Have you ever been to the aquarium and you just can't capture a good photo?  I know this is an issue because I watched everyone around me do all the wrong things.  Read below to get some help!

A few weeks ago, I was relaxing on my couch (a rare moment) and one of my favorite pictures of my youngest child caught my eye on my wall.

This was taken in 2013 at the Georgia Aquarium.  My biggest goal when going there was capturing one of these photos.  Unfortunately, my other two children weren't in the best of moods that day and afraid to get close to the glass, so my youngest got the most photos taken.

My goal for these tips is to make them simple and easy - if in some cases you want to use a cell phone.  You just need to understand how to use light.  So even though this tip could get rather complicated, I'm going share the most basic tips to remember when you journey into the aquarium.

You can not use your flash. 

In photography, you should always be searching for light.  In this case, the light comes from the water.  If you want to capture the fish, your flash would bounce off the water/glass and you'd have a big flash reflection staring back at you.  That's no fun at all.  Now believe me, I can go into all sorts of camera settings tutorials on this subject (my photos were shot in manual mode), but if you don't know anything about ISO, shutter speed, and aperture, it would only confuse you.  However, if you want to learn, I do offer camera classes from time to time, so send me a message if you are interested.  But for now, if you want a lovely silhouette shot and other basic aquarium photos, here are a few tips.

1. You want your camera to expose for the water.  So if you are using auto mode on your camera, you want the focal points to read the water to figure out the settings for your camera.  If you are using an iPhone, tap the water on your screen and it should expose for the water, putting the people in a shadow.

2. Take the picture from a slight angle.  It helps to get rid of distortion from the tank glass.  You can see in the top photo, that I am a little to the left of the tank.

3. For a good silhouette, separate your subjects.  Here is a straight out of camera (SOOC) shot that was taken of my kids and me.  It's still a sweet photo even though it's not edited.  It gives you an idea of what you can expect.   I would love to have been able to have the kids looking up, holding hands, and a big fish to swim by.  But hey, when you're photographing your own kids and sharing the space with a few thousand other visitors, you get what you can get.

4.  Use the light from the tanks to light your subject.  For this, you need to position yourself and your subject so that there is light on their face and you can take your camera reading from the light on the face.  Here is another SOOC shot of my son checking out the fish.  I didn't use my flash and just took the photo from the side so I could capture the look on his face.  Let's be honest, this photo isn't going to win any awards, but this is my baby and it makes me smile.

5. Take the smiley-posey-posey picture outside.  But do it before you go in when they are excited and not when you come out like I did.  Mine kids were done at this point.  Just trying to keep it real in this post.

And there is a nice ol' before picture of me.  Ya'll know I have to love you to share myself 25 pounds heavier.

I hope these tips will help you when you visit an aquarium and you'll be able to capture sweet memories of your kids.  These photos were taken almost three years ago for me and looking back, sure did make my heart smile.  

That's the goal of photography. If it speaks to you, that's all that matters.

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