Today in the Fishroom ~ Amphilophus citrinellus "Midas Cichlid"
- Thread starter Aquamojo
- Start date
I'm traveling now, but will give a detailed answer on all questions when I land
Mo you got serious skills and patience by the photos you take. You should be teaching photography. But since it is my ideal make my class free.
Mike,
Let's start with clearing up some of the terminology. I know what you are asking when you stated "photoshopping" the photos. You are asking if I manipulated the photos to increase and add color or detail. In both cases....yes. Photoshop is the program that I use to post process the images. All of my files are shot as RAW images. The difference between this and just shooting a JPEG is that in the latter, the camera does an interpolation of the settings, decides what the best exposure, saturation, levels, contrast, etc. are and then compresses the image into a JPEG. You can edit this file but have limited options.
The RAW files require are basically all of the current settings AS THEY WERE SHOT and saved...without the camera "brain" making a decision. This requires a second step, taking the file into a plug in THROUGH photoshop. This allows you to adjust the exposure, contrast, color, color balance, etc. to make sure the exposure is perfect. So yes. I use photoshop...and yes I adjust the factors that finishes the image.
But with all images, you have to have a good shot and the right exposure for it all to come together. I use speedlights (flash) on 99% of all of my photography. Most often I use three flash units....sometimes up to five. Nikon SB-910's. All of the speedlights have a diffusing head (Gary Fong Lightsphere's). With these I am able to adjust the light that comes out of each to add or subtract from the scene. The color balance is almost irrelevant since that is 100% adjustable in the RAW processing. It helps to come close....but never an issue.
Day to day tank lighting I use Current LED's. The color temperature really depends on the fish in the tank. I use white light for most, but occasionally will use something warmer. Again...depends on the fish. All of the overhead lights are left on wen I take photos. I put the flash units up and ignore the others. The flash units overpower the tank lights.
I'm often asked about the black out look...and one of the reasons I can get this effect is because of the tremendous amount of "controlled" light I throw at a photo. Here's the mechanics: the flash units let me shoot at a very low ISO (@10-25), a very tight aperture (f32-40) and a very fast shuterspeed (1/250 - 1/320th) of a second. These settings capitalize on my depth of field, giving me MORE in focus, stop action cold so I can get some dramatic angles, and also prevents any of the ambient light to be recorded illuminating the background....black out. I light a "staging area" in the tank rather than chase the fish around. The lighting is perfect for that one small area.
The lights CAN fade the color, but I don't think it's in a way that you are referring. If the fish in the flash photo is too close to the flash...or in your case the light...at times it can appear that the image is blown out or washed out. I do think sunlight is an excellent source of light for the fish, but the bottom line is that we are just talking color temperature...so I don't think that's an issue...at least not for photos.
I keep most of my fish by themselves as single species in their own tank. I'm of the mind set that fewer fish bigger tank gives the best results. Grow outs are a different story. I keep some of them mixed. (Neets and Gramodes in a tank now. Sieboldi and Salvini in another tank) I use photo tanks for some fish, but most are shot right in their own tank. The benefit of a wet pet in their own tank is they don't get busted up and general look good for the camera. Two rules to keep your real estate in my fishroom. You're either posing or breeding. LOL If not, you need to downsize to a smaller condo and make room for someone who IS playing by the rule book.
Hope that answers some of your questions. If not, ask and I will do my best to answer.
Mo
Mo--
Thanks so much for taking the time to explain how you get these amazing photos. You gave us the entire playbook right there, and I appreciate it. It answers LOTS of questions I've had about my own photo's. You just saved me a couple hundred dollars in books, and countless hours of trial and error.
Also, I'm getting impression that you breed a lot of fish? I'm starting to think that if I want to have a really special example of a species, I need to breed that species, grow a bunch out, and have a hundred or so to choose from. Would you agree with that?
Thanks so much for taking the time to explain how you get these amazing photos. You gave us the entire playbook right there, and I appreciate it. It answers LOTS of questions I've had about my own photo's. You just saved me a couple hundred dollars in books, and countless hours of trial and error.
Also, I'm getting impression that you breed a lot of fish? I'm starting to think that if I want to have a really special example of a species, I need to breed that species, grow a bunch out, and have a hundred or so to choose from. Would you agree with that?
At what size do you start culling the best fish to keep? Can you tell when they're 3-4 inches? Or do you really need to grow them up to 8 inches or so too see how fish will look and act as adults?
It's different for each species. The more aggressive tank busters like Midas and Managuense are fairly easy to figure out. I had one Managuense I called Jumbo. He was literally four times the size of his siblings. No brainier. If you google "jumbo cichlid" his picture comes up. He was known worldwide. Most of the fish sort it out themselves as they grow out. Key is to keep a group...but be prepared to deal with the excess.
often times, fish cull themselves, as in killing off the weakest fish. I think, depending on the species, people can start to cull at 1-2 inches. It isn't just about size, take into consideration color, attitude =, body language and appetite.
