[Quest4ADV]

Hey there,

I've got some questions. A friend of mine(it always starts like that doesn't it???) has an aquarium cleaning/servicing business. He just installed two 300 gallon saltwater aquariums in a Dr's office and I've been wanting to photograph the interior with the tanks lit up for him to use on his website.

I'm imagining that the lighting difference between the normal office interior and the tanks will be a quite a challenge to shoot. I'm thinking that I will take multiple exposures, one for the room and one for the tank, then stack them in LR or PS. Does that sound like a plan? Any other advice???

Thanks

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Last edited by Quest4ADV; 03-18-2014 at 01:28 PM.

[elliott]

Another option is to light the room with well diffused flash that won't reflect on the tank, preferably bounced flash. You'll just have to match the color temperature of the flash to the tank lights. This would be easier than stacking to me.

If you do plan on stacking, make sure you take the one exposed for the room with the tank lights off.

[TER-OR]

Keep the light low in the office, brighter in the tank and use ambient light - this will also highlight the aquarium as the most important feature in the room.
I don't think this will be as difficult as you imagine. Tripod will allow as long an exposure as you desire.

[narual]

Keep the light low in the office, brighter in the tank and use ambient light - this will also highlight the aquarium as the most important feature in the room.
I don't think this will be as difficult as you imagine. Tripod will allow as long an exposure as you desire.

And you can tell everyone that the aquarium is full of sea snakes instead of fish.


Would polarizing film on the flashes and a polarizer help? I know some people use that for photographing art that's behind glass.

But the easiest way would certainly be just doing multiple exposures.

[bonaprof]

A few years ago I took photos at the California Science Center in San Francisco. I was amazed how good they were. The aquarium had very dark lighting with just enough light to be able to see other people.The aquariums were lit and provided much of the light. I no longer have an original raw files, but I know that I placed the lens directly on the aquarium glass. There was just enough border on the lens to keep glass on glass. I do not remember the f setting or speed, but I bet I used automatic (green) to shoot these with af and an iso of 200. Hope this helps.

I did not use a flash.

[Quest4ADV]

Thanks for the hints.

I will try several different methods. My hope is to have a well lit office space image, the building is brand new and looks incredible from the outside so I'm assuming the inside is just as nice. I really want to make the tanks the focus of the image and give some dramatic impact.

I won't be taking pics of the tank inhabitants so much as how the tanks fit into the office space!

Thanks

Jeff

[Na Horuk]

I once took photos in a dark aquarium with my Pentax M 50mm f1.7 and just ambient light (I was there as a tourist), mostly between f2.8 and f1.7.
500px / ISO horse by Stolpulus II
500px / Untitled by Stolpulus II
500px / Curious fish by Stolpulus II
500px / Fast piranha by Stolpulus II

But if you can control the light, you will have a big advantage. Think about bringing a polarizing filter and some continuous light, which should be easier to set up than flashes. It all depends on your objective though - to show the rooms, the habitat, or the fish

[Quest4ADV]

I once took photos in a dark aquarium with my Pentax M 50mm f1.7 and just ambient light (I was there as a tourist), mostly between f2.8 and f1.7.
500px / ISO horse by Stolpulus II
500px / Untitled by Stolpulus II
500px / Curious fish by Stolpulus II
500px / Fast piranha by Stolpulus II

But if you can control the light, you will have a big advantage. Think about bringing a polarizing filter and some continuous light, which should be easier to set up than flashes. It all depends on your objective though - to show the rooms, the habitat, or the fish

Great shots you have there, but I'm not trying to highlight the aquarium inhabitants as much as the way the entire tank is displayed in the room. I'm going to have to go about it in a different way.

Thanks for sharing the pics though.

[link81]

if it's a saltwater reef tank, you might run into exposure issues and/or color issues with the tank. I know mine runs pretty blue, and is very bright. you might want to think about a pseudo HDR, one exposure for the tank, and another for the room, thay way you can adjust exposure and white balance separately.

Or if it's lit by LED's you can adjust the lighting down on the tank a bit, and turn down the blue channel (on the LED's) o get a more natural color.

[BrianR]

I'm imagining that the lighting difference between the normal office interior and the tanks will be a quite a challenge to shoot. I'm thinking that I will take multiple exposures, one for the room and one for the tank, then stack them in LR or PS. Does that sound like a plan?

This seems the easiest way to go if there's a big difference between the aquarium and the rooms brightness (or white balance) as it gives you complete control over the relative brightness levels. You might want to dim the room lights if you can for the aquarium frame to reduce reflections, or have something you can use as a flag to block any unwanted reflections (I'm just thinking you want the aquariums to be the 'star').

[dms]

Beside lighting level--the lighting in the office, the tank, and flash if you use it, may all be at different temperatures (white balance), as well. You could bring filters to hold in front of flash to bring it into agreement with the office lighting. Same as if you were adjusting film for a different light source. Also shoot in raw so you can adjust white balance. And if very different between tank and ambient: 2 separate exposures combined in post processing may be needed. But that's the great thing about digital--no waiting for film developing to see!