Photographing Fish 223 



them are poisonous ; and while this poison is not 

 particularly virulent, its effects are often extremely 

 disagreeable. 



These forms of aquatic life are, mostly, nearly 

 transparent or with delicate tones of pink, blue, 

 violet, and yellow. This, naturally, adds to the 

 difificulty of successfully photographing them ; but 

 when one does succeed in obtaining a good pic- 

 ture of one, it is remarkably beautiful and should 

 fully repay him for the trouble. They must al- 

 ways be photographed against a black background, 

 for otherwise they would not show at all. A 

 piece of board or zinc, coated upon one side with 

 asphalt or any other waterproof paint that will 

 give an absolutely dead black, can be used for 

 this background and slipped in at the back of the 

 tank. The sides should be left white in order to 

 reflect as much light as possible. When using 

 this black background, it will be found almost im- 

 possible to entirely eliminate all reflection from 

 the picture, for the glass front of the aquarium 

 against the black background forms an almost 

 perfect mirror that will reflect the camera and any 

 other object that is in front of it. These reflec- 

 tions are lessened by the use of a perfectly dead- 

 black background, and by careful manipulation 

 and the placing of your camera you can get rid 

 of them entirely, or at least cause them to appear in 

 such positions as will not interfere with the picture. 



