Aquarium Macro DSLR Tips

[MarkoD]

I use a speed light off camera all the time. It's the best way too add light with a small aperture.

It's best to use a snoot to direct light on your subject. You can easily make one by rolling thicker paper and taping it to the flash.

[syncro]

Depth of field increases the farther away you are. I've had good luck shooting a little farther back and cropping.

[sphelps]

I personally wouldn't have thought using a flash or different light source for tank macros would be a good idea, the best light will be from the aquarium alone and it's easy to make corals sit still. However I'd love to see good tank macros using a flash or other light source, if the effect is good I might have to try it myself.

Here's a couple slow exposure shots for reference, these where taken with a 100mm macro as well.

[MarkoD]

heres a few quick ones through dirty glass

tank lights were already off for the night

160th of a second
f10
iso1600

1/16th power on speedlight

[MarkoD]

this was shot with flash to

[MarkoD]

and if you want more florescence.

you put a high pass filter on the flash, and low pass filter on the camera.

i dont have these things, but it can be done