Taking Pictures at the Aquarium

One of the hardest things that I have tried to photograph is fish in an aquarium.  Taking pictures at the aquarium is not an easy task.  When I was using my point and shoot I would do the easy/lazy thing and switch it to the aquarium mode and be happy with the majority of the shots.  I would be happy with about 10% and the other 90% would be passible.
When we found out Karen was pregnant Karen wanted me to get a nice DSLR to replace our point and shoot.  We were a little apprehensive at first, but Karen and I both came to the conclusion that we wanted to be able to take the best photographs that we could possibly take.  Looking at our budget and doing lots of research we ended up going with the Canon 7D.  Karen and I could not be any happier with our decision and have been really pleased with the pictures of our baby girl.
Now I love taking pictures of my baby and she is my favorite subject, but I still enjoy going out and taking pictures of other things.  I was really looking forward to our first vacation as a family, and one of the reasons was getting out and playing with my new camera.  One of the places I was looking forward to taking pictures at was the Oklahoma Aquarium.
I would like to tell you that as soon as I got there I knew exactly what camera setting I needed to place my camera on and start shooting, but I can’t.  I have had my new camera for a while now, but I am still learning the basics.  I just have not had the time to practice as much as I would like to.  So when we arrived at the aquarium I was scrambling to find the right setting.  I knew that I needed a fast shutter speed to stop the action of the fish so they would not be blurry, but I also needed to allow enough light in so the picture would not be entirely blacked out.  After a trial and error process I was able to come up with a setting that worked well.
I put the camera on aperture priority adjusted it to f/2.8 or moved it up and down as needed.  Set shutter speed to 1/60 of a second and an ISO of 1000 and took picture after picture.  Once I got the settings close to what I was looking for it was much easier to make adjustments as needed.
Other Public Aquarium Photography Tips

• Do not use a flash but adjust the camera settings as needed to allow more natural looking pictures
• You probably will not be allowed to use a tripod so steady yourself before you take the shot by leaning against something or setting your camera on a ledge
• If you have a rubber cap or filter on your camera touch the lens (softly) against the glass to reduce flare
• If using a digital camera just keep shooting