13. Take photos of your fish in the late afternoon or evening right before their mealtime. The fish should be active and very vibrant at this time. In addition, they should be eager to come to the front of the tank knowing it's time for food.
14. Drop some food in the front of the tank to entice your fish to get closer to your camera. Your fish might get scared when they see you and the camera. So they'll probably try to hide in the back of the tank, making it hard to get a nice camera shot. Feed some live foods, like white worms or adult brine shrimp, and put a small amount in the front of the tank. Then start snapping photos as the fish move towards the front of the glass and start eating.
15. Use a special "photo tank" for taking pictures of your fish. Tall aquariums might not allow enough light to reach your fish which will result in a poor quality photo. Wide aquariums allow the fish to hide in the back, making it difficult for your digital camera to focus on them. You might have to use a separate tank that is shallow and narrow to get a nice photo of your fish.
16. Try to get as close to the aquarium glass as possible with your camera. It will be much easier for you to focus on the fish. If you're using a flash, don't shoot straight at the tank because you'll get a reflection of the flash in your photos. Try taking photos at an angle to reduce any flash bounce in your photos. You might want to use a rubber lens hood on your camera. This will allow you to press the camera right up to the glass to take photos and will help reduce glares from the flash on the glass.
17. Wear solid, dark clothing so you won't be easily seen in the reflection of the glass in your photos. Discus can also be scared if you wear bold, striped shirts, which might cause them to hide in your aquarium.
18. Turn off the air pumps/filters while taking photos. You want the water to be calm while taking photos. Remember to restart the pump after you are finished taking pictures.
19. If possible, use an external flash when taking photos. You can position an external flash far away from the lens of the camera, avoiding the flash reflection bounces that will appear in your photos.
20. Make sure your camera's battery is fully charged and the memory card is empty. It's very frustrating to learn your battery is about to die or your memory card is full just when you are about to take that great shot. It's also a good idea to have an extra spare battery and a few extra memory cards with you when you start taking photos.
21. Have a background in your aquarium. You don't want to take pictures of a glass box. Seeing extension cords and filters and other objects behind a tank with no background will make a nice fish picture look bad. Purchase an aquarium background or just paint the back outside of your tank. You could also paint some heavy duty paper or cardboard and place it behind your aquarium as a background.
22. Purchase a camera with fast shutter speeds. You want as many shutter speeds as possible. Faster shutter speeds will help you capture quick movements by your fish much more sharply.
23. Search for photography forums and digital camera tutorial web sites on google.com. There are plenty of photography web sites that will have information to make you a better photographer. One of my favorite digital photography tutorial sites is ShortCourses.com.
24. Practice. Practice. Practice. Aquarium photography can be very difficult to master. The more photos you take, the better aquarium photographer you'll be. Experiment with different camera settings, different lighting, different lenses. Keep a log of the different parameters while shooting. Compare your log notes with the photo results so you know what works and what doesn't. Eventually, you should find the right settings for your environment to get high quality photos of your aquarium.