Exotic fish and my attempts at photography

Hello everyone!
Today I want to tell you about an unusual place in Pattaya and share photos taken a couple of weeks after buying my first camera. Let me say right away: these photos are my first steps in photography, so they do not pretend to be masterpieces. But it is moments like these, full of trials and errors, that made my hobby so exciting.

My son and I went on this trip on a motorbike, and our destination was an old Muay Thai school. My son has been practicing this sport for a year now, and he really wanted to see how other guys train under the guidance of local coaches. I will tell you about the school itself in the next post, and today I will share a story about how I tried to photograph large exotic fish that were on the school grounds.

The school grounds contain hundreds of huge aquariums with incredible fish - bright, unusual, many of which my son and I saw for the first time. I decided that this was a great chance to try to photograph moving objects. But, like any beginner, I immediately messed up. Here are my main mistakes:

• Glare on the glass. At that time, I had no idea how to deal with it. Later, while studying photography, I learned about a polarizing filter that removes reflections from water and glass. Now it is always in my arsenal, and I no longer make such mistakes.

• Focusing problems. I was shooting in automatic mode, took dozens of shots, but the fish stubbornly turned out blurry. The reason? The autofocus was “clinging” to the glass of the aquarium, and not to the fish. Now I know that I needed to switch to manual focus and adjust it myself.

Almost five months have passed since I started taking pictures, and I understand that there are still a lot of subtleties ahead that I need to master. But it is lessons like this shoot that make the process so exciting.

The aquariums on the school grounds are something incredible. Hundreds of fish, each with its own unique coloring and shape, swim in huge tanks that require daily care. Maintaining such a collection is not a cheap matter, but the most amazing thing is that the entrance there is absolutely free. Anyone can come and enjoy this exotic beauty. I was amazed that there are people who create such places just to give joy to others, without trying to make money on it.

I hope that my photos, despite their imperfections, convey at least a part of that atmosphere. And I also dream of returning there with new knowledge and taking pictures that I will be truly proud of.

I write my texts myself, correct mistakes and translate via ChatGPT (which is not a violation on Hive)!
All photos were taken by me personally - I am a beginner photographer, so I ask professionals not to judge strictly.

Thank you for sharing these moments with me! Until new stories and new holidays!

Camera 📷: Sony Alpha 7 IV full-frame
Lens 🔭: Sony FE 70-200mm F: 2.8 GM OSS II
Lens 🔭: Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
Lens 🔭: Sony FE 20-70 mm F: 4 G
Processed 🛠: Lightroom

photo by openai