How to take photos of your tank.....

[Troylee]

here is a article from a old member maxamillion.....
great info....
I'm going to create a user guide for DSLR camera people, It'll get a little detailed as I'm going to share a lot of the little tricks of the trade to capture good quality images. Even if you don't have a DSLR, you can still use a lot of the information to capture good images.

This will be broken down into a step by step process. Here are the sections that I'll cover.

Cleaning the tank glass and camera lens
Using a tripod and various types of tripods
Using a remote shutter release -> why it's critical
Using the correct lens
Extensions Tubes
Prepping the tank
Reflection reduction and visual image reduction
Creating a background stage
Lighting for the shot
Positioning the coral
Camera image angle relative to tank glass -> why it's critical
fstop settings
ISO settings

[Troylee]

Cleaning the tank glass and camera lens

Clean the tank glass on the outside and the INSIDE, I can't stress this enough.

There is a very thin, almost invisible film of algae on the tank walls, even though it's not very visible, it's enough to cause minor focus issues with most autofocus systems, instead of the focus ending on the subject, it ends up focusing on the tank wall. Even if your using manual focus, if you don't clean the glass on the inside it may still cause some visual noise and the images may lack crispness and details.

Right before I take a series of photos, I clean the glass with a mag float and I will continue to clean the glass on the inside of the tank every 15 minutes or so.

You also need to clean the camera lens!!!...Even PAS cameras need the lens cleaned, again this is critical if you want clean, crisp images.
Be very carefull when cleaning lens, most have a anti-reflective coating that can be easily damaged and the lens is ruined if you damage this coating.

Most manufactures make a liquid cleaner. I use the one from Nikon and have very little to no streaking, you also need a CLEAN micro-fiber cloth and some swabs for wiping the lens.

[Troylee]

Use a Tripod
The use of a tripod is critical for any type of macro photography, there is simply no way you can hold your hand steady enough to capture macro details. I would guess that 99% off all my images, even the ones that are not macro are taken with the use of a tripod.

Most people think that all you have to do is open the tripod and slap a camera on top of it, party true, but there are minor issues that can cause the tripod to move or vibrate, this will equate to visual noise or image blur.

For really exceptional detail, you can also use a "macro slider" this attaches to your camera and then you attach the assembly to your tripod, it allows you to move the camera horizontal and lateral in ultra fine increments without having to move the tripod. They can usually be found online for around $30.

This is going to sound really weird, but if your tripod is sitting on carpet, don't stand near the tripod when you release the shutter, as your body weight will cause minor movement of the carpet and padding, you can see this if you setup your tripod, stand with your feet close to the legs and shift your weight from one foot to the other, you see your tripod move left and right, even though it's minor, ANY movement while the shutter is open will cause visual noise and image blurr. When I have an image staged and ready to capture, I step about 3 feet away from the tripod and release the shutter.


1)Open the tripod legs so that they are completely open
2)Before shutter is released, step away from the tripod if it's on carpet
3)If you don't have a tripod, use a tabletop or anything stable

[Troylee]

Use a remote shutter release or the camera's self timer CRTICAL
The only time I manually press the shutter release is if I'm hand holding the camera. Whenever you press the shutter button, no matter how gently you try and press, you will cause camera vibration or movement. Granted, most people will not notice this in their images, but when your doing highly detailed macro work, you start to notice very small things. The goal is to eliminate all the area's that can cause image problems.

If you don't have a remote control shutter release, just use the timer thats built into the camera.

I can't stress the use of a self timer or remote shutter release enough, this will make a HUGE difference in your images

[Troylee]

Using a macro lens and using a lens thats not designed for macro

The great debate, macro lens or no macro lens. If your really, really serious about macro photography you have no choice but to go with a dedicated macro lens. I'm using a Nikon 105mm VR Macro lens, the lens cost $750. The quality of the optics makes the lens well worth it, but, this is not to say that you can't use the inexpensive 18-55mm lens that comes with most camera kits.

