Simpsonichthys igneus

[hwchoy]

Look what I found in a plastic bag near a bus stop in Bukit Merah! a pair of Simpsonichthys igneus Costa 2000.






thanx Turaco

[Piscesgirl]

Beautiful fish! Great pictures too.

[imported_subzero]

It's quite unusual to pick up a bag of lost fishes. I'm sure the owner will claim back from you when he read this thread.

Good pictures added to your collection!

[hwchoy]

Good pictures added to your collection!

Our collection


hey I'm just kidding about the plastic bag! actually Gan generously contributed this handsome pair to the photo archive effort. I've to say they are gorgeous under the flash light

[hobbit6003]

Hi Heng Wah,

Care to share some photo tips here, as to your set up of the phtotoshoot:

Camera equipment and parameters (ISO, shutterspeed, aperture, flash,etc)
Tank setup
Flash placement (built-in, remote,etc)

Cheers,

Kenny

[hwchoy]

Hi Heng Wah,

Care to share some photo tips here, as to your set up of the phtotoshoot:

Camera equipment and parameters (ISO, shutterspeed, aperture, flash,etc)
Tank setup
Flash placement (built-in, remote,etc)

Cheers,

Kenny

Hi Kenny,

this is my usual photo setup. an established 1ft cube with open foreground and some taller plants at the back, so it is easy to remove fishes after shooting.

camera is my Canon G5 digicam, but a real DSLR is much prefered. Key to a good pic is lighting and patience. Lighting is provided by an external flash which I place over the tank (I use a plastic grille as a platform). Ideally there should be one or two slave flash from the front diagonals to give optimal top and front coverage.

My flash is triggered by wireless. Different cameras have different ways of doing this. It is a hassle and also risky to attach a cable from the camera to the flash so I go wireless ($$).

I use manual focus, because my digicam AF is very slow. On DSLR with fast AF you can do autofocus. Aperture would depend on the lens you use. But to get good depth of field (DOF) at a short focusing distance you should use a very small aperture (large f number). I use aperture priority so the camera decides on the correct shutter speed and flash power (ETTL on Canon). You should have no less than 1/50 shutter speed to avoid handshake and freeze the fish.

Also take note of white balance. I shoot in RAW so that I have the option to change exposure, white balance and so on later during post processing.

BTW a quick note on patience. I just checked the counters, I took about 250 shots for this pair and probably will select 4-6 pics

[hwchoy]

one thing to note is the angle of the camera to the front glass. very commonly you will hear advise to "shoot at an angle" to avoid your flash reflection on the glass.

because of my specific requirements, i.e. to be able to see as much details as possible, I always shoot straight into the glass. This minimises the refraction distortion produced by the tank glass, which is very noticeable when the picture is viewed at full resolution.

in order to shoot straight on, you need to take extra care with your own reflection on the glass.

[Slaigar]

Choy, I am absolutely stunned! I can't believe you managed to capture such a beautiful radiance in it's tail!

[hobbit6003]

Hi Heng Wah,

Haha, what do you know, I've got a similar camera to yours, a G6! Looks like I've asked the right person. :-)

Thanks for your pointers, and I'm probably going to be a copycat photographer to you, that is, set up wise.

Of course, a nice photo depends very much on the person behind the camera, and so, I shall practice harder!

And since we're in the same neighbourhood, may I dare ask if I can visit you one of these days to see you work?

Cheers,

Kenny

[hwchoy]

Hi Heng Wah,

Haha, what do you know, I've got a similar camera to yours, a G6! Looks like I've asked the right person. :-)

Thanks for your pointers, and I'm probably going to be a copycat photographer to you, that is, set up wise.

Of course, a nice photo depends very much on the person behind the camera, and so, I shall practice harder!

And since we're in the same neighbourhood, may I dare ask if I can visit you one of these days to see you work?

Cheers,

Kenny

G6! sell it and get the 350D but seriously I do mean it. sorry if I cause you heartburn

you can come and see, but usually it is kind of sporadic because it is rather opportunistic, when I see the fishes are "in the mood" i.e. not being skittish, showing good colour, flaring, etc. that's why it is hard to get good pics at other people's place like Ronnie's or Kwek Leong's. But I can show you the basic set up.

[hwchoy]

Choy, I am absolutely stunned! I can't believe you managed to capture such a beautiful radiance in it's tail!

hey, the fish produced the radiance I only snap it

one thing is that I do colour adjustment to ensure the colour properly matches what is seen on the fish, under daylight-type environment. for this purpose I even invested in a colour-calibration device for my monitor screen.

For proper viewing you should at least calibrate your monitors. one available tool is Adobe Gamma which does a "good enough" job.

[hwchoy]

frankly when I got the fish from Gan, it was like "mmm… whitish looking fish with some orangey fins, *yawnnnnn*"

how wrong can I get not that I mind a "boring" white fish. I like all fishes as long as they are natural

thanx again to Gan and Ronnie for such a wonder pair. BTW Gan, such a beautiful fish I think I will keep it OK?

[hwchoy]

Choy, I am absolutely stunned! I can't believe you managed to capture such a beautiful radiance in it's tail!

ah… time to put in an order for the eggs

[turaco]

Fish came from Ronnie, I just beg for them when they were much younger . Choy, I believe the fish are at their retiring age, you can have it, but don't think they will last too long, the lady had stop giving eggs. Keep them alone if you want their long finage.

[keehoe]

I wish i cound take good photo as such......

[stormhawk]

This species is one of the most skittish species I've had. When kept in small groups they become very shy and will not appear. Posing is a problem since they keep swimming in twist and turns, especially when the male is swimming above the spawning bowl.

Again this species does not like to show its full finnage to the best, usually having a twist near to the rear end of the anal fin. Nonetheless this is a superb effort for a seldom-seen species.

The best few males I've seen are at Ronnie's place. Finnage torn but their activity levels and colours cannot be matched.

For general information, this species was named by Costa for the glowing orange area in the anal fin, hence the name igneus (fire belly),

[hwchoy]

ah but these are old folks already, so they're rather more sedately also fishes seem to be calmer very late at night.

[hwchoy]

Fish came from Ronnie, I just beg for them when they were much younger

yes I can just see it. you sprawling at his front door, refusing to leave without a pair. grabbing his legs everytime he tries to leave the house

[hobbit6003]

G6! sell it and get the 350D but seriously I do mean it. sorry if I cause you heartburn

you can come and see, but usually it is kind of sporadic because it is rather opportunistic, when I see the fishes are "in the mood" i.e. not being skittish, showing good colour, flaring, etc. that's why it is hard to get good pics at other people's place like Ronnie's or Kwek Leong's. But I can show you the basic set up.

But I've just gotten the G6!!!

Seriously, I think the camera suit me quite fine, since it is small enough for me to lug around, and is quite versatile for my general photography. The image quality is great too! The plus point is that it allows me to use my EX external flash.

I had wanted to buy the 300D, but instead used the money to buy an ixus40 for my wife and the G6 for myself, sheesh...

You mentioned manual focus, does that mean you moved back and forth with your camera to get the right focus in macro mode?


Cheers,

Kenny

[hwchoy]

after a while you will realise the G6 (which is a glorified G5, which itself was a glorified G3) produces image quality far from expectation at this spending level. basically digicams have sensors which are way too small compared with even the most entry level DSLR.

I didn't like the 300D, it was a compromised design to meet a marketing definition and pricing niche. The new 350D is a good one though.