Flash Photography in an Aquarium

by Jim Zuckerman

On the way home from my recent trip to India, I was waiting to go through the immigration line when I noticed that the New Delhi airport had an aquarium. I had never seen one in an airport before, so I got out of line and went over to see if there was a photo opportunity. I was rewarded with this unique species of starfish clinging to the glass. The dorsal surface, which I could see from the side view through the aquarium, was actually more dramatic than the ventral side facing outward. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a good angle on that. So I contented myself with doing close-ups of the underside of this bizarre yet beautiful creature.

I was carrying a cord with me that allows the use of off-camera flash. It connects the hotshoe on the camera to a socket in the base of the flash. Sometimes I carry the Pocket Wizard as well because it enables the wireless use of off-camera flash, but on this trip I only had the cord. In this instance, direct on-camera flash would have put a terrible reflection in the glass and ruined the shot. Holding the flash at an angle was my only option. I took a few shots holding my Canon Speedlite 580 at arm’s length, but then a man walked up to watch what I was doing and I enlisted his help. He was able to hold the flash further away and at a better angle to the glass – about 40 degrees to the lens axis.

The immediacy of digital technology allowed me to inspect the images to make sure I wasn’t getting any unwanted reflections. It also enabled me to show my assistant what we were accomplishing, and this kept him interested long enough to get several good pictures. I used a Canon 1Ds Mark II and a 50mm macro lens, and I hand held the camera.

Comments

[Kate Baumgartner]

Excellent image, Jim. I have also been through the Delhi airport numerous times and have never seen the aquarium. I guess I was too exhausted from my time in India to notice the photo op. Your subject has such vibrant colors and design, just beautiful.

[kakaman]

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[Ken Leonard]

Thank you for the nice article. Although your photo is quite nice I find that the colors are not true and the photo is washed out. I have been shooting at my local Aquarium (The Aquarium of the Pacific) in Long Beach, CA for 6 years now. Early on I found that the best way to shoot in an aquarium is without flash. You will have to get close to the acrylic, make sure there are no scratches and clean off any finger prints, etc. on the acrylic. Anchor your hands with the camera just off the acrylic to keep the camera steady (tripods are of little use).

Here is one of my aquarium albums to see what I mean:

http://www.pbase.com/xl1ken/fish1

Ken Leonard
Belmont Shore, SoCal

[DiggitalD]

Shooting aquarium fish is definitely an interesting predicament. After shooting all day at the LB Aquarium, I found that shooting without flash was just silly. Compensating for both poor lighting and subject movement with high ISO results in useless, grainy pictures with extremely dull colors and typical water-cast hues. A good TTL flash will give a consistent color temperature that the camera will adjust for. Shooting perpendicularly to the glass will eliminate aberration and flare. Using flash off-camera with a diffusor helps. Also, try a rubber lens shade and put the lens right up to the aquarium glass.