Inhabitants in the tank

[valice]

Did some shooting of the inhabitants in my apisto tank.

The male, popping out of his cave to scan his surrounding before heading back in after this shot. He was the same one brought in during the last last shipment by Biotope.



One of his female, still don't look very ready to mate with him.



The algae eater of the tank. Beautiful creature... But got no idea which Sturisoma species it is...



Finally, the dither fishes!





Forgot about them.

[hwchoy]

are these our PSLE exam answers?

[ranmasatome]

got hotspot leh..

[hwchoy]

did you use your flash with or without the diffusor?

[Ibn]

are these our PSLE exam answers?

Yup, seeing some hot spots on these as well. Any flash diffusion?

[valice]

got hotspot leh..

Yah... I also noticed the hotspots after downloading the pictures from the camera.

I only put down the build-in diffusor... Think still not enough... SHould I diffuse more by putting a piece of paper? The lighting on the fishes looks very harsh... I tried doing a -1/3 EV on the flash, but the result was a darker picture...

Please advise on how to improve the pictures...

Choy, don't think these pictures will pass the PSLE...

[ranmasatome]

Was that full flash? as in full discharge?

you can use the paper which works...

[valice]

Yup... All the pictures were taken at full flash...
Some were taken with the flash above the tank, while some are taken with flash in hand tilted at an angle to illuminate fish...

[ranmasatome]

If your tank is small and the fish is close by you dont really need full discharge..
None of my photos.. not that tehy are any good, are taken at full discharge. All were at most 1/2. soemtimes 1/8 discharge.

i shoot at highest f-stop though... which is at msot f12 in real life.
But then again.. in the photo tank.. i use 3 flashes..

Choy?? Eric?? what you guys use? depend on circumstances?

[valice]

I was shooting in the main tank (depth is 1.5ft), hence I did it with full discharge especially for the apisos which liked to stay near the bottom... Or 1.5ft is not a problem?

For the gouramis, think full discharge is not the way to go. Will try again over the weekend and see the effect.

My pictures were shot at f/16 and f/18, playing with the settings to see the effect...

[Ibn]

Depends on the circumstances. Sometimes one flash overhead does the trick, but on larger tanks, two or more are needed.

I picked up a couple pairs of Apistos yesterday and tested out a 2 flash system which works quite well. Primary flash on top and secondary flash handheld to the left for fill. Primary was used with pull out diffusion and Stofen. On the fill flash, it was powered down -3EV with pull down diffusion and Stofen and an extra piece of plastic was attached inside the Stofen for extra diffusion.


Here's one with just one flash pointing down. The pull down diffuser was used.


BTW, excuse the messy tanks. They were snapped at the breeder/supplier.

[ranmasatome]

The second picture is very nice.. but i can see why a second flash would have helped.. the details on teh tail would have been clearer with a fill. But still a really nice and clear picture... hopefully i can take such pics..

[hwchoy]

I am now using two flashes even over a small betta barrack, the larger light source reduces harshness and also got rid of that lensing effect from the eyes.

I usually try ƒ/8-13 for most fishes in the region of 2 inches long. also I try to use aperture priority mode rather full manual.

[valice]

It seems that a fill flash is very useful when we employ the flash on top method as sometimes, the shots I have has dark bottoms or dark sides and burnt tops...

Eric, are those pictures straight from the camera? Or sharpening is done? I read in aquatic-photography.com, sometimes sharpening is done in PS... What does the sharpening filter do? It drags the contrast?

[hwchoy]

It seems that a fill flash is very useful when we employ the flash on top method as sometimes, the shots I have has dark bottoms or dark sides and burnt tops...

this means the flash are placed too far behind the fish. try using your diffusor.

[valice]

Will go try out on the fishes... Probably are still asleep...

[michael lai]

Aperture priority?? Simi lai?-(dialect for what is it?). Share lei, Choy.

[valice]

Does the exposure look better in this picture?



Michael, aperture priority is the Av setting you have on your camera... You set the aperture, f/something, and the camera will do an automatic setting of your shutter speed... Whereas in M, you set both the Av and the Tv...

[hwchoy]

Does the exposure look better in this picture?



Michael, aperture priority is the Av setting you have on your camera... You set the aperture, f/something, and the camera will do an automatic setting of your aperture speed... Whereas in M, you set both the Av and the Tv...

yes exposure looks much better.

you mean the shutter speed.

[hwchoy]

The lighting on the fishes looks very harsh... I tried doing a -1/3 EV on the flash, but the result was a darker picture...

a very common misconception is that "harshness" = "light intensity"

in truth, harshness is caused by light coming from a small area, such as an undiffused flash, sunlight (which is a point source for practical purpose), etc. this is why you see people using big light boxes and reflector umbrellas in studio photograhy. also why in indoor photography, flash are usually directed up towards the ceiling so as to light up the whole room (all the walls become your light source).

you cannot reduce "harshness" by lowering the intensity, this will only cause under exposure. you need to increase the areas from which light rays strike the subject. this is one reason I like to use the diffusor, which spreads out the light, some of which will reflect back from the various glass surfaces. omnibounce is another way, and raise the flash higher up away from the water surface is another.