Turning a Fish Tank into the Sea

This shoot took me 3 attempts before I started liking the way that it looked. The first try turned out aesthetically pleasing but the water was clean and transparent, when in turn this didn’t go with my project. I used a video pad light over the top of the tank and a LED light shining through from the bottom right on the tank, this added the shards of colour to the plastic in the tank. I was also using a standard 18-135mm lens on the Canon 5Ds which allowed me to get somewhat close to the tank, but I could also pull out and do wider shots. For the second attempt I added a lot more plastic and shot with a wider frame to reveal more of the waste in the tank. I also choose colours on the LED light that looked slightly more natural than the first attempts. So, by the third attempt I had added a ton of dirt and oil, more plastic and it eventually looked realistic. I look away the LED lights and changed from an 18-135mm lens to a 70-200mm. This made it possible for me to get even closer to the plastic by pulling back with the camera and zooming in.