To quote one of my favorite early 20th century photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson, “To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” I’m sure Monsieur Bresson didn’t have aquarium photography in mind when expressed this sentiment, but the essence of his statement is true for even a highly controlled activity like photographing fish! Anyone who owns fish knows these aquatic animals possess unique personalities, are amusing to watch, and offer endless variety of color and form.
Here are five tips I discovered while making photos of my aquarium fish. These guidelines are intended for indoor home aquariums and not for large public aquariums—a topic for another blog post.
1. Clean your tank – For best results, I recommend you perform a thorough water change and carefully clean your tank’s glass and all tank accessories Dingy water and algae build up not only detracts from the beauty of your aquatic life, but even small amounts of algae on the tank glass can create contrast that will fool your autofocus, resulting in an out-of-focus subject.
Allow a couple of hours for your fish to stabilize in their newly cleaned environment. Some species may require more time to relax and assume their normal routine. Adding a small amount of aquarium salt is a stress-reducing tonic for your fish. It adds beneficial electrolytes and restores the bright hues of colorful tropical fish. A few fish cannot tolerate aquarium salt, so be sure to follow the advice of a knowledgeable aquatic pet store owner.
2. Use a fast lens – A prime or fixed-focal-length lens is an excellent choice when photographing aquarium flora and fauna. Prime lenses have large aperture openings (f2.8 or wider) and offer superb sharpness, minimal distortion and lack the annoying chromatic aberration that is common with zoom lenses. For my aquarium shots, I used the inexpensive Canon “thrifty-fifty,” the 50mm f1.8 prime lens. This is Canon’s most affordable prime lens (about $100), yet the clarity is comparable to professional lenses that are more than 10x the cost. Despite the cheap plastic body and noisy motor mechanism, you’ll be pleased with how sharp your subjects are against a soft depth-of-field backdrop. The 50mm prime is a must-have in any photographer’s camera bag.
Because prime lenses are a fixed-focal-length, you must place the camera lens at the precise location where your desired subject is in focus, give or take the focus adjustment you can obtain with the manual or auto-focus. The closest focusing distance for the 50mm f1.8 is about 20 inches (1.64 feet or 0.5 meters to be precise). The 50mm lens’s field of view is 40°. This means you’ll need to crop your subject for best framing and composition. The images shown here are tightly cropped, yet the clarity and detail are not diminished when displayed at full-size—again, thanks to the amazing sharpness of the 50mm lens.
3. Fast shutter, small aperture – Fish are fast little critters, so you’ll need a sturdy tripod and fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. My images are taken at 1/250 second or faster. At this speed, ambient light won’t be sufficient to light your subjects, so a flash is required (see Tip #4). For optimal depth of field, you’ll have to close down your aperture. The photos featured here were taken at f7.1 and f8.0 These settings will make the detail of your fish come alive while creating nice separation with a softer background. Experiment with different aperture settings for your desired depth of field.
4. Know your family (of angles) – Because you’re shooting with a fast shutter, you’ll need an external flash or strobe to illuminate your aquarium. Do not use your on-camera flash. On-camera flashes are too harsh due to the small light source—and more to the point, your results will be nothing short of 100% reflection from your aquarium glass! I recommend using an IR trigger to activate an external flash. Long flash cords are cumbersome and radio transmitters, while highly versatile, are pricey. The Wein Sync-Link Universal IR Flash Trigger is high quality and inexpensive (about $65). You can illuminate from the side of the aquarium (90° from your camera lens), from the top, or from a shallow angle to the front of the tank. These positions adhere to the family of angles rule in photography. The family of angles is the set of lighting angles (at a specific distance from the subject) that produce direct reflection. If your light source is positioned within the family of angles, you will produce direct reflection (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Lighting within the family of angles results in direct reflection
Conversely, a light source positioned outside the family of angles will never produce direct reflection, as seen by the camera lens (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Lighting outside the family of angles results in no reflection
I’ve not been successful in finding a formula to calculate the precise degrees for the family of angles, but the concept is intuitive and quickly proven as you locate your reflection-free sweet spot. For further reading on photography lighting, I highly recommend Light: Science & Magic by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, and Paul Fuqua.
