Tom Ryan outlines the steps he follows when planning, building and submitting his aquascapes for the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest (IAPLC) in which he placed an amazing 22nd in 2024.
This is the 5th of a series of 6 articles covering the following stages of contest aquascaping:
PLANTING, MAINTENANCE & ADJUSTMENTS
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographing your aquascape
Photography goes hand-in-hand with contest aquascaping. The only part of your planted aquarium that the judges see is the final photo. Therefore mastering photography helps you to succeed in contests.
Photography is a separate skill, and somewhat disconnected from the everyday maintenance of a fish tank. This means that it is something that we, as aquascapers, often need to learn.
I won't outline the details of photography terms and techniques in this article. This is because articles about ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focal length and exposure are regularly available online.
However, I will touch on why I believe photography is an important topic for contest aquascaping. Personally, I feel it doesn't get enough attention in the aquascaping community.
Why is photography important in aquascaping?
In aquascaping, a photo can make or break a layout. The majority of people who get into aquascaping do so through their love of fishkeeping, nature and plants. Rarely, do people begin in the aquarium hobby through a photography background.
Smartphones have however made it easy for people to take photos and showcase their work through social media. The use of free editing apps mean that many photos can be ‘touched-up’ to create an aesthetically pleasing effect. However, not many aquascapers that I know have a mirrorless camera or have tried their luck at professional photography. Only when going to take the final photo for a contest do people even consider it.
I reached out to Masashi Ono when starting contest aquascaping to ask what it takes to achieve a top ranking in the IAPLC. He said that photography plays a key role and that I should explore nature for inspiration. That way I could practice using my mirrorless camera and get to understand the various settings. In doing this it helped me to improve my understanding of photography for the final photo stage.
You can use reflections in nature to practice capturing the reflections seen in aquariums
Do I have to take the photos of my contest aquascape?
You don't have to learn photography as many contests allow others to take the submission shot. However, the aquascape does, of course, need to be yours.
However, having the time and peace of mind to take your own contest photo helps to manage the stress levels. For one, if it doesn’t go to plan, you can always try again tomorrow…and so on.
Crucially, for me, the essence of a great photo is to capture the atmosphere you wish to portray. This should link back to the overall theme of a layout. Lighting, shadows, saturation, contrast, surface movement and fish position all combine to create the atmosphere for a work.
I usually spend a lot of time testing my camera settings in the run-up to the final photo. This gets all the settings ‘locked-in’ and makes the shooting day as smooth-sailing as possible.
I spoke about the IAPLC judges (Shogo Yamaguchi and Yusuke Homma) in part 2 of this series of articles. They stated that "we want to see works that moves people's hearts...works that have a story...and express the creator's feelings". This is all linked to the atmosphere of a layout and is partly down to the photography skills of the aquascaper.
For example, Yusuke Homma chose ‘Storming’ by Minh Toan Nguyen in 2021 as the Best Aquarium. He selected this work as his Best Aquarium because of the link between the title and the atmosphere. The water droplets on the water surface and the darkness above the scape made the viewer feel like a storm was overhead.
This is a great example of how photography plays a key role in creating the mood for a layout. I will come onto some of the effects I used in 'Closing' in part 6.
Photography equipment
For those interested, my photography equipment and settings for the final photo is set out below. I usually 'fix' the settings in the order of aperture, shutter speed and then ISO.
Camera: Sony A7ii
Lens: Sony FE 28mm F2
Aperture range: f/8 - f/13
Shutter speed: 1/60 - 1/125 (depending on the speed of fish. For example, angelfish can be photographed at a slower shutter speed of 1/60)
ISO: 1,000 - 2,500 (although usually set to AUTO)
White balance: AUTO
Focus: Wide
File type: JPEG Extra Fine