Aquarium shoot lighting

[enigmatic]

Hey AP'ers!

I have a quick question regarding the subject title.

I have been shooting my fish and shrimp (or trying too) since I got them last year, with some measure of success. I have no trouble shooting the slower fish, and especially the shrimp, as they are usually fairly still!

My problem lies in trying to shoot the faster fish, and also with trying to get a full aquarium shot. I just don't have enough light to bump up the aperture, freeze the motion and not have a hugely noisy picture!

At the moment I am shooting with a d600, and one off camera yongnuo flash. Any help would be much appreciated! I did some reading this morning and am contemplating another flash... But then I also chanced upon some of the smaller studio lighting kits...

Any help much appreciated!

Ash

Attached is one of my shrimp photos


Red Cherry Shrimp by enigma--, on Flickr

[feathers]

Love the detail around his head as well as the color against the green.
The only thing I could think of is to shine a fluro light from the top down into the tank.
Or put a very small L.E.D. lit torch inside a jar with lid screw'd on, and suspended in the water above.
I would just be careful not to suspend it too long if the source is emitting heat. that would change the water temp.
Cheers.

[Mark L]

I'm just learning this flash stuff, so no expert here.

.... I just don't have enough light to bump up the aperture, freeze the motion and not have a hugely noisy picture!

That's it.
So with what you have, maybe suspend a big piece of white cardboard above the tank and place the flash to bounce off that back into the tank. Also use the flashes reflection board to get some more light coming from the front also (or even attach a piece of white cardboard to the flash that is bigger than it's reflection board). You now have two sources of light from the one flash.