Smartphone Aquarium Photography: Tips for Crystal-Clear Fish Tank Shots
Key takeaways – what you’ll find here:
1. Smart Phone Limitations: Understanding smartphone limits help you work around them instead of fighting them.
2. Settings: Use “settings” to get the most from your smartphone.
3. Reflections: Reflections from windows, lamps, or even your own shirt can ruin a shot. Here’s how minimize them.
4. Aquarium Size and Shape. Experiment with different angles to see what works best for your setup.
5. Preparing for Photographs: Before you even touch your phone, set up your aquarium for success. Clear, clean water and spotless glass make a difference in aquarium photography.
6. Burst Mode: Fish rarely hold still, and that makes aquarium photography tricky. Burst mode is your best tool—it rapidly takes multiple shots in a row, increasing your chances of catching that perfect moment.
7. Tripods: Why use a tripod and information about tripods.
8. Videos – Video can be just as rewarding as still photography. A few small habits go a long way.
Taken with my iPhone 10: Another picture of my 75 gallon aquarium. The Tiger Barbs think it’s lunch time. Tiger Barb Care
So you want to take great photos or videos of your aquarium. The good news is you don’t need fancy cameras or formal training in photography.
With a little preparation and a few simple techniques, your smartphone is more than capable of capturing eye-catching shots of your fish and aquascape.
After all, your passion is fishkeeping—not professional photography. That’s where aquarium photography comes in: a fun, rewarding way to showcase your underwater world.
Overcoming Smartphone Limitations
Smartphones are excellent but not perfect. Their small sensors and fixed lenses can create challenges:
* Low light: noise and blur. Use tank lights or add a soft external light to reduce graininess.
* Wide depth of field: Everything tends to stay in focus, making it harder to isolate one fish. Portrait mode helps mimic a blurred background.
* Limited zoom: Digital zoom reduces quality—better to move closer with your tripod.
Understanding these limits helps you work around them instead of fighting them. Aquarium photography is all about adapting to your phone and settings.
Wikipedia – Smartphone Cameras
Zooming
Most camera phones have a digital zoom feature, which may allow zooming without quality loss if a lower resolution than the highest image sensor resolution is selected, as it makes use of image sensors’ spare resolution. For example, at twice digital zoom, only a quarter of the image sensor resolution is available. A few have optical zoom, and several have a few cameras with different fields of view, combined with digital zoom as a hybrid zoom feature.
Getting the Most From Smartphone Settings
Smartphones offer more control than many realize.
Grid lines:
Turn these on in settings to help frame shots using the rule of thirds.
AE/AF lock:
Tap and hold on your subject to lock exposure and focus, preventing the camera from readjusting mid-shot.
Smart HDR mode:
Use it to balance bright and dark areas, especially helpful with lit aquariums in dim rooms.
Portrait mode:
Great for isolating a fish against a blurred background.
Exposure adjustment:
Slide up or down on the screen after tapping to fine-tune brightness.
Take time to experiment. Once you learn where these tools are, using them becomes second nature—and your aquarium photography will improve dramatically.
“Best thing I ever did for fish photos was learn how to use pro mode on my phone.
Plenty of light in a fish tank so you can turn the shutter speed up and get some really clear pics of fast movers. Just takes practice!”
Expectation VS reality of fish photography. : r/Aquariums Rallo69
Reddit – r/Aquariums (photography)
“Invest in a separate tank for photography. Give it all black sides and back or just a solid black back and clear sides, or frosted back and sides. if you want the fish to be the focus of the image it might be in your interest to have no substrate or scape in the tank. make sure it’s lit from a single source and only a single source. try to do away with any ambient or alternative light sources, and lastly learn to use your camera better.”
Recently tried to take some close up photos of my fish. Any tips? : r/Aquariums –
Snail in my 30 gallon aquarium. Notice the major pearling (O2) on the plants.
Author Bio: Don Glasgow - creator of this site
* I've been keeping fish for 24 years.
* I've have been keeping planted aquariums for 23 of those 24 years.
This article was updated in October, 2025
How to permanently remove algae from your fish tank.
Tap here to find out.
How Do I Grow Huge Aquarium Plants?
Tap to find out. .
09/29/2025: Image above taken with my iPhone 10: My 75 gallon aquarium before cleaning.
Notice the algae on the glass. I clean it off once a week.
Dealing With Reflections and Room Light
Reflections from windows, lamps, or even your own shirt can ruin a shot. To minimize them:
* Take photos when room lights are off and blinds are drawn.
* Wear dark clothing so you don’t appear in the glass.
* Try shooting at an angle instead of directly head-on if glare persists.
* Morning or evening often works best, before harsh sunlight hits the room.
Image above: My 30-gallon aquarium taken at night using room lights. Camera setting were used to get this picture. Lots of reflections. I should have turned off the overhead lights.
The Role of Aquarium Size and Shape
Tank dimensions influence how your aquarium photography turns out.
Small tanks allow easy close-ups but give less variety in framing.
Large tanks offer wide views and multiple angles, though fish may appear smaller.
Curved or cylindrical tanks can distort images in interesting ways, while flat glass usually gives the cleanest look.
