The Greater Cleveland Aquarium: Four Ways Out of the Blue Light Problem

Tank light is the problem. The industrial building it sits inside is the answer.

The Greater Cleveland Aquarium’s charm, as its own description has it, is not just novelty but the immersive experience it offers guests — and the immersion comes partly from the building, which is a converted industrial shell rather than a purpose-built museum.

That distinction is the useful one. Every aquarium has the same photographic problem: tank light is dim, because the level suits the animals; strongly blue-green, because water absorbs red wavelengths; constantly moving, because water and animals move; and behind glass, which reflects everything bright on the viewing side. None of that changes from one aquarium to another.

What does change is what else the building offers, and a converted powerhouse offers brick, steel, tall volumes and large industrial openings — which is a completely different register from the tanks and it is the way out. The honest plan is that the tanks supply two or three spectacular photographs while the industrial shell supplies the rest of the gallery.

This is written as the problem and four ways out of it. We have not photographed a wedding at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium; aquaria and converted industrial buildings both behave consistently. Whether flash is permitted near exhibits — frequently it is not, for the animals’ sake — and which non-exhibit spaces a booking includes are the first questions.

The Greater Cleveland Aquarium at a glance

Where	The Cuyahoga, Cleveland, Ohio
Character	An aquarium inside a converted industrial powerhouse building
The problem	Tank light: dim, blue-green, moving, behind reflective glass
The way out	Brick, steel and large openings — a different register entirely
Ask first	Whether flash is permitted near exhibits; non-exhibit spaces included

Why tank light is four problems

Level first. Exhibit lighting is set for the animals living in it, which is typically well below what a room for people would be lit to — and the viewing areas are kept dim deliberately, so the tank reads bright by comparison and the glass reflects less. A raised ISO with a fast lens is the baseline.

Colour second, and it is the one that surprises people. Water absorbs red wavelengths quickly, so light that has travelled through a tank arrives blue-green, and exhibit lighting often enhances that. Blue-green light on skin is deeply unflattering, and it is not a white-balance problem in the ordinary sense: correcting a strong blue cast globally pushes everything else warm and yellow, including the water, which then stops looking like water.

Motion third. Water moves, animals move through it, and caustic patterns shift continuously, so brightness and colour on a face can change measurably between consecutive frames. A burst of three is a burst of three different exposures, and a sequence that should match itself will not.

Reflection fourth. Tank glass is a large flat vertical reflector, and anything bright on the viewing side comes back into the frame — a lit sign, a phone screen, a light stand, a photographer. It is also often slightly tinted and, in busy areas, scratched.

A converted industrial building adds one extra wrinkle worth knowing: the surroundings are dark brick and steel rather than pale plasterboard, which is good news because it reduces what the tank glass has to reflect. In a pale purpose-built viewing area the walls themselves appear in the glass; in a dark brick one they do not.

Four ways out

The first way out is to bring your own light and let it own the faces. One source, off the camera axis at face height, gelled to a chosen temperature, set bright enough to dominate the blue falling on skin, with white balance set to the gel. The tank then stays blue behind the couple — which is what makes the frame — while their faces are neutral and consistent. This is the single most effective move and it converts the problem into the asset.

Two cautions. It must be well off the camera axis and angled away from the glass, or it reflects straight back. And flash may be prohibited entirely near exhibits for the animals’ sake, which is why that is the first question to ask — a continuous LED source is usually the permitted alternative and works fine at these levels.

The second way out is to commit to the blue deliberately. A frame that accepts the cast as the look — a silhouette, a profile, a hand against glass, two figures in front of a wall of illuminated water — is a strong photograph that needs no equipment and no permission, and it often carries more of the place than a correctly lit frame does. Shooting both rather than choosing is the right answer.

The third way out is the reflection, used on purpose. Tank glass reflects, so a couple standing near it appears twice — once directly and once in the water. Shot obliquely with the viewing area dark, that doubling is a genuinely unusual frame. For a clean view into a tank the technique is the opposite: a rubber hood pressed flat to the glass, shooting perpendicular, which eliminates reflection entirely but only works for frames without people in them.

The fourth way out is the building, and at a converted powerhouse it is better than at most aquaria. Brick is the most forgiving surface any venue offers — a mid-tone with real texture that holds detail at almost any exposure — and it demands only raking light: along a brick wall every mortar line lifts, at it the wall flattens to a brown field. Steel is the opposite, cool and partly specular, so angle lights away from it or run a highlight along a beam deliberately.