The 18-55mm lens is a decent lens, it's a general use lens, optics are ok.
I used this lens for about 3 weeks and was able to capture some really nice images, but looking back, there is a very clear difference in image quality

When I first got my camera, I made the mistake of thinking the Nikon VR 55mm-200mm lens would solve my problems that I was having with the 18-55 lens, so I ordered it only to find out that yeah, the optics were better, I just had to stand 5 feet away from the tank in order to get the blasted thing to focus and then I had to zoom in.....But I made the 55-200mm lens work for a few weeks and even though I had to squeeze inbetween my washer and dryer because my frag tank was in the laundry room and I had to be about 4 feet away....Point is, you can make just about any lens work, even if you do have to eventually go to the extreme of one day waking up and deciding that your going to drag the washing machine out into the garage because you really need some space to setup a tripod....Totally serious.

So I went from a 18-55mm lens that came with my camera kit
Then got a 55-200mm VR lens thinking that because somebody had told me I needed to get a 105mm macro lens, my thinking was hum, 55----105---200 so the lens would work...LOL

Point is, if you don't have a dedicated macro lens, you can make just about any lens work, might not be as large of an image or as detailed, but they will work.

read the next section if you don't have a macro lens

[Troylee]

Extension Tubes
Extension tubes are designed to enable a lens to focus closer than its normal set minimum focusing distance. Getting closer has the effect of magnifying your subject (making it appear larger in the viewfinder and in your pictures). They are exceptionally useful for macro photography, enabling you to convert almost any lens into a macro lens at a fraction of the cost while maintaining its original optical quality.

Extension tubes are simply spacers that fit between your camera lens and the camera body, they are hollow and have no optics.

Most extension tubes come in a set of 3, think of it this way, when you move the camera lens farther away from the camera sensor, the image becomes larger, most extension tube sets cost $80 to $180 and are a very inexpensive way of turning a 18-55mm lens into a macro lens

Google camera extension tubes

[Troylee]

Prepping the tank

If your doing macro work, you have to turn the waterflow off

I have all my pumps on a power strip so that I can turn just the pumps off. It's important that the water has no movement when shooting soft, fleshy type corals as just the slightest movement will cause image blur.

Before I do a series of images, I plan ahead for what images I want to capture so that I can do the photography in a short period of time and get the pumps turned back on. Most of the time I spend about half an hour with the pumps off

[Troylee]

Reflection reduction and visual image reduction


Turn your flash off! causes more glare and color washout than can be fixed. There is no need to use a flash!

Simple as this > look thru your viewfinder, if you see some type of white streak or reflection, go eliminate it...

Turn the lights off in the room, basic concept is to make the room as dark as possible, I'll use foil backed gift wrap paper to cover windows or refections off of walls...

Close any blinds or block off any windows that are in front of the tank, reflections of sunlight on the tank cause visual noise and are distracting.
Sometimes I'll setup 2 chairs directly behind my tripod and drape a dark sheet across it, this eliminates almost 100% of any images appearing on the glass. Think of it like this, how many times have you seen images of somebodys tank, only to see a image of the person holding a camera reflected off the tank glass

You can also purchase black foam core panels at Micheals for $3.00 each, I have two them thay are each about 24"x36" and I'll stand behind my tripod and use them to block any reflections that may be hitting the glass

Use a UV or daylight filter on your lens! You should have some type of filter over your lens to begin with, it's partly to eliminate something scratching your lens, rather waste a $40 filter than replace a $750 lens

[Troylee]

Creating a background stage

This is a fairly simple procedure, I keep what I call the "sweet spot" in my tank free of any background items, back wall is clean of coraline algae, rock outcrops, misc algae etc... I just want a clean, black background so that the coral colors pop, this area is not very big, maybe 4" around and I've arranged the LR so that I have a flat area to place the corals. I also have another area that has a live rock background, I do this so that I have a choice of backgrounds depending on the corals and what will make the image look the best

This area is also almost directly under the MH's and slightly to the left, it's about mid water level and about 14" away from the lights, any closer and the lighting is just too bright and tends to washout the colors.

Sometimes I stage the corals the night before as they tend to close up and it takes them to expand. Sometimes it will take half a day to arrange a shot, fish, crabs etc will sometimes knock things over and then you have to start the waiting game again.

