lens - Tips for shooting in an aquarium?

What would be your advises when taking shoot in an aquarium?

What are your preferred lenses? How do you deal with the low light? What about the aquarium glass which bring some deformation? The fact that fishes are moving and hiding?

A zoo style is what I had in mind but I guess tips for home aquarium are welcome as well.

Answer

Cleaning the glass is a great suggestion, however, even with clean glass you have a few more issues.

Fast moving fish - Since fish often make quick movements, you will probably want a fairly fast shutter speed, which means you need fast lenses and plenty of light.

Glare - This can be caused by your flash, or by other ambient lights. Ideally, there would be zero lighting on your side of the glass, with the inside well lit. Since this isn't going to happen, you will need to account for the reflections on the glass.

• On camera flash is not going to work, because the light will bounce right back. You may be able to use an off camera flash, but even then, it will be tough to get the angles right.


• You may be able to avoid the glare by getting closer to the glass. This will decrease the area the you are shooting through, which limits the possibility of reflections, but also limits your perspective.


• A circular polarizer filter can be used to eliminate the reflection by blocking the light coming from certain angles. This will limit the glare, but it also lowers the overall light, so you may have to adjust your exposure.