best way to photograph curved glass

Ok, as of today, I have a totally different perspective on the photos I see here posted on 3reef. I have a new respect for many of the shots people have posted on here.

I hate to admit this but I just learned how to upload pics from a simcard - I know that is pathetic. My hubby is such an avid photographer that I know all pics are more than covered (actually overexposure of our daily lives lol) anyway, I need serious advice on what lighting you shoot under and at what angle if it's a bowfront?

thx in advance. There are some serious photographers on this site. I just realized that today to the degree how good you all are

 

Make sure you have the lens square to the glass. Get directly in line with your subject and use a tripod wherever possible.

 

+1

As far as lighting, I find it far easier to shoot under the normal daylights/actinics than just the actinics. Start with this until you become more advanced

 

Oh boy!

I worked for a photographer last summer and he was taking photos at Atlantis Marine World here in Long Island. Curved glass is tough to take a picture of if your right in front of it. What we ended up doing is setting a remote flash on top of the tank facing the bottom of the tank and setting two cameras on tripods on what we were trying to take a picture of. The pictures came out great, however definitely not as good as the pictures of the tanks with flat glass.

 

Precisely...curved glass will always give you some optical distortion (a huge reason I'm not a fan of curved tanks). If we photo a fish in a curved tank, we actually like to try and shoot from on of the flat end panes, if it's not a FTS.

Your absolute best friend in the world for aquarium photography is a good tripod. that way, you can use the tank's lighting without fooling with a flash, as it allows you to work at lower shutter speeds.

Adjusting the white balance is another thing that helps in terms of getting the true color of your subject as well.

Another big thing that lots of folks have trouble with is trying to get their lens to focus inside of its minimum focusing distance, so be sure you don't get too close unless you have a macro lens or macro setting that allows close-focusing.

Finally, shoot LOTS of photos...digital is free, so take a lot of shots and pick the best of the bunch.

 

OR, get an underwater camera and don't shoot through any glass. ;D

 

GoPro for the win!!