Photographing Fish?

[EVoyager31]

I stole a mark III from my job, and am trying to get some decent pics of my goldfish. I have gotten a few that I like fine, and I am a graphic designer so I am not incredibly new to cameras.. but I was hoping for some tips on how to get some crispy pics. I feel like I am having trouble because of the overhead light and the middle brace of the tank distorting it... along with trying to find the best aperture and shutter speed settings. Not to mention most of them won't HOLD STILL. I still need to edit these.. but I, unfortunately, am lazy. Tips?

[TheSwissAquarist]

@JimmyGimbal did something on his YouTube channel on taking fish pics.

[Rube_Goldfish]

Those look really good already! I always struggle with aperture and shutter speed and all that (I'm an autofocus, point-and-shoot kind to photographer) but with lighting at least, you'd want the tank light to be as bright as it can and all other lights in the room off. Door closed and window blinds/curtains closed, too. My best successes have been pointing a camera at a spot and waiting for the fish to swim to that spot (and you can cheat by dropping some favored food there to bait them).

Lastly, I've seen suggestions here (from @nabokovfan87 , I think?) about  shootung digitial video instead anf then just doing screen grabs from that, instead of outright still photography.

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/22/2023 at 4:35 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

Lastly, I've seen suggestions here (from @nabokovfan87 , I think?) about  shootung digitial video instead anf then just doing screen grabs from that, instead of outright still photography.

Yep.  I can record at 120 FPS on my phone, sample it down to 60, essentially slow mode but it's butter smooth.  Then it has a tool to pull screenshots or just use the normal phone ---> screenshot function.

[EVoyager31]

On 1/22/2023 at 7:35 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

Those look really good already! I always struggle with aperture and shutter speed and all that (I'm an autofocus, point-and-shoot kind to photographer) but with lighting at least, you'd want the tank light to be as bright as it can and all other lights in the room off. Door closed and window blinds/curtains closed, too. My best successes have been pointing a camera at a spot and waiting for the fish to swim to that spot (and you can cheat by dropping some favored food there to bait them).

Lastly, I've seen suggestions here (from @nabokovfan87 , I think?) about  shootung digitial video instead anf then just doing screen grabs from that, instead of outright still photography.

See I started doing that, but their scales can be a bit reflective and it really blows out the white!