Aquarium Photography Tips and
Techniques from Janet Brassard

Camera Used: Kodak DC210 Plus Digital Blue Mushrooms:Taken with tank lights only (NO fluorescent on 20 gallon), no flash, on telephoto setting. (Enlarged View)

Yellow Cup Coral: Taken with VHO and halides, no flash, on telephoto setting.

• Be sure the glass, both inside and outside, is clean.
• Turn off the flash and use only tank lighting. I have both VHO's and Metal Halides and find sometimes I get better results if I turn the halides off (especially when taking a picture of something higher up in the tank).
• If the object is close enough, use a macro setting. However, I've found, as you can see in the Bubble Coral photo below, the thickness of the glass in the 120 gallon tank tends to distort objects more with a Macro setting.
• If you're trying to get pictures of a fish, focus on a spot and wait for it to swim into view.
• Take more than one picture so you can select the best.
• If necessary, use a good photo editing software (such as Adobe Photoshop) to adjust the color of the pictures - the blue light sometimes needs to be toned down.

Bubble Coral:Taken with tank lights only (NO fluorescent on 20 gallon), no flash, on macro setting. Visit Janet's Reef Web Site