Introducing mahachaiensis Parmajelly and Cutiefish (this named by a 4-yr-old) along with their unnamed amano and strawberry Rasbora companions.
(Before everyone freaks out, they get along very well and I have a divider ready to go, should that change).
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1qwotqy
Posted by ButterscotchPrior467
18 Comments
I have the same exact question. I cant take a good one to save my life.
Nice DSLR and lens + very controlled lighting to eliminate the glass glare really helps with photo quality. The lighting in your room coming in through windows is causing much of that glare. Trying taking the pictures at night.
Take videos and pick still frames from the footage
https://preview.redd.it/siobzr8o9phg1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=210e6b22f0dec4df62b7e8ee7c7a3d3976759408
So I’m not amazing at taking pictures. But I do get some decent ones. Some tips I have are turn off the room lights, only have the tank lights on. Also put your phone directly up to the glass. You may have to use the .5 zoom if they’re close. I also got a macro lens attachment for my phone that works pretty well!
Good luck!
https://preview.redd.it/bf5at4hy9phg1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00c1f5ef0f5e15c0ca27736a2cd7c99e29358e95
Either 2x or more zoom and taking photos from a distance, or macro lens (either it comes with your phone or a cheap one from a tech store). If your fish tank light isn’t bright enough, you can use something to cover the window glare too. That’s where I’d start!
https://preview.redd.it/n6q0f5js9phg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8f3ca47d48445b4cfa445345c12393036b7b7a3
This pic was taken with the macro lens on my iPhone when my betta swam up to the glass. I’d play around with what you like and go from there! Toy photography tips also help here.
Also, sometimes video is better to grab stills from since fish can move super fast. LOL
My phone camera is crappy so I got alkt of slightly blurry pictures of mine lolol
Take video then screen shot the best shots
Dark room, bright tank. You’ll cut your reflections in half. Focus is its own battle, auto focus usually grabs the glass and not the fish, so watch out for that.
The manual/pro mode on your camera is your best friend for this, auto has a heck of a time trying to balance things out.
https://preview.redd.it/vogdr9gbbphg1.jpeg?width=8160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6323028a39ecb5476e942d2b93b40c1ec75c5cf7
iPhone 16 is pretty decent for taking pics of bettas up close.
Betta tax:
https://preview.redd.it/vg90s6lrbphg1.jpeg?width=1969&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=850a0d0f14033b5163baadab874168a0d9f8a632
Took this photo on my iPhone 16. He was just sitting in the corner being goofy and staying relatively still so it was the perfect moment to snap a pic or two.
It’s all about timing, even the most active betta is gonna need to rest for a moment at some point and when it does, that’s your window of opportunity. A good camera with either built-in macro lens or with an external macro lens should work.
This betta is super chill, so chill that I named him Zen… (you can check out more pics of him and his tankmates on my recent post if you’d like).
My platinum betta portrait taken with the galaxy S25 ultra
https://preview.redd.it/jg3pxqgccphg1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c61bd23ec272bd8a5368c3447f8ef9ca9f9e7d5
https://preview.redd.it/oj3hyyfbcphg1.png?width=3475&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef11bfffa65e81f01e387df09d9fcf5559dea633
Not that my pics are amazing, but I needed to get a macro lens attachment for my phone to get up in his face like this :3
You sit in front of the tank for hours and continue to take pictures until one magically appears.
Literally my phone camera is so bad it pisses me off 😭 and also they don’t freaking stay still for a photo! 🤣
Room dark, tank lights full brightness
I take loads and “fish” out the okay ones…..
https://preview.redd.it/wi2rg10kdphg1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a7749733ba58c58b644510cf27c7c2fe47fa45d
I take videos and from those I’m able to pause and go back through each frame until I find the best shot to screenshot out of that video. I use this method for all my tank shots because it’s the best way to find still frames and not have to perfectly time pressing the camera button.
https://preview.redd.it/q1tlcoqodphg1.jpeg?width=2280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=50db878952e83e1448174d655160b928bff42a4f
*thus
making the room as dark as possible automatically enhances aquarium photos by like 70%