How to Photograph Reefs Inside Fish Tanks

Photography Tips

Coral reefs, found in aquariums or not, are fantastic photo subjects. You won’t be doing them justice if you’re not up to speed on the best ways to capture their brilliance. And if you happen to be in the coral reef photography business, of course it becomes even more important for you to be able to take coral photos and videos that really grab the viewers’ attention. After all, aesthetics matter a lot in this field of business. In this video, photographer Becka from Tidal Gardens explains what it takes to get really great photos of the coral reefs:

It’s quite important to understand how the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed work together to make the best image possible. Becka starts off by giving you a run down on how the exposure triangle affects your photos in terms of image quality, depth of field, capturing greater details, and exposure.

Even the slightest of water currents can cause coral to move. This can cause motion blur to creep into your images, which in turn affects the details as well. Becka demonstrates how you can tackle this challenge.

If you’re someone who’s more into videography, Becka also shares some tips to help you take beautiful coral videos. One important consideration you need to make when taking videos is your shutter speed. In the video, you’ll learn about the basic yet critical 180-degree shutter rule.

“The 180-degree shutter rule essentially means the shutter speed you set your camera to should be twice the amount of the frames per second.”

Besides camera settings, you’ll also find out how you can use external lighting to get optimum photos and videos. External lighting is quite important because light gets very limited at the bottom of the tank.

Be sure to watch the entire video for some great information on how to photograph reef aquariums. Whether you want to improve your business or just show off your beautiful coral at home, you’ll find the tips in this video quite handy.