Hey there, im buying a Nikon D7000, and getting into photography, I just want to know what lenses, filters, etc people use to get such beautiful photos of their fish? No doubt a tripod and a remote trigger, along with a 18-70mm VR lens, (or a smaller lens) with uv filter would be a good start?

Thanks heaps for any info

I read that you need a small tank to constrain the fish movement if you want really decent close up photos.

I've taken loads of really good photos of my fish without putting them into a smaller tank. I have tried using a smaller tank/container, but if anything, it freaks them out and they go spastic and they're impossible to photograph.

This thread gives you a good starting point for doing a proper photo shoot; http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... -to-finish

And there is even a whole forum devoted to the subject if you want to explore it further; http://www.aquatic-photography.com/

Thats the stuff im looking for! Thanks heaps guys

A tripod and remote trigger is not necessary for fish photography because often you need to take the photos on an angle so that you don't get the reflection in the glass.

Definitely get a fixed-focal lens (aka prime lens) because that allows you to take very crisp photos with the arty fuzzy background effect and it will work best in low-light conditions.

Don't use flash because you will only scare the fish and get a very bad reflection off the glass. Turn on your aquarium lights and get your F-stop as wide as you can.

I seriously should invest in a better camera I guess.

I put my camera right up to the glass which eliminates the problem of reflections :thup:

I put my camera right up to the glass which eliminates the problem of reflections :thup:

+1 if the focal length is short enough

I would recommend taking the photo as close to parallel to the glass as possible to limit distortion from the glass, gets worse with thicker glass as well.

If you have a remote flash that you set up over the top of the tank rather than mounted on top of the camera you will not get as many reflections, you can also obscure all the other light sources in the room, either by turning them off or shielding the tank from them with dark boards to stop the reflections.

Or take photos at night? I don't bother trying to photograph fish during the day unless necessary, having the tank lights as the only source of light really makes a difference.

Or take photos at night? I don't bother trying to photograph fish during the day unless necessary, having the tank lights as the only source of light really makes a difference.

+1 - the last time I took photos, I did it at night with no lighting in the room except the tank lights. Much better results.

Waikato arranged their tank crawl at conference after dark so that we could get some nice tank shots.