Tall volumes remove bounce and add distance, so power and modifiers have to assume working distance — with steep fall-off as the compensation, which is free separation. And large industrial openings, where they survive, are the best light in the building: two metres inside one gives a broad wraparound key with natural fall-off into the volume behind, better than anything that can be carried.

Brick bounces warm and the tanks bounce blue, which means a frame containing both has two colour influences pulling in opposite directions. One gelled source owning the faces resolves it; a custom white balance set on a face in the position being used is the minimum.

• One gelled source owns the faces; let the tanks stay blue behind
• Angle it well off-axis and away from the glass, or it reflects back
• Ask about flash first — a continuous LED is usually the permitted answer
• Commit to the blue for silhouettes and shapes; often the better picture
• Use the brick and the openings; that is where the flattering frames are

The river, the openings, and Cleveland's year

A converted industrial building on a river has a coherent outdoor extension. Industrial banks, lift bridges, steelwork and brick frontages photograph well in raking light and give hard geometry in the background, which means a couple placed against them separates cleanly rather than merging into tone.

The river gives depth to compress, so a long lens stacks near bank, water, far bank and bridge into layers where a wide lens reduces them to a strip. It also gives a broad reflector, raising ambient and filling faces from below near any opening facing it. A low camera stretches the water’s edge towards the horizon and drops the horizon line, which is the riverside technique.

Wind along a river valley is stronger and gustier than a street back from it, which matters for a veil, for hair and for any light stand. Still water mirrors early in the day and breaks into texture as the breeze builds, so a reflection frame is a morning proposition.

Any large opening in the building is the transition between the two registers and the most useful position on the site: it is the best light indoors, it frames the river outdoors, and it is where the dusk crossing happens. For roughly twenty minutes after sunset the outside falls to about the brightness of the interior lighting, and one exposure holds the lit volume, the couple and the river beyond.

Cleveland’s weather is worth stating. This is one of the cloudiest major cities in the country, with persistent overcast through much of the late autumn, winter and spring — which for a building with large industrial openings is good news, because under overcast every opening behaves like a shaded one and the light is soft, even and directional with no hotspot and no shadow grid.

The cost falls on the brick outdoors, because raking light on masonry needs sun and from November to April that is not reliable. On a grey day a brick riverside is a flat brown enclosure, which is usable and is not what it is capable of.

Lake-effect snow in winter is localised, sudden and heavy, and it is a logistics question for guests as much as a photographic one. It is also the best natural fill there is, lifting exactly the shadows a low sun carves while fooling a meter by about two stops — and snow on an industrial riverside seen through a large opening from a warm lit interior is a frame very few venues can offer.

One equipment note that matters more at an aquarium than elsewhere: the interior is warm and humid by design, so a camera brought in from cold Cleveland air will fog comprehensively and may take a long time to clear — and a fogged lens in front of illuminated water produces bloom that is worse than in an ordinary room. Let equipment come towards the temperature of where it is going before it gets there, and allow longer than feels necessary.

More frames from The Greater Cleveland Aquarium

The Greater Cleveland Aquarium wedding photography: common questions

Why is tank light so difficult?

Four reasons at once: dim because the level suits the animals, blue-green because water absorbs red, constantly moving, and behind glass that reflects everything bright on your side.

Does a converted industrial shell help?

Yes, in one specific way: dark brick and steel surroundings give the tank glass far less to reflect than a pale purpose-built viewing area would.

What is the most effective lighting move?

One gelled source off the camera axis at face height, bright enough to dominate the blue on skin, with white balance set to it. The tank stays blue and the faces stay neutral.

What has to be asked first?

Whether flash is permitted near exhibits. Frequently it is not, for the animals’ sake, and a continuous LED source is usually the permitted alternative.

Where do the flattering frames come from?

The industrial shell — raked brick, large openings and the river outside. The tanks supply two or three spectacular photographs; the building supplies the rest.

What is the equipment risk here?

Fogging. An aquarium interior is warm and humid, so a camera brought in from cold Cleveland air fogs comprehensively — and bloom in front of illuminated water is worse than in an ordinary room.

More Cleveland, OH venue guides

We are writing a photographer’s guide to every venue we would happily shoot in Cleveland, OH. Here are three more, plus the full index:

• The House of Blues, Cleveland: What It Suits and What It Does Not
• The Huntington Convention Center, Cleveland: Photographing a Convention Venue
• The KeyBank State Theatre, Cleveland: The One Decision That Governs Everything

All Cleveland, OH Wedding Venues →

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