Hello! I'll be shooting a wedding that will be held in an aquarium next year and I want a head start on what to expect. I don't live anywhere near an aquarium, especially not the one being used, so going for test shooting will be very difficult.

Most of what I've found is that there are difficulties with light. The tanks are bright and the people in front of them are dark.

...Use a flash and you get lots of reflections from the glass.

...Don't use a flash and have grainy pics from high ISOs, or blurry pics from miniscule movements.

Help! What do you suggest? I'd like to see some sample images if anyone has shot a wedding in an aquarium before.

If I were to only take one lens, what would you say to take? If I don't own it, I guess I'll be buying it!

Thanks so much!

Hire a second shooter (me).

AWESOME!!!!!

That's really cool.

I've seen some shots in an Aquarium... I'll see if I can figure out where.

Which one is it?

It's at Pine Knoll Shores in NC. Thanks!

Try bouncing the flash off of the wall behind you. That should prevent against nasty reflections.

If you had to take just one lens, I would suggest the Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens (unless you shoot Nikon of course.)

Yeah I'd either tilt the flash backward or shoot straight up and with a half snoot in the front so you don't get the forward reflection.

You also should talk to the aquarium people about flash issues, there are some animals that you can't use flash around, like Sea Dragons. You had better post these shots when you do the wedding though, I'm sure it will be gorgeous!

The way to avoid glass glare is to not shoot straight into the glass. Remember that the angle of reflectance equals the angle of incidence. If the light hits the glass at a 45 degree angle it will bounce off the light at a 45 degree angle.

A fast lens would be helpful but I don't know that there is one lens that would be better than any other. Off camera light would be important, too.

Here are a few from a wedding we shot at the GA Aquarium.

This may not help, but it might. When I did a commercial event at the Ga aquarium, I did 2 things to avoid glare, depending on the shot I needed. One for couples and individuals was to use 2 lights, set very wide apart, and simply make sure the glare is outside the frame of the image. The other for groups was to set the light at just a low enough angle so instead of angling downward like we normally would to throw shadows behind the subject, the glare was blocked from happening by the group itself. There are other ways, but they all boil down to understand what Hassel said. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

Be creative.

Got a fisheye?



I crack myself up! Seriously though. Gonna be way cool. So many opportunities for great color and you don't have to worry about mid-day sun and racoon eyes (probably). I LOVE shooting in aquariums!

Okay, found the post where Melody did some shots inside an aquarium in Chattanooga:

http://www.melodyhood.com/2007/10/10/jenni...nn-the-wedding/

maybe a polarizer could help with the reflections? tricky, no doubt. I look forward to your results. best of luck!

Kate

I shot one of my first weddings in an aquarium and because i was a real novice most came out crap.... but a few were fluked pretty good! one was with ambient light comming from a tank that lit up their faces well and using a tripod and longer exposure it worked quite well.

the other two were done with on camera flash, and a poleriser to remove glare on the glass, and also taken at an angle where the flash wasnt directly in front of the glass.

the photos are OLD (almost 8 years) and film scans taken from an old Pentax MZ-50 (!!!!) but it gives you an idea

Click to view attachment

thanks for the examples!Really nice shots she has, thanks!