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Good job. Aquarium shooting is tricky. I brought a rubber lens hood to try once but still struggled.
Thanks. Yes, it can be a nightmare. Pretty much everything is working against you in a photographic sense. Low light, so you really need an open aperture (f/2.8 at a minimum, ideally f/1.4). Most of the fish are moving quickly, so 1/125th sec at a minimum and it can require a faster shutter speed to freeze motion like 1/250th sec (or even faster). The combination means that the ISO is going to have to creep up to fairly high levels which will mean noise and loss of sharpness. Good luck exposing to the right
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Focus can also be problematic since the fish are moving so quickly and the low light can throw off some AF modules. Related to this is the lack of depth of field you will see with an open aperture. Subject isolation can be fantastic for some subjects, but in an aquarium you often desire a decent DOF to get multiple swimming fish in focus, the whole fish if that is the subject, or the fish and the background to give a sense of place. f/8-f/11 aren't options in an aquarium setting.
Then throw in reflections from ambient light unless you hold the lens right up next to the glass (as you alluded to). Plus dirty glass and crap floating around in the tank.
"Tricky" is an understatement
. It can be quite frustrating. Made worse by the fact that many of the exhibits can seem so photogenic. You take pics of what looks awesome only to be disappointed when reviewing the files later.
I got very lucky with the pic I posted. 24-70mm zoom @ 24mm. 1/125th sec @ f/2.8 and ISO 6400. There is noise in the file, but I was able to deal with it in post to acceptable levels.
I'm actually thinking about taking my GoPro with me as my camera the next time I visit an aquarium. Its 3mm lens results in a massive DOF even wide open at f/2.8. Not sure how well it will handle the low light. Will have to experiment and see.
West Side of NY