The 50mm f1.8 lens harvests a lot of light, so my flash power intensity was dialed back to ¼ power. I encourage you to experiment with different lighting angles, but remember the family of angles to avoid direct reflection.
By the way, your external flash won’t harm or spook your fish. They carry on about their fishy business unabated.
5. Patience, patience, patience – This rule is true of most photographic activity. You have to study your subject in its environment (even if your shooting an inanimate object). Study the actions and interactions of your fish. Then carefully move your tripod into position, once you have a composition in mind.
Move slowly and deliberately with your camera setup. Remember, fish can clearly see you and sudden motion can startle them and ruin your portrait opportunity. Ideally, shoot in a darkened room with the aquarium light on. This will provide enough light to focus on your subject while minimizing the fishes’ visual contact with you. Let the fish come into view, then use the autofocus (AF) points on your DSLR. By selecting a suitable AF point, you can shoot with autofocus while framing the subject. This prevents you from having to move the camera and maintains your focal length at the desired distance from your subject.
Happy shooting and please comment with links to your aquarium shots!
Gear used in this photo shoot:
Canon 50D DLSR
Canon 50mm f1.8 lens
Wein Sync-Link Universal IR Flash Trigger
Canon remote shutter release RS-80N3
Vivitar power Zoom DF-383 AF Flash
Manfrotto 190XProB tripod with 496RC2 head
A cheap, no-name tripod suitable as a flash stand.
“Our snow was not only shaken from white wash buckets down the sky, it came shawling out of the ground and swam and drifted out of the arms and hands and bodies of the trees…”
—Dylan Thomas, A Child’s Christmas in Wales
Saturday night’s heavy fog and snow, combined with low temperatures resulted in a wondrous phenomenon on Sunday morning. As the fog lifted in the early morning sun, a white-washed landscape came into focus. Frosty white ice called hard rime had formed when the water droplets in the fog froze to exposed surfaces, most notably our Ponderosa pines. By late morning, the frosty landscape had melted in the warm Colorado sunshine, expunged without a trace — save a few photos I had made during the early morning.
This self-portrait tutorial offers an alternative, do-it-yourself method when you don’t have an assistant to help you capture the shot. I’ve provided a list of the camera gear, plus step-by-step studio and camera setups.
The gear
DSLR camera
sturdy tripod
speedlight flash (1 or more)
light stands – for flash and focus target
wireless flash trigger (IR or radio control) or flash cable
Studio setup
I used a basic 45° broad-lighting setup for the portrait above. This means my key (primary) light was positioned at a 45-degree angle to my face. My head was turned slightly away from the camera to illuminate the broad side of my face. In broad lighting, the subject’s nose is pointed away from the key light. I also used an overhead soft box with speedlight suspended from a boom to create a hair light. Hair lighting provides even illumination of the hair and shoulders for better separation between the subject and background. Finally, I positioned a reflector disc attached to a light stand opposite the key light to add some fill light on the shadowed side of my face and neck.
Attach your downloaded focus target to a light stand. This will allow you to create a sharp, well-framed photo by following the steps below:
Adjust the height of the focus target, so the center of the target matches the height of your eyes when standing in your desired pose.
With masking tape, mark on the stand where you want the bottom edge of the photo to cut off. Steps 1 and 2 help you frame your photo.
Mark a tape ‘X’ directly underneath the vertical pole of the stand.
Move the light stand out of the way and position yourself directly over the taped mark, such that your head is directly over the tape mark.
Get into your posed position. Note the position of your feet by taping off the location of your feet. (I wore an open-heal Klog shoe in the studio. This allowed me to slip my feet out of the shoe and mark the exact position of my feet). Steps 4 and 5 help to ensure that your photo is in focus.
Step out of position and move the focus target back into its marked position, so you can now focus the shot.
Camera setup
After you set up the focus target, perform the following camera setup:
Set your camera to manual focus.
