Last week, I had the opportunity to take some photos of a beautiful reef tank down in Kirkland.  I’ve taken photos of freshwater fish before; at one point, I had a heavily planted tank with a nice collection of odd-ball fish. I’ve also taken a few snapshots in marine tanks, in addition to quite a bit of macro photography in general, so I didn’t anticipate too many problems.

So, I packed up my macro lens (a Nikon 105mm micro) and a fast 50mm f1.4, and went to start shooting. But I did encounter some problems, and I think that now, several days later, I’m getting a handle on the root causes. If you’re planning on shooting in a reef tank, perhaps you’ll find these tips useful. And if you have some useful insights, please post a reply!

General Tips

These were the general thoughts that I had in mind going into the shoot. Most of them will seem pretty basic, but if you don’t have experience with these tanks, they may help.

1. Set the White Balance : This is especially important if you have to shoot .jpg! There is rarely anything in a reef tank that is color-neutral, so your camera will have a hard time setting a reliable white balance automatically. More importantly, reef tanks (and aquariums in general) frequently use lights that are unusually high in color temperature (such as 10, 14, and 20,000 K), and if your camera is set at standard daylight settings, your photos will come out very blue. Continue reading »

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