The Silent Room

These are some of the better shots taken on my second trip to Aquaria KLCC. All images were shot with the Canon A700 at ISO 200 and 400. Click each image to see the exposure details. For the sharks, I also set the custom white balance to the sand of the ‘seabed’. If I didn’t, the blue flourescent lights over the tank will confuse the camera’s metering and cause underexposure.

I also turned off the flash because the light would bounce off the glass [acrylic] and will create a major flare. Not to mention that it would shock the poor fishes.

Yes, it was my mistake for being stubborn and decided not to use the ISO 800 when shooting the sharks, despite the fact that I fully understand that many of the shots will suffer from underexposure. The reason was that I wanted to preserve as much detail as I possibly could. I hate to admit the fact that the A700′s ISO 800 suffers from severe noise and loss of detail.

However, from that session I learned that focus isn’t always everything. Certain blurness are acceptable provided the image was properly exposed. I learned that the hard way. I wish I had a monopod, though. dSLR owners would probably have a better time, since ISO 1000, 1250 or even 1600 still results in relatively low noise on a CMOS. A friend of mine shot these stunning images with his Nikon D70s and a Nikkor 50mm F1.8 [that's a BIG aperture] lens!, so go have a look!