I have been catching minnows in my creek and have started taking pictures. My "models" have NOT been taking my posing advice very well!

I have tried taking photos in a water-filled ziploc bag. The fish usually sit on the bottom crease and it is difficult to observe their mouth or ventral fins.

I have also tried taking "dry" photos in a bowl with ruler marks. A large number of minnows have successfully leapt out of that photo shoot.

There is zero chance anybody is going to able to count the dorsal rays, etc. on my photographs. frown

Any good advice, or a good past thread in the forum that I missed on my search? (Also, I am not a good photographer, so pure photography advice might also be helpful to me and other PB readers.)

Could I put salt in a 1/4" of water in the bowl and get decent shots with a calmed fish?

Do you just take dozens of shots of the fish in the ziploc until you happen to get a good one?

Is there any good optically clear bowl or jar that can be used to take pictures? For example, a little betta fish globe - or does the curved glass cause optical distortions? Or a small "goldfish" bowl that has the two flat sides? Or just the jar from a large Ragu spaghetti sauce that works perfectly?

Thanks for the help,
FishinRod