Lighting Subject Underwater in a Tank; Me not Underwater

I'm looking for some advice on the best lighting set up and any other advice really to help me get the best quality images from an upcoming shoot. I'll be shooting one or two people who will be underwater in a large tank. 8'x4'x4' tank. Think human aquarium. 

I'll have a black backdrop behind the tank and on one end and I planned to place one strobe at the other end. I will shoot from the front. Nikon D850 Nikon 24-70 lens with the Nikon circular polarizer filter.

I use Godox AD600Pro strobes. I can bring more than one. Should I use more than one strobe? What kind of modifiers? I used one giant strip box with one layer of diffusion last time but I'm wondering if there is a better option? I have a couple of the giant stripboxes and octaboxes with or without both layers of diffusion? Or just the strobe reflectors as options. Thoughts please.

Thank you

Susan

kelpdiver wrote:

those strobes can't go in the water, correct? Have you used them in the past, pressed against the glass?

I won’t be in the water and neither will the strobes. The last time I used one strobe in a giant soft box outside one end of the tank but it was not pressed against the glass. Do you think I should press it right up against the glass? I know this is different than shooting in a pool where I would be underwater. It’s a little hard to find information on the best way to do this. Should I have diffusion on my soft box or take it off? It’s silver inside.

Having shot some aquariums for years, I can tell you a number of things you're going to need to watch out for.

1. reflections - best to have a rubber hood sealing the gap between glass and lens.   If you have to be back from the tank, this could be a serious issue depending on the lighting.   With it completely controlled from one side, you might have a chance.

2. unclean glass - you want glass cleaner and lots of it for the outside, possibly a squeegee for the inside.

3. Generally speaking, shooting at any kind of angle gives very poor result.   You'll want to be back away from the tank, leading to problems with #1.

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

Having shot some aquariums for years, I can tell you a number of things you're going to need to watch out for.

1. reflections - best to have a rubber hood sealing the gap between glass and lens. If you have to be back from the tank, this could be a serious issue depending on the lighting. With it completely controlled from one side, you might have a chance.

2. unclean glass - you want glass cleaner and lots of it for the outside, possibly a squeegee for the inside.

3. Generally speaking, shooting at any kind of angle gives very poor result. You'll want to be back away from the tank, leading to problems with #1.

1. No chance of shooting with hood against the glass. Tank too small and subjects  pretty much take up the whole tank. I changed my lighting since last time and we added more backdrops. I think I managed to keep the reflection issue fairly under control but I think it would have been better if I was dressed in all black.

2. We had this covered.

3. I think I needed to pay more attention to this. I was fairly good about shooting flat on to the front of the tank but as the subjects moved I followed them a little too much and created some issues on some images because of the angles.

The only additional problem with people in a tank is the micro bubbles and general haze the water takes on when you’re shooting in there for many hours.

Your guidance was really spot on. Thank you. I think I should do some practice runs with aquariums before I do this kind of shoot again.

If you really want clean water, you'll need to add a filter.  I have no real idea about filtering a tank of water that large, but I can tell you from experience that nothing - nothing - makes a tank of water look more completely transparent than a good charcoal/activate carbon filter.    My biggest tank was only 120 gallons, and a single diatom XL filter canister did wonders.    I'm thinking that if you had 2-3 of those set up with activated carbon that they could really clean up a tank well.  Just a question of how long it takes/how many filters to use.    There must be something a lot bigger designed for the task.

That said, simply having a big 'thing' of activated carbon in the water would filter out impurities even without an impeller pushing water through it.    I'm wondering if something might be constructed and then simply kept in a back corner of the tank constantly doing its job.   Activated carbon is quite wonderful when it comes to cleaning water.   I often thought the water might be more clear than the air I was looking through.

As for microbubbles, I was thinking of those forming on the glass.  That was my main reason to suggest a squeegee.

Good suggestion on the wearing black idea.   Wonder what the effect would be here if you were shooting through a 2-way mirror?

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

If you really want clean water, you'll need to add a filter. I have no real idea about filtering a tank of water that large, but I can tell you from experience that nothing - nothing - makes a tank of water look more completely transparent than a good charcoal/activate carbon filter. My biggest tank was only 120 gallons, and a single diatom XL filter canister did wonders. I'm thinking that if you had 2-3 of those set up with activated carbon that they could really clean up a tank well. Just a question of how long it takes/how many filters to use. There must be something a lot bigger designed for the task.

That said, simply having a big 'thing' of activated carbon in the water would filter out impurities even without an impeller pushing water through it. I'm wondering if something might be constructed and then simply kept in a back corner of the tank constantly doing its job. Activated carbon is quite wonderful when it comes to cleaning water. I often thought the water might be more clear than the air I was looking through.

As for microbubbles, I was thinking of those forming on the glass. That was my main reason to suggest a squeegee.

Good suggestion on the wearing black idea. Wonder what the effect would be here if you were shooting through a 2-way mirror?

Yes they have filtering as they use this 1000 gallon tank for professional performances. I’m guessing that you get a lot of churn of bubbles because the people are moving inside the tank and they are moving a lot of water every time they move? The human to water ratio is much larger than a fish to water ratio in a normal aquarium. The first three people in the tank were pretty much crystal clear but then it started to get cloudy. I’ve recommended that next time we do this, we split it over multiple days. I enjoy doing it so I’d really like to figure out the best way to get the best quality images. I wasn’t as happy with my lighting as I could’ve been either. All a learning curve.

i’m not sure about shooting through a two way mirror. What would be your goal with that?

The idea of shooting through a mirror would be better control of lighting coming out and falling on you.

Here's a thought - no experience.  It may be possible to effect the bubbles by adding a very small amount of detergent to the water to act as a surfactant.   Perhaps a tablespoon.  It's an old swamp cooler startup trick to get the pads wetted faster, and I suspect it might shrink bubble size.

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

The idea of shooting through a mirror would be better control of lighting coming out and falling on you.

Here's a thought - no experience. It may be possible to effect the bubbles by adding a very small amount of detergent to the water to act as a surfactant. Perhaps a tablespoon. It's an old swamp cooler startup trick to get the pads wetted faster, and I suspect it might shrink bubble size.

Thanks Craig I’ll pass that along to the tank owner.