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Thread: Setting up photo tank for plants and fish

  1. #1
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    Setting up photo tank for plants and fish

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    Setting up a photo tank.

    A photo tank is meant to keep fish temporarily for photo taking purposes,
    Fish requires a comfortable environment in order to show their best colors so one must provide all the amenities.

    Having Plants in the tank will also help calm the fish down, and helps to predict the fish's movement since the fish tend to hide amongst the plants.
    If you over plant the photo tank, it will have a negative inpact since you won't be able to find the fish at all.

    A dedicated photo tank has to be small. primarily to restrict the fish movement so that you don't have to hunt with your lens in order to focus.

    Dark colored gravel is suggested, because it offers suitable contrast. having a light colored gravel results in all kinds of flash burn out or over/under exposure.

    The tank glass must either be optically pure (ie: totally colorless - eg: acrylic or mineral/sapphire glass) or very thin, otherwise it will offer up a green tint that you may have difficulty correcting digitally.

    The background is usually black. Black oyama paper is the easiest to apply however there is a always the chance of reflection from using oyama paper. Suitably shaped driftwood, corkbark, non reflective black styrofoam are also ideal. The background should not be overly patterned because it will form a distraction to your composition.


    Intensive Photo Sessions usually last for quite some time if you're the meticulous sort. so providing some sort of filtration/aeration is helpful for those scenarios.

    In order to take the best photos you have to have crystal clear water.

    if you have a diatom filter,it can give you the best clarity.
    otherwise you can use a undergravel filter and run it overnight to clear the water. UGF is effective for clearing up a small tank as the dirt will be sucked downwards.

    Another method is to run fresh tap water into the tank (in the bathroom) until it runs over for a while, usually leaving very clear water. Don't forget to add some anti chloramine before introducing the fish.

    After that, you will probably need to remove any air bubbles sticking to the wall of the tank.

    For those finicky fish which require acclimitization, you will need some filtration and you may need to leave the fish alone for a day or two to restore coloration. (eg: Apistogramma sp.)


    Taking the picture:

    The best way to shoot is to use an off camera flash. For Point and Shoot Cameras with no Hot Shoe, investing in a set of slave flashes that can be triggered by your internal camera flash will be ideal.

    For Cameras with a hotshoe, you can invest in those flashes that provide master/slave ettl support. (eg: Canon 550EX, Sigma 500 DG Super)

    The positions you place your off camera flash should be in order of priority
    a) flash from the top (ie: you place your flash on a piece of acrylic and a pice of paper above the tank), the piece of paper is for light diffusion purposes otherwise you will have hard shadows.
    b) 45 degree angles from the front panel of the glass. this is used as a fill flash to illuminate any shadows.

    Having said that, for DSLR's, the larger sensor size results in a shallower depth of field, so having more flashes allow you to shoot at the lowest ISO and a smaller aperture (eg: f/8 , f/11 ). Also, most camera lenses have a sweet spot, ie: giving you the best picture quality, and usually that is at f/5.6 or smaller.

    For P&S cameras,the smaller sensor size usually results in a "noisier" image than a DSLR camera at the same ISO setting, however, the small sensor size results in larger depth of field.

    [i]*ie: you can also increase the depth of field in a DSLR by setting the aperture smaller and increase the ISO instead of adding more light, but that will result in a less than ideal image that your camera is capable of


    For P&S cameras with an internal flash that is too near the lens, shooting with the flash on is going to result in hotspots and blow outs on the image of the fish. You can c

  2. #2
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    Re:

    [quote:d7b7c9b5="loupgarou"]The tank glass must either be optically pure (ie: totally colorless - eg: acrylic or mineral/sapphire glass) or very thin, otherwise it will offer up a green tint that you may have difficulty correcting digitally.
    [/quote:d7b7c9b5]

    Chris,

    Good summary, but got cut off towards the end. You may have to split the post.

    On the point above. It think it should be:

    The glass should be as thin as possible to avoid chromatic aberation. If using thick glass, shoot perpenticular to the front pane. Quality/clarity of the glass is critical to getting sharp pictures. As for the type of glass, avoid using tinted glass as that will tint your subject. Ideally, colorless glass or optical glass will be the best option. However, photoshop does offer color correction if you are shooting through tinted glass.

    Cheers,
    I have dwarf cichlids in my tanks! Do you?

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    Re: Photo Tank for Fish and Plant

    Some of my thoughts...may add more later.

    Objective for photo tank
    To increase your chances of a good photograph of your subject.

    Equipment you need
    - Small tank with thin glass
    - Washed gravel (dark colored)
    - Plants on wood, (eg Java fern)
    - Black background (Oyama paper, structured styrofoam background etc)
    - Flash, Camera and white paper
    - Black cloth or card board

    Preparing the Tank
    - Fix up UGF and run it overnight to clear the water. UGF is effective for clearing up a small tank as the dirt will be sucked downwards.
    - Wash gravel throughly to prevent excessive sedimentation or clouding
    - Put in plant tied on wood
    - Create "Sweet Spot" for your fishes so as that you can pre focus on a selected spot.

    Selecting your subjects
    - Plants
    * Consideration?
    - Slow moving fish
    * Consideration?
    - Fast moving fish
    * Consideration?

    Preparing your subjects
    - Acclimatise the fish to the tank as usual
    - If possible, let the fish settle down for a day or two to restore the coloration lost during shifting
    - ??

    Taking the picture without reflection
    - Position the flash(es)
    * picture of set up
    - Optional : Place a sheet of white paper under the top flash for diffusion purposes
    - Shut off all ambients light eg Windows, TV
    - Perferrably shoot at night, as able to better control ambient lights
    - Make sure the light in the tank is stronger than the ambient to minimise reflection
    - If you have a light above the tank, tape a piece of paper from the light to the waterline to prevent reflection of yourself/your equipment on the front pane.

    * picture of photo tank setup ready for shooting *

    Camera settings and reasons
    ??
    * picture of before and after*

    Processing the picture
    - Use auto level, color balance to correct the color
    - Crop to achieve composition purpose. Crop generously for documentation purposes.
    I have dwarf cichlids in my tanks! Do you?

  4. #4
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    Post Processing in Photoshop
    For Raw Mode you can adjust exposure, shadow, contrast, saturation, tint, color temperature to get an "ideal" histogram, but that having said, there's no such thing as an "ideal" histogram

    Further steps
    Auto Levels /White Balance correction

    -manual levels

    -tonal correction via adjustment layers

    -unsharp mask

    -frames

    -adding a watermark/signature

    - Crop to achieve composition purpose. Crop generously for documentation purposes.
    Crop to print ratio if you want to send for printing


    suggested reading: photoshop restoration/retouching by katrinn eastman

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