃

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/15/2022 at 8:24 AM, smoore said:

I wrapped 3 sides of the tank with a black garbage bag and I was trying to hide wrinkles with the the plants and rock.... we'll see what it looks like, I guess.  I can always paint the tank if needed.

If you can, find some 100% blocking window tint. It works much better to cover tanks.  When I painted mine the HoB would always remove paint or something would happen. The "finish" on the film, especially when seeing it every day is very clean and holds up well.

For reference, I used acrylic paint. Maybe other stuff works better.

[smoore]

nabokovfan87, I have some of this privacy film, but it's not 100% blocking.  I used it on my bedroom windows for privacy while the drapes are open during the day.  I could get away with the paint on this tank, I think.   There isn't fish in it so it won't need a filter.  I'll be using it as a photo booth only.🎥

[tolstoy21]

On 7/15/2022 at 11:24 AM, smoore said:

The 2.5 I have is a used tank and has some scratches. 

Not impossible, but hard work and your mileage may vary. I did this on a 125G I picked up used off of CraigsList. You'll need to use cerium oxide and a good drill with a buffing attachment. A 2.5 has thin glass, so I'd worry about it breaking from the pressure of the buffing. Also, it's a small surface to work on if the scratches are inside.

A new 2.5 gallon might cost less than the supplies and manpower you'd wind up putting into this.

However, if it's an acrylic tank, then something like Novus scratch remover will do the trick more easily than working with glass. 

[smoore]

On 7/15/2022 at 11:42 AM, tolstoy21 said:

Not impossible, but hard work and your mileage may vary. I did this on a 125G I picked up used off of CraigsList. You'll need to use cerium oxide and a good drill with a buffing attachment. A 2.5 has thin glass, so I'd worry about it breaking from the pressure of the buffing. Also, it's a small surface to work on if the scratches are inside.

A new 2.5 gallon might cost less than the supplies and manpower you'd wind up putting into this.

However, if it's an acrylic tank, then something like Novus scratch remover will do the trick more easily than working with glass. 

Thanks for the info.  I'll think about it.  The scratches might not be a big deal because I'm just having fun with this project.

[smoore]

On 7/15/2022 at 4:05 AM, tolstoy21 said:

@smoore I was thinking about doing the same with a 2.5 gallon tank I have sitting around.  If I had a suggestion as to your setup, I'd either go with minimal, few well washed substrate (something like the old-school aquarium gravel that has like zero dust), and I'd let it sit and the tank settle a day before putting any photography subjects in there.  Also, get the glass real clean the day before, inside and out. Doing it the day before allows the stuff you cleaned off the glass to settle and get you clearer water.

For me, I find some fish very very hard to shoot, like endlers, and some tetras, because they are always in motion and my camera's focus cant keep up with them.  My personal hope is that the smaller tank allows them less room to wander and gives me a fixed space/range of focus.

Anyway, good luck and post back any photos you take!

 

I haven't gone to town to get plain gravel yet.

I put some young males in the photo booth to see how they looked and got a few shots that are closer to the actual colors on the fish.  Jimmy's video helped because I learned how to turn down the exposure on my iphone and allow the light from above to show the fish.

 

[smoore]

On 7/15/2022 at 3:02 PM, smoore said:

I haven't gone to town to get plain gravel yet.

I put some young males in the photo booth to see how they looked and got a few shots that are closer to the actual colors on the fish.  Jimmy's video helped because I learned how to turn down the exposure on my iphone and allow the light from above to show the fish.

 

guppies are SO FAST!!!😱

[CJhilljack]

On 7/14/2022 at 4:03 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Jimmy has a few videos on the topic.  There's one where he talks about putting the lens right on the tank itself.  I can't find it, but it's a good one!
 

 

Thanks for sharing this link, it was helpful. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/9/2022 at 5:09 PM, CJhilljack said:

Thanks for sharing this link, it was helpful. 

I found Jimmys vid (another one)
 

There is one on the more aquarium co-op, but I can't find it.