The Monterey Bay Aquarium offers the potential for some truly stunning photos, but with the windows, water and subtle lighting, it can be quite challenging to get a photo you’ll want to brag about. Our resident photographer provides the following tips to help.

Use a Digital Camera

The advantage of instantly viewing your photos is huge. If you don’t like the results from the first shot, you can improve upon it with a subsequent shot, by making adjustments that partially override the automatic systems in your camera.

Enjoy the all-new Sony® α (alpha) DSLR-A100 camera with an amazing zoom lens to get you started. Included in this kit is the versatile SAL-18200 18-200mm standard zoom lens. This easily handles the full range of shots you’ll take most often—but there’s nothing “standard” about its advanced optical design. With superior all-in-one lens performance for everyday shooting, its 35mm-equivalent range of 27mm wide-angle to 300mm telephoto excels at capturing faraway subjects, sports events, dramatic landscapes and intimate close-up views.

The Sony® α (alpha) DSLR-A100 camera is an instant classic: the top-quality 10 MP DSLR system camera that builds on a two-decade legacy of Minolta photographic leadership, accepts 20 years of A-mount lenses sold worldwide—and introduces Sony® imaging innovations like high-sensitivity shooting with Super SteadyShot® in-camera image stabilization, Dynamic Range Optimizer to automatically increase detail in bright and dark picture areas, new Anti-Dust technology to keep the CCD imager clean for better pictures, and Eye-Start® Autofocus system for faster camera response.