One of the most ethereal and intriguing animals I've ever seen or photographed is this leafy sea dragon. It is a relative of the seahorse and is found in the oceans off the southern and western coasts of Australia. I photographed this one in the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Shooting in an aquarium is challenging. The lens axis should be perpendicular to the glass or Plexiglas for maximum sharpness. If you angle the camera at an oblique angle to the side of the aquarium, sharpness is significantly degraded. Also, if you use flash, it must be used off-camera to avoid reflections. If you place the camera lens up against the glass (ideally with a rubber lens hood), you can avoid reflections with an on-camera flash, but with small subjects like this sea dragon, the flash will sit too high in the hotshoe of the camera. The dorsal portion of the animal will be illuminated but the ventral underside will be in shadow. My setting settings for this picture were 1/125, f/7.1, 800 ISO, and I used a 50mm macro lens with an off-camera flash.
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