On September 29th, 2018, Nikon School hosted a photowalk at The Scientific Center - Aquarium in Kuwait. Our instructor was photographr Bishara Mustafa. It was a lovely day filled with knowledge, friendship, and creativity. Ideally, marine life photography requires highly specialized cameras or expensive casing that may not be the best option. Aquariums can be an excellent alternative source to shoot marine life if the costly gear is an issue.

Reflections

Aquarium lights are everywhere and can serve as a guide for knowing your way around. These lights are helpful but can cause a serious challenge for photographers because all these lights will cause external reflections on the tank glass. Your clothes, camera gear, and other visitors may have their external reflections on the tank glass. The solution is to block these reflections by using multiple methods.

First of all, go to aquariums wearing black clothes that do not reflect light, and make sure your clothes do not contain buttons as buttons may reflect light.

Second of all, use a lens hood. Lens hoods can create a cone-shaped darkroom that can eliminate reflections. The issue with the lens hood is that it can scratch the tank's glass or acrylic surface. These scratches can obscure the view for you, the place, and other visitors enjoying the experience in the aquarium. Scalloped lens hoods will let light in, so they won't help.

In my opinion, the last and best choice is a rubber lens hood, which can create a reflection-free cone of darkness. Its main advantage is allowing you to move freely and compose your image before taking the shot. Rubber lens hoods are inexpensive and will not harm the tank glass. They may cause rounded black corners when using wide lenses, which can easily be solved by cropping the image. A lens hood made by Josh Smith, founder of the Ultimate Lens Hood, is of particular interest.

Refraction

Refraction is caused by light passing through different mediums, i.e., from water to the solid glass and then from solid glass to air outside the tank glass. It can bend the lights and affect your image by causing purple fringing in your image, seen as a ghost as in the image below.

To solve the refraction, shoot perpendicular to the tank.

Lens

It would be best to have a lens with a wide field-of-view with near-focusing capability to obtain excellent results because fishes usually swim closer to the tank glass. A lens of less than 60mm is ideal, especially if it has a wide aperture.

In my case, I used the Nikon DX AF-P NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G. I found that the 18-55mm was more flexible in terms of field-of-view than the 50mm fixed prime lens. Nikon AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G lens and Nikon AF-S Micro-NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8G ED lens are other great choices.

Camera

It would be best if you had a camera capable of handling low-light situations. My Nikon D3400 produced incredible results, but I struggle in low-light aquarium conditions. Because of the high ISO I used, many of the images I obtained are grainy but are still usable.

White Balance

Auto White Balance can do the trick. However, make sure to shoot in RAW to be able to change the white balance in Lightroom later, just in case.

Exposure

The challenges you will face in the aquarium are the low-light and the fish movement. In these circumstances, I want to be in complete control. Hence, manual mode is my first choice here. The ideal setting is to start with a high ISO or Auto ISO if you frequently change your settings. Use a wide aperture to keep the subject in focus and handle low light, i.e., f/4 to f5.6. Since fishes swim slowly and your camera is close to the fish tank, a slow shutter speed of 1/125 can give your tuck sharp images.

If these settings give your harsh highlights in your subject, use the exposure compensation to adjust your exposure.

Shutter priority mode with Auto ISO may work as well.

Flash

Use manual mode because "auto" mode will trigger your flash, and the rule is "No Flash Photography in Aquariums."

There are several reasons for that.

• It isn't very pleasant for other visitors.
• Flash will create external reflection on the tank.
• Even if you manage and prevent reflections, the fish scales are very reflective, and flash will produce harsh highlights and unnatural colours.
• The impacts of photographer behaviour and photographic flashes on animals are poorly understood, and long-term continuous flashes damage on aquarium animals is unknown.

Read this study about the impact of flash photography on fish for more information. De Brauwer, M., Gordon, L.M., Shalders, T.C. et al. Behavioural and pathomorphological impacts of flash photography on benthic fishes. Sci Rep 9, 748 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37356-2

Post-Production

The main sliders in Lightroom I use in aquarium images are White Balance, Exposure, Contrast, and Clarity. I also use the Saturation slider if needed. Sometimes, I will color grade my pictures if the colours are dull.

Practice at home in your home aquarium if you have one, and share your experience with me. The same rules apply here, and make sure you add a nice background to your tank.

The Gear I Used

I hope you learned a lot from this blog. If you are interested in a one-on-one training session, drop me a direct message on my Instagram account.