Friends of Nemo

As I was looking over my photos from previous trips and trying to decide what to write about, I started laughing at some photos I took at the New England Aquarium and the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration. Why? It seems that since “Finding Nemo” was released into theaters and later on DVD, you will always hear someone (child or adult) mention characters from the movie at aquariums. Suffice it to say, sometimes it’s me.

If you’re using a point and shoot camera, odds are there is a setting for taking fish photos, however it’s for shooting underwater and your camera MUST be inside specially designed underwater housing. Otherwise you could try a setting such as Behind Glass or Sports. The problem is that aquariums are not brightly lit and your camera will want to fire the flash. If your flash goes off then you’ll get a big bright light in the shot.

See Exhibit A:

Taken with a Nikon Coolpix 7600.

If you have the capability of controling your shutter speed and/or f-stop then you’re free to try a variety of settings to get the shot just right. Be sure to get your lens as close to the tank as possible. I keep mine less than an inch away and try to follow the fishies as they swim by.

Here are a few of my favorites caught with the Canon EOS 30D and 18-135mm USM IS.

Obviously, this was taken outdoors…in my backyard. Yeah, that’s it, in my backyard.

This is a full body photo of a…fish. I don’t know the breed but he/she is a rather bright yellow and yellow is my favorite color. There’s an inquisitive fish on the right heading towards us.

Aren’t starfish interesting looking? Apparently in China, they eat them fried on a stick. I’m not kidding, I saw it on “Passport to China” on The Travel Channel. Better Samantha Brown than me.

Candygram!

And last but not least, the photo that makes me burst out laughing every single time (even if it’s not perfectly focused).

How many fish have waved “bye bye” to you?