Position your camera tripod and frame the shot with the focus target and tape mark on the stand.
Adjust your focus ring until the focus target is crisp.
Lock your tripod adjustments.
Camera settings: My self-portrait was shot fast (1/200s) to expose the speedlight as the primary light source. In flash photography, the shutter speed controls ambient light. By shooting fast, you can filter out the ambient light. This allowed me to achieve a pure black background. My ISO was set to 200 and the aperture to f/7.1. I used this aperture setting so that my depth of field would allow for some leeway in focus, if I was slightly off the tape mark. Experiment with your camera settings, based on your own lighting situation.
Move the focus target stand out of the camera’s field of view, prior to taking your self-portrait.
Set the drive mode to the 10-second delay. Press the shutter and get into position before the shot.
There is some trial and error involved before mastering this method, but it is effective and a relatively inexpensive technique. To learn about more sophisticated methods, have a look at the self-portrait episode of Digital Photography 1 on 1 from AdoramaTV. Happy shooting!
Posted by Chris Wray on Oct 31, 2011 in photography
Measuring only 15mm across, this fossilized trilobite is over 400 million years old. The trilobite was a highly successful invertebrate, dominant in both numbers and variety of species. These ancient saltwater creatures swam and burrowed in the shallows and deep sea water for over 270 million years. This particular genius of trilobite, known as Calymene, is the distant relative of the present-day horseshoe crab. The Calymene had an effective defensive mechanism. When threatened, the Calymene would protect itself by coiling into a tight ball. The inside edge of the trilobite’s head (cephalon) had a groove that would form a tight seal with the creature’s tail (pygidium), a bit like a re-sealable plastic bag. The Calymene’s hard shell and protruding spines would protect its soft, vulnerable underbelly from predators.
I photographed this Calymene specimen using the tabletop set up shown below. The surface underneath the specimen is a piece of smooth bond paper. It’s amazing how the texture is visible in this photo!
My gear included:
Two Bescor 125 LED lights with daylight balanced filters
This week I’m resurrecting my Tabletop Tutorial series by featuring a macro photography technique known as focus stacking. Focus stacking is a digital image processing technique that combines multiple images taken at different focus distances. The composite image offers a tack-sharp subject from stem to stern. If you’re looking to achieve greater depth of field in your macro photography and don’t want to drop a load of cash on an expensive macro lens, try this fun and highly effective technique.
Have a look at my quick video tutorial for details on focus stacking workflow using Helicon Remote and Focus software:
This September marks the twelfth anniversary of the opening of the Paris Las Vegas. My son and I visited this 2915-room hotel and casino this past June. Paris dominates the Las Vegas Strip with its half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower and partial Arc de Triomphe. The front of the hotel borrows inspiration from the Paris Opera House and the Louvre. The twilight photo above was taken from the window of our room with a terrific view of the Bellagio Hotel, Aria Resort, and Cosmopolitan. Visit my Flickr page for more photos of the Paris Las Vegas, including a night shot of the Bellagio Fountains.
The New York-New York Hotel and Casino resembles a Broadway stage set more so than a 2,000-room hotel. One of many themed hotel and casinos on the Las Vega Strip, this hotel’s architecture is meant to evoke the skyline of New York City during the 1940s. Set back from Las Vegas Boulevard are the recognizable Empire State and Chrysler Buildings. Along the Strip are the 150-ft tall replica of the Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, The Immigration Building on Ellis Island, and the Grand Central Terminal, albeit crammed together. The signature attraction at NY-NY is the Roller Coaster that lifts you up 200 feet and drops you down 150 feet at nearly 70 mph. The Coaster’s looping course is supposed to simulate a jet fighter’s barrel roll. No, thanks. The bloodcurdling screams were real enough for me!
Today’s post is an essay about the events of this past week that have given me pause for reflection. Many thanks to Marla (@bluemarla)for permission to publish her photo.
