Reef Tank Photography Tips : A Quick Guide

In Practice

In this case, the shallow depth of field was useful in focusing attention on the coral in the center. (exposure: 1/750th sec. at f2, Lens: Nikon 50mm f1.4)

This was one circumstance in which having the monitor on the back of a digital camera was probably more of a hindrance than a help. I began this shoot by setting up a monolight, shooting down from the top of the tank with a Radiopopper to trigger it. When I started shooting, though, I found that with my 50mm f1.4 lens I was able to get 1/1000th sec. or faster in the top half of the tank under the metal-halide lights, so I set the white balance and started shooting hand held and from a tripod with available light.

After I’d spent about an hour and shot a few hundred photos covering the entire tank, I decided that I’d probably done the job and I called it quits. When I took a look at the photos on my computer screen, though, I found that there was a very low proportion of sharp photos. Photos that had appeared to be sharp on the back of my camera were actually slightly blurry… but blurry enough not to be usable.

My first reaction was that my shutter speeds had dropped down too low and I was getting blur from camera shake, since there was really nothing in the image that was sharp. Then I checked the meta-data, and found that many of them had been shot at between 1/500th and 1/1000th sec, and I started to question the possibility of camera shake. I decided in the end that the problem was probably a combination of 1) a very shallow depth of field with 2) distortion from the angle of the glass and 3) algae on the glass.

Since I wasn’t able to turn off the pumps and blowers, using a tripod and slower shutter speed to get greater depth of field was out of the question for most of the shots that I was looking for. In some cases, I could have stopped down the aperture 2 stops and still been able to stop the motion, but in most cases 1 stop was about it.

Another example of depth of field that is too shallow. Even though the body of the fish is almost parallel with the plane of focus, the face and pectoral fin are in focus, but the tail end is not. (exp: 1/350th sec. f2)

So, what would have been the best solution? Probably the best way to go would have been to use the flashes that I had brought with me. I had at least 600WS of power, which would have easily done the job. I took a test shot with only one of the heads firing and had a correct exposure at the bottom of the tank at f16 (ISO200).  Needless to say, towards the top of the tank I’d have had to stop down to f22, or further unless I powered down the strobe. This would have provided a tremendous gain in depth of field, and at half power, would have given me much better motion-stopping power.

Another thing that I discovered was that the transmission of the light through the water and glass didn’t just produce overall distortion, it produced chromatic aberration. In many shots, I got pink or green fringing, even in the center of the frame. If you know to look for it, this can be corrected in Adobe Camera Raw without too much trouble.

I hope that this helps you in your next attempt to photograph your reef tank! Good luck, and let me know if you have any tips of your own to share.

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