How To Take Macro Photography Of Fish Using A Smartphone

Macro photography for aquariums using phone camera clip How to Take Macro Photography of Fish Using a Smartphone
(Skip to the end to view the video tutorial)
Ever try to take close-up pictures or video of your aquarium, only to end up with a blurry mess? Here's a short tutorial on an easy way to take macro shots of your aquarium fish using a smartphone. The only thing you'll have to buy is a cell phone lens kit. For $20 or less on Amazon or eBay, you'll get several different lenses to play with, but I mainly use the macro one. Simply clip it over your phone's camera lens (like a clothespin) and you're ready to go!

Macro photography for aquariums using phone camera clip How to Take Macro Photography of Fish Using a Smartphone

#1 Set Up the Shot

A macro lens like this one has a fixed focal length, which means objects are only clear at a certain distance from your phone. So bribe your fish to come right up to the front by dropping some food or sticking some Sera O-Nip tablets on the glass.

Macro photography for aquariums using phone camera clip How to Take Macro Photography of Fish Using a Smartphone

#2 Keep Very Still

Stabilize the phone as much as possible by bracing both of your hands against the aquarium (kind of like a tripod). Keep at least one finger free for tapping on the screen to focus the shot and take the picture. Unless you're trying to pick up a specific detail (like the fish's scales), I like to focus on the closest eye of the fish or a high contrast area that's easy for the cell phone to lock on.

#3 Adjust the Exposure

Once the focus is set, feel free to adjust the exposure and any other settings you need. My albino cory catfish looked way too shiny under those bright aquarium lights, so I lowered the exposure till some more details popped. Also, if the focus is still a bit off, all you have to do is slightly move the smartphone forward or backward till you get the sharpest image.

#4 Make Slow, Smooth Movements

When taking macro video, even the slightest shift of your phone can be amplified into shaky-cam madness. So if your subject swims away while filming, don't panic! Just slowly pan over to its new position as smoothly as you can and then re-focus. Worse to worse, you can always edit out any big fumbles. :)

As with all fish photography, it'll take lots of time and patience to get the perfect shot. So take as many pictures or video as you need, and then delete, delete, delete! I hope you took away a few useful tips that will help you take amazing aquarium macro photography. Good luck and keep on swimming!



Question:
How do you like to take macro photography? Do you find yourself using your phone or an actual camera more often?

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for weekly videos on aquariums and gaming!

Komentar

Posting Komentar

Postingan populer dari blog ini

How To Fix Cloudy Aquarium Water For Axolotls

Gambar
Axolotls are one of the messiest pets I’ve ever owned, so how do you keep their tank water nice and clear? Well, there's a lot of different reasons why your aquarium water may be cloudy, but if you have a pet axolotl, most likely it’s because of their poop! đź’© These cute little creatures can produce big ol’ brown logs that look like miniature dog turds. Unfortunately, axolotls just seem to have a knack for stepping right on them and then poof, you’ve got poo dust all in the water column. Yuck! 4 Ways to Fix Cloudy Axolotl Water So to keep your water clean of axolotl poo particles, here are my top four suggestions, listed from least time intensive to most time intensive: Axolotl poo (source: headFeed from caudata.org ) Tip #1: Bigger Tank Get a bigger tank with more water volume. The more volume you have, the more diluted the waste will be and the clearer the water. This advice can also be rephrased as “Don’t overstock your aquarium.” For example, I started off with ...
Baca selengkapnya

How To Raise Cory Catfish Fry

Gambar
Apparently your cory catfish have been, ahem, gettin’ busy, and there are white little eggs all over your glass. Babies! So what in the world do you do now? Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about raising corydoras fry. How to Breed Cory Catfish Okay, for most of you, breeding corydoras was probably an accident, but here’s what you can do to encourage it. For me, I had a 20 gallon tank with 6 adult-sized albino cory catfish (to increase my chances of having enough males and females). To get them in the mood, condition them by feeding lots of good food, and then do some water changes with fresh water a few degrees cooler than normal. Next thing you know, everyone’s gettin’ frisky, the males are chasing the females and doing the T-shaped mating position, and then the female lays sticky eggs on any ol’ flat surface around. Female albino cory catfish carrying newly fertilized eggs in her pelvic fins How to Collect Corydoras Eggs If you leave the eggs alone, ...
Baca selengkapnya

Do Axolotls Need Salt? | How To Make Holtfreter’S Solution And Other Salt Recipes

Gambar
Do axolotls need brackish water? Then why do axolotl websites always talk about Holtfreter’s Solution and other salt recipes ? And why is it so hard to make them? In this article, I cover: Recommended pH, GH, KH, and salinity levels for axolotls Easy recipes for making Holtfreter’s, Modified Holtfreter’s, and John’s Solution (found on axolotl.org) The effect that salt solutions and aquarium salt have on pH, water hardness, and salinity Recommended Water Hardness for Axolotls First off, let's examine the axolotls' natural habitat. They come from high altitude freshwater lakes in Mexico City, but there’s not a lot of isu how on what the water quality used to be like because nowadays the large lakes have been reduced to narrow canals and have been affected by pollution and runoff. Comparison of axolotl habitat in 1500's versus 2000's (modified from Places Journal ) However, I did find a veterinary article titled Water Quality Explained: How It Can Affect...
Baca selengkapnya