Another inexpensive trick is to use a black spatula thats not slotted, yeap a spatula from you kitchen, position the flat spatual part behind the coral and then you have an instant black background

[Troylee]

Lighting the shot

I also will move my light fixture back and forth to change the light pattern on the corals, this can make a huge difference. Usually the best lighting is when the light footprint is infront of the coral.

You can also use a small 2x9w fuge lamp, hold it in your hand and then aim it at the place in the tank where you need extra light. This is kinda tricky as you have to be above the water line and aimed down or you'll get light relfection off your tank glass. This is one of those areas where you simply have to play around with the fixture and figure out how to best light the subject.

[Troylee]

Position the coral

This is easier said than done, if your corals or frags are not attached to a rock this is much easier, you want the coral to be under the lighting and slightly behind and as parallel to the glass as possible. Point is, move the coral to the best possible position in the tank, make sure there are no obstructions in front of the coral

[Troylee]

Camera image angle relative to tank glass -> why it's critical

For those of you with big acrylic tanks, your going to have a very difficult time doing macro work, due to the thickness and optics of acrylic, it's just the way it is, I may be wrong.

The best images so far for me have been taken thru thin glassed, cheap aquariums

One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to shoot down or at an angle inside of a tank, due to the thickness of the tank glass, this downward angle will cause focus issues, think of it like a prizm as show by "A" in the below images

"B" is the correct way to shoot thru glass when doing macro tank work, less distortion and aberration. You'll notice that all my images look like they are at "eye level" thats because I shoot directly at the image, not down or up.

This makes a huge difference in your images!
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p187/maxalmon/Home/angle.jpg

[Troylee]

Here are some basics of starting the learning curve, this one simple idea will really help you to understand how changing settings will affect the image

1)Pick out 1 coral in your tank and always use this particular coral.
2)Always shoot from the same distance and at the same horizontal level
3)Create a file with unique name and save all the images to this file so that you can review changes, also copy and past the camera settings to the image name, this way you can see the settings at a glance
4)Use the same lens until you master the camera settings.
5)ALWAYS USE A TRIPOD and timer release for the shutter or a remote.

Ok, follow the above steps and without moving the camera or changing the focus you want to do this

Put the camera in "A" mode or aperature priority and dial the fstop to the lowest possible #, should be around f2.8 or maybe f3.4
1) Take photo
2) without moving the camera or changing any settings, dial the camera up 1 fstop setting and take another photo
3) Dial the fstop another setting and take another photo
Do this till you make it to the highest fstop setting

A)What you'll learn is that at the lowest fstop setting (f2.8) the background behind your coral is fuzzy and out of focus and the shutter speed is fairly fast
B)As you increase the fstop setting the background becomes more focused and the shutter stays open longer.

Once you have gone thru all the sftops, review the photos. It's best to print each one out and label it with the fstop setting, then place them side by side in a single row and you can then see how the fstop settings changes the focus of the back ground > called "Depth of Field"

Remember the longer a shutter is open, the more chances you have for something to move inside the tank and this will cause image blurr for that particular item...ie turn the pumps off to stop things from moving

[SouthBayPhoto]

One other thing I would add, that I didn't see mentioned in this is....white balance. It is VERY important (if you are shooting digital) that you make sure to have your white balance set correctly prior to shooting and verify it is correct in your post processing of your images. That is key!!! If not, your colors will be off and everything else "just won't be right" when you look at it. Especially under actinic and MH type lighting. Actually, even under NO type lighting (which no actual reefer uses, but even so) you have to make sure your white balance (yes, even on your PAS <Point And Shoot> camera) is correct. Believe it or not, most times "Auto W/B" just doesn't cut it.

Anyway, so that is another thing I would consider when setting up your shooting session with your tank. :)

[necigrad]

When shooting my tank for a class I found white balance to be the most difficult. The bulbs aren't exactly what they're supposed to be even new. You have some other light bleeding into the tank as well. Shoot RAW and adjust in whatever photo program you use.