The Aquarium of the Bay at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco – Nikon D700, 24mm, ƒ5.6, 1/13th sec, ISO 3200

I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve seen people standing near the glass of a large aquarium, taking photographs with their camera’s pop up flash ‘up and firing’. It’s highly unlikely they’ll get any images that are pleasing to the eye, never mind even useable. The trick? Turn the flash off! 

If you are using your camera in ‘Auto’ Mode, then move it to a different mode if you can… even ‘P’ (program) Mode will be better than full auto because in full auto you often can’t turn the flash off. By moving the camera to ‘P’, ‘A’, ‘S’ or ‘M’ you can disable the flash and avoid the glare of the light reflecting back into your camera’s lens. If you need to, change the camera’s ISO to use a higher setting – modern cameras have really good high ISO capabilities and you shouldn’t be afraid to use them.

Here are a couple more images I made at the ‘Aquarium of the Bay’ at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.

Jellyfish – Nikon D700, 38mm, ƒ8, 1/30th sec, ISO 3200

Jellyfish – Nikon D700, 100mm, ƒ5.6, 1/100th sec, ISO 2500