Last week, I learned a new word: haboob—a violent, summer sandstorm—thanks to the powerful images of Phoenix photographer Mike Olbinski. This week, I learned another meteorological term: derecho. The northern Chicago suburbs were hit hard on Monday by a violent derecho: an intense, widespread, fast-moving windstorm that produces damaging straight-line winds. Monday’s event caught my full attention. My wife and children were staying in Chicago’s northern suburbs when the storm hit.
Thankfully, my family is safe. But in the storm’s wake, my wife and kids had to endure 76 hours without electricity, detour around downed power lines and trees, and cope with long lines at the gas station, reminiscent of the ‘70s oil embargo (those of you old enough to remember ).
As the week’s events unfolded, my emotions ran the gamut: concern, frustration, anger, and powerless—yet I didn’t feel disconnected. Despite their power loss, my family and I sporadically talked via cell phone. I began to feel empowered, while sitting in front of my Mac pulling up current weather conditions, road closures, and latest bulletins from the local municipal websites. I created a sort of in-home command center that enabled me to feed important updates to my wife.
To my surprise, Twitter became indispensable. I became glued to it, following Commonwealth Edison (@ComEd), Illinois’ largest electric utility. At this very moment, ComEd continues to feed news to customers 24/7 during this unprecedented state of emergency. A real-time tool, serving thousands in ways that a call center or website couldn’t possible keep pace—yet alone allow you to connect, if you don’t have power. Any battery-powered portable smart device serves up Twitter.
Granted, this media has limitations: specific questions I asked weren’t addressed; some answers were highly scripted and impersonal. Yet the exchanges between ComEd and Twitter followers were largely supportive and civilized. More importantly, Twitter took on a living, breathing presence. Followers, whose power was restored, would hash tag: #ComEdRestored. By searching this tag, customers—even ComEd—could form an accurate, real-time picture of towns whose power had been restored. Now that’s pretty amazing!
A retweet by ComEd (Twitter parlance: to forward a previously sent Twitter message) caught my eye late Thursday morning. It read,
A smile came to my face. The socially constructed mosaic of the week’s information was finally coming together. Twitter messages confirmed power was being restored near my family’s location. A convoy of reinforcements, captured and tweeted by photographer Marla W. (@bluemarla), was advancing in my family’s direction. I was optimistic; help appeared to be on the way. Within a couple of hours, the call came. It was my wife’s cheerful voice, “We have power!”
So what have I learned? Social media can be a powerful communication vehicle. It doesn’t require specialized knowledge or training. It is decentralized and not beholden to one authoritative voice. It’s remarkably helpful, particularly during times of crisis. It’s predicated on social interaction that’s accessible, immediate, and relevant.
But it can’t replace the voice of my kids, “We love you daddy and miss you.” Now that’s priceless.
The Las Vegas Fashion Show Mall is a swanky shopping complex located on the northern portion of the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a massive mall with over 1.8 million sq. ft (175,415.0 m2) of space, making it one of the largest enclosed malls in the world. The Mall has over 250 stores, seven anchors (including a tony line up: Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard’s, Neiman Marcus, Macy’s) an elevated stage, a fashion runway, and the famed Cloud.
The Cloud, a flying saucer-shaped canopy skewered between two massive pillars, is 128 ft (39 m) above the sidewalk and 480 ft (150 m) long. The structure is designed to provide shade from the scorching Las Vegas sun under the east entrance and serves as a movie screen by night. I like this particular vantage: the silvery belly of the Cloud; the interplay of form and space. Ironically, the billboard on the pillar features Skyy Vodka — a fitting combination under a cobalt sky and silver cloud.
Can anybody identify this former UFC Champion? To my surprise, my 12 year-old son did. Don’t ask me why; we don’t following Ultimate Fighting Championship, a recent hybrid boxing and martial art sport. Nevertheless, the LX Fight Shop inside the Luxor Hotel caught our attention with its incredibly lifelike wax sculpture—right down to the whisker stubble. So real in fact, I felt like I should have gotten a model release from this guy.
I’m giving away two HDR Spotting invitation codes to the first two folks who can correctly identify this heavyweight champ. Please Twitter DM or email your response. Happy Friday, everyone!
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