Full
Reef Photography
Many
times, we simply want to capture our reef system without the surrounding
cabinetry. In capturing our little slice of the ocean, we simply need
to add a couple of techniques to those we picked up from shooting the
entire tank.
When shooting the entire tank, we shot at an angle
to give the viewer a feel for how it looks in three dimensions. Although
we went through pains to ensure the tank was properly exposed, the composition
was meant to be viewed holistically. Therefore, we were not overly concerned with depicting the contents of
the tank in the best possible manner.
Frame the Tank
Squarely
When shooting just the reef ecosystem, we want to make sure that proportions
are accurate and we want to minimize distortion caused by the glass surface. To accomplish this, we need to keep the lense perpendicular
to the surface of the glass. We also want to frame the shot so the
center of the reef is centered in the viewfinder. Furthermore, double
check to verify the top and bottom of the tank are perfectly horizontal
and within the frame, and the sides are perfectly vertical and
within the frame.
Taking care to line things up perfectly will result
in less perspective distortion and avoid a downhill slant or skew to the
image.
Zooming
If using a zoom lense, shoot around the center of the zoom range.
This will minimize barrel and pincushion distortion effects.
If using interchangeable prime lenses stay around
50-85mm to reduce these effects.
Cropping
We included the top, bottom, and sides of the tank in our frame, but we
do not want to include this in the final photograph as it boxes in the
reef making it appear smaller and deters from the complete ecosystem look. This is a simple matter to take care of in post processing - we simply
crop out these areas of the tank.
When cropping our shot try to avoid the surface or
a break in the water's surface as light may shine through and become a
distracting element. If the surface of the water and the water column
above the top of the reef ecosystem does not add anything
to the photograph, crop it out. We also want to crop out the walls and
the deep sand bed as they add nothing to the photograph, either. The result
is a photograph of a slice of ocean that appears open and self-contained,
rather than being a piece of ocean thrown in a cramped up box.
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