Experiment with different angles to see what works best for your setup.
Keeping fish can be costly, but there's a great way to offset those expenses.
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Video: How to place Divi onto your WordPress Website.
Video I made: How to easily create a homepage using Divi.
Next: Preparing Your Aquarium for Photos
Before you even touch your phone, set up your aquarium for success. Clear, clean water and spotless glass make more difference in aquarium photography than any editing app.
Here’s how to get started.
* Clean the inside glass:
Remove algae and debris so nothing distracts from your fish in the final picture. Remove algae from your aquarium
* Do a large water change:
Even if the water looks clear, discoloration invisible to the eye can show up in aquarium photography.
* Use filter floss for polish:
Running polyester fiber in your filter for a few hours pulls out fine particles. Always rinse it first so stray fibers don’t harm fish.
* Clean the outside glass:
Wipe away water spots and fingerprints—your camera will notice them even if you don’t.
Spending just 20 minutes on this prep step can make your aquarium photography look instantly sharper and more professional.
Explore a great article:
If dark, rest the phone on a flat surface. In dark conditions you can sometimes get camera shake, leading to blurred results.
School of photography – How to take good photos with a phone – 11 killer tips! — The School of Photography – Courses, Tutorials & Books
Image above: From my 30-gallon aquarium. Male betta checking out the dark red female betta. Notice the reflection across the female. It is really difficult to not have reflections.
Above: A video How to take EPIC aquarium photos with your phone Opens in a new window.
Partial introductory portion of the video transcript:
“You can adjust the exposure like we said just by tapping on the screen and then sliding your finger up and down. That’s for the iPhone—I’m not sure if that’s the same thing with Android, but it’s really important just to get that exposure right.
The exposure is basically how bright the whole image is, and you want to balance, like I said earlier, the shadows and the highlights. The highlights are the brightest part of the image, and the shadows are the darkest.
Some cameras will have built-in HDR mode, which balances the shadows and the highlights for you. You can turn this on and off, and I recommend you try that and see what results you get…”
Picking the Perfect Aquarium Size
Capturing Pictures of Moving Fish With Burst Mode
Fish rarely hold still, and that makes aquarium photography tricky. Burst mode is your best tool because it rapidly takes multiple shots in a row, increasing your chances of catching that perfect moment.
On iPhone: Open the camera, frame your shot, and hold down the volume-up button. In just five seconds, you’ll have dozens of pictures.
On Samsung/Android: Open the camera, hold Mode, then select Continuous Shot. This captures up to 20 images per burst.
After shooting, review your burst photos, swipe through them, and select only the sharpest ones. Delete the rest to save space and keep your aquarium photography gallery clean and impressive.
Patience Pays Off
Snapping one quick picture usually gives average results. Spending a few minutes waiting for fish to display their best colors or glide into the right position often makes the difference between a dull shot and one worth framing. Aquarium photography rewards patience.
Breeding Guppies
Tripods: Stability Made Simple
Handheld shots often blur, especially in low light. A tripod fixes that. The tripod market is huge, but here are key points:
Height matters:
Choose a tripod tall enough to reach your aquarium without stacking it on a table.
Buy quality:
Metal legs are sturdier than cheap plastic.
Head movement:
Make sure the tripod’s head adjusts smoothly so you can tilt or pan without frustration.
Expect to spend $45–$70 for a reliable option with a smartphone mount. It’s money well spent if you want steady, sharp aquarium photography and videos.
Reddit – r/Aquariums
With a dslr, use tripod, no flash, polarizing filter on the lens (you can buy a cheap screw-on one), high shutterspeed.
⇒ With a smartphone, take video. Scroll through video when you think you might have had a good photo. Select edit -> export frame, or screenshot and edit.
In all cases, I usually have to boost the contrast SLIGHTLY, and turn up the saturation a bit as well. Adjust the tint if the photo looks too green. Adding a light vignette can help as well.
Capture the Perfect Shot: Stable & Lightweight Tripods
I own the tripod above. Click the picture to be taken to the Amazon page.
Shooting Aquarium Videos
Video can be just as rewarding as still photography. A few small habits go a long way.
Control your lighting. Tank lights are usually enough, but avoid shifting sunlight or open doors that change brightness mid-video.
Keep water and glass pristine.
Use a tripod:
Especially important for smooth panning shots.
Pan slowly:
Quick movements look jerky and unprofessional.
Stay patient:
Wait for fish to move naturally into frame instead of chasing them with your camera.
Explore: Wikipedia:
“High pixel smartphones are sometimes used as the main camera for mainstream films.”
From Amateur to Pro: Elevate Your Aquarium Videos with Better Lighting
Click the picture to be taken to the Amazon page.
Additional Information:
* Fix The Photo 19 Aquarium Photography Tips & Ideas in 2025
* How To Take Photos Of Fish? Aquarium Photography [Tips & Tricks] 2025
How I clean up my aquarium without removing my fish.
Tap Here.
Other pages on this site:
⇒ Taking photos of your aquarium
⇒ Remove algae from a fish tank
⇒ What to feed Chinese Algae Eaters
⇒ 5 Easiest Fish For Beginners
20 Fish for Beginners
