# Tropical Saltwater Fish



## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

Went to a local pet store yesterday to pick up some supplies for my son's school project. They had just cleaned the saltwater tanks and I thought "Photo Opp". Asked the owner if he minded me taking some shots and promised to email him some of the images. He said no problem so here are a few of those images.


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## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

And a few more.


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## txred (Feb 24, 2006)

Cool Photos....thanx


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

Very neat "catch" Capt. Ray. This site has its share of fish photos, but I haven't seen any more beautiful than these. Rich


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## TooShallow (May 21, 2004)

Do you have any tips for shooting through glass/water interface. Did you use any filters to reduce glare, no flash, etc. In those photos I can't even tell that the fish are in an aquarium. I have not had such good look when photographing fish in an aquarium. Thanks.


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## chicapesca (Jun 7, 2004)

Cool pics Ray! Very well done. TooShallow is right, you can't tell they were in an aquarium.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

Very Nice. Those will really test out the color gamut of your monitor. Nice work.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

Aw heck, I wish they'd cleaned the dust and debris off the outside of the tanks before you took the piccies. Go back and get them to do that for you Ray... And then SELL them the photos! They're awesome!

If possible, can you back off the frame just slightly in the second post, third photo to get the full fin on the yellow fish? hmm come to think of it I don't think the frames take away from the photo itself do they? I'm going to have to try that myself and see. 

I think that yellow one in the second post, third photo is a favourite along with the composition of the very last front on photo. That last one is just 2cool.


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## dallasrick (Jan 5, 2005)

I found Nemo LOL


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

*Whooo-hooo!*

2cool outing at the fish store!!!


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

Nice shots, Ray. Very colorfull baitfish! 
Mike


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

I just read another post on "Photography on the Net" Canon forums this afternoon about using flash while photographing aquariums. The photog was able to eliminate 99% of the flash reflections from the front of the tank. He obtained a sheet of polarizing plastic film and put a piece across the front of the flash head. Then he took shots with a circular polarizer filter on the lens. The lens filter polarization is oriented 90 degrees to the film on the flash head. They had some shots of a very badly scratched acylic aquarium that looked terrible with a regular flash shot. With the polarizing setup, it was next to impossible to make out any semblance of reflection off the front panel of the tank. I think Edmund Sceintific carries the polarizing sheet plastic film.


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## drred4 (Aug 12, 2005)

very nice and colorful pics. Got me thinking about coral reefs with those pics.


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## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

TooShallow said:


> Do you have any tips for shooting through glass/water interface. Did you use any filters to reduce glare, no flash, etc. In those photos I can't even tell that the fish are in an aquarium. I have not had such good look when photographing fish in an aquarium. Thanks.


Here are a few of the things I did to get these images. Make sure the glass (inside and out) is as clean as possible and watch for any reflective light off the glass from light sources behind you. Avoid shooting through any hot reflected spots unless you can butt the lens up against the glass. I try to shoot every fish from a frontal plane position... where the lens, glass and fish are all parallel with one another and with the lens as close to the glass as possible, if that makes any sense. Also use a lens with macro capability. I used my 28-75/2.8 Macro on all of these shots and just kept it around 75mm most of the time.

The 1st five shots were taken in a well lighted aquarium at ISO 200 at 1/100 sec at f3.2. All of the others were taken in dimmer lighted tanks. Had to jump the ISO up to 800 at 1/125 sec. from f2.8 to f5. I shot in manual mode and adjusted the aperture as needed for available light. I also turned off my auto-focus and focused manually. Auto-focus was to slow or always trying to lock on to something else in the background or immediate vicinity.


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## haparks (Apr 12, 2006)

those were some nice pics


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## TooShallow (May 21, 2004)

Thanks Ray.


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## MsAddicted (Jan 25, 2005)

Wow! I love the pics, what fun! And yeah, I agree with Koru....SELL the pics, lol. They could use those for advertising.


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