Digital Photography and Equipment

[hwchoy]

Benny,
Those are nice shots. For fish photography, I agree using multiple flash and diffuser is the best setup.

However, this will not work with certain species of butterflies. Ask you buddy Simon Sng who has caught the butterly bug.

oh no! now you've done it. he's going to take up butt shooting just to show ya. s

[hwchoy]

I think should be either a 20D or a 1Ds, depending on mood I guess

Like the 3-4 Porsches he has in his garage, which one to drive today...
hummm

Those are some nice cams.

Bill

oh I haven't told you about his other dilemma: "which flash to use, and how many. should I bother to mount the mickeymouse?"

[stormhawk]

The mickeymouse.. hahahha!! That one got me laughing. I know someone mentioned this before.

[hwchoy]

The mickeymouse.. hahahha!! That one got me laughing. I know someone mentioned this before.

yes a mickeymouse, albeit a kickass one.

[hwchoy]

I think should be either a 20D or a 1Ds, depending on mood I guess

Like the 3-4 Porsches he has in his garage, which one to drive today...
hummm

Those are some nice cams.

Bill

normally any one of the green or red ones will do, except when he goes out with the L-lenses, then it has got to be the beige one.

[Green Baron]

Bill,
I just came from from the Sony showroom. The camera will only be in store in a week or two. However, the recommended retail price is S$2199 (US$1300) which I think is a bit too expensive, more expensive than the Nikon D50 and Canon 350D.

I think US$900 (S$1500) should be the right price range for this camera.

Bill,
The R1 has arrived in Singapore and the recommended retail price is S$1699 which is ~US$1K.

[ruyle]

The R1 has arrived in Singapore and the recommended retail price is S$1699 which is ~US$1K.

Gan, that's a little more reasonable. Still haven't seen a review of a
production model camera. And user reviews by consumers....I would be
very hesitant to get one till I could determine they're consistent with
the pre-production model review.

Bill

[benny]

I think should be either a 20D or a 1Ds, depending on mood I guess

Like the 3-4 Porsches he has in his garage, which one to drive today...
hummm

Those are some nice cams.

Bill

Sad to say Bill, but I can't afford a car. Have to depend on the generosity of my father to lend me his when it's not in use.

As for me, I'm a Canon user and those are taken with my Canon digital SLR camera. However, I'll honestly say that it's not the camera, but the technique that makes a difference (as proved by hwchoy) and it's not the setting, but the setup that makes the difference.

Cheers,

[benny]

Benny,
Those are nice shots. For fish photography, I agree using multiple flash and diffuser is the best setup.

However, this will not work with certain species of butterflies. Ask you buddy Simon Sng who has caught the butterly bug.

Well... I beg to differ. Initially, most folks advise against using flash for fish photography and advocated shooting at an angle if you do. That as the defacto advice and technique. With experimentation, we found that it's not true.

It's a question of understanding light, your subject and the shooting conditions. Whilst shooting in the wild pose a challenge to use a soft box (or other diffusion solution) effectively, it is not impossible. It's a question of your willingness to explore the limits beyond the camera.

oh no! now you've done it. he's going to take up butt shooting just to show ya. s

Nah....Simon have tried and failed. I'm not the gungho sort to be jungle bashing. Give me a fish challenge and I'll take you on anytime!

Cheers,

[Green Baron]

Well... I beg to differ. Initially, most folks advise against using flash for fish photography and advocated shooting at an angle if you do. That as the defacto advice and technique. With experimentation, we found that it's not true.

It's a question of understanding light, your subject and the shooting conditions. Whilst shooting in the wild pose a challenge to use a soft box (or other diffusion solution) effectively, it is not impossible. It's a question of your willingness to explore the limits beyond the camera.

Benny,
I agree it is possible if you have the time and space to setup the proper lighting. However, in the wild it is as good as impossible, unless you have a crew carrying diffuser and multiple flashes for you.

[stormhawk]

Give me a fish challenge and I'll take you on anytime!

Benny, I've got a species for you to photograph. If no females appear I'll take one of the males over for you to photograph. Let me know if you're interested.

[ruyle]

Thanks to Wright about some different settings (aperture, shutter speed) and
Jian Yang's Photoshop Windex to get rid of some unwanted spots, this is
the result:


This is a 1.5MP camera. The yellowish cast is from the lighting I use. I still
have yet to use a Vivitar external flash (keep forgetting to get batteries).
Click to make larger.

Bill

[hwchoy]

Bill, did you do blurring on some of the parts? like the red bands near the pre dorsal, and around the caudal peduncle? especially the caudal, the peduncle is OOF yet part of caudal lobe is sharp.

[ruyle]

Heng Wah,
I checked the unphotoshopped image and those anomalies are there, too.
Pic was taken at f4.76 and shutter speed 1/64, which may be slow enough,
coupled with the onboard flash to cause some blurring here and there.

This is where it breaks down some not using an external flash. Spot
metering mode may have helped this, too.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Bill

[hwchoy]

Heng Wah,
I checked the unphotoshopped image and those anomalies are there, too.
Pic was taken at f4.76 and shutter speed 1/64, which may be slow enough,
coupled with the onboard flash to cause some blurring here and there.

This is where it breaks down some not using an external flash. Spot
metering mode may have helped this, too.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Bill

mmm… one thing I learned from portrait photographers, no matter what the posture, the eyes of the subject must be sharp to give life to the composition. In this case I can see the eyes are in focus, pretty good.

since you are doing photoshop, why not do the necessary colour correction to take care of the yellow cast?

[ruyle]

Heng Wah,
I sent it back to Jian Yang to see what he could do with it, since Photoshop
is what was used originally. I have PSP9, I could try it with that, too. The
different settings and image processing is a learning curve that I haven't
quite "crested" yet. These fish are very active (moto perpetuo) and
not the easiest subject to capture. I didn't use a tripod, with their move-
ment back and forth in the tank, would render it useless. Will be trying
the external flash attached to the cam, since I don't have a hotshoe adaptor
to attach to the tripod directly.

Bill

[hwchoy]

do not use tripod with small fish. handheld (heck I even manual pre-focus) at better than 1/60s will do fine. if you have flash, try to shoot at your smallest aperture to increase DOF.

[stormhawk]

Bill wanted to keep the colours the way they are. With auto-balance the yellow cast would have been taken of.

[ruyle]

do not use tripod with small fish. handheld (heck I even manual pre-focus) at better than 1/60s will do fine. if you have flash, try to shoot at your smallest aperture to increase DOF.

I agree about the tripod, unless you have designated studio room to have
this stuff handy, it's generally a mad dash to get the camera to take a
pic when they're in the front glass. This is especially true of the secretive
Mundemba! HW, thanks for the tips on aperture. This photo was
taken at f4.74, 1/64, spot metering, internal flash, everything was manually selected.

I'll be pasting up Jian Yang's latest effort in Photo Shop when I get home
from work.

Jian Yang, yeah, big mistake keeping the original colors!

Bill

[ruyle]

I want to thank Jian Yang for hitting the autobalance button!




Jian Yang, you really saved this one, thanks much!

Bill