Idag i Fishroom 6/15/11 ~ Paratheraps zonatus ljus upprätta

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  • Aquamojo
    Användare
    • april 2007
    • 39

    Idag i Fishroom 6/15/11 ~ Paratheraps zonatus ljus upprätta

    I wanted to try something different with the lighting set up. Here are the pictures that I shot yesterday. The goal, of course is to evenly light the fish without overly illuminating things around the fish.







    Here's how I lit the tank. There are a total of four flash units on these shots. Not counting the one on the camera (set to manual 1/128th power)...here is the set up of the other three. Two Nikon SB-900's on top...one SB-800 on the bottom.



    I moved the gravel away from the bottom of the tank to light the bottom of the fish. In the past I would have to use a diffuser (Gary Fong to be exact) to cut the amount of light that was illuminating the bottom of the fish. This posed a few problems.

    First it was difficult at times not to get a "hot spot" on the fish. It really was very dependent on how close the fish was to the bottom of the tank...and close to the flash. Ideally the fish should be equal distance (more or less) from all of the flash units. If not it was a matter of adjusting output through the camera's control center.

    Second....because the diffuser would effectively "scatter" the light, I would invariably get some bleed over into the background of the tank. This was a tough one. I found a very nice and very inexpensive ($39) diffuser that does a great job. It is essentially a reflective sheet that attaches to the flash and allows you to "bend/fold/roll" the edges to fit your need. What I did was simply curve the back end so that it would cut the amount of light reflecting on the bottom.



    I generally would put two flash units on top of the tank with diffusers. For this I switched out the normal diffuser that was more or less an inverted bell shape and replaced it with a Grsslon flash diffuser. If you take a look at this photo you can see how wide it is. The flash is pointed straight down through the diffuser. Inside the diffuser there are reflective light bellows that disperse and soften the light over a much wider area.



    And finally I wanted to fill in the side of the fish with a soft light to cut the hard shadows. A big part of what I am doing relies on the set up....AND the participation of the fish. Basically I leave it up to the model to pick the pose. The reflective soft box flash unit did an exceptional job. The flash on the inside is on a rail and can be moved forward or back to give more or less light.



    I am constantly tinkering with the light set up. All of my tanks are painted on the back with a "frosted glass" spray paint. It give them an opaque pebbled texture. Some of the tanks then get a flat black second coat. This combination does a great job preventing that reflective flair that sometimes comes from over spilling light.

    I wanted to see what a little back light would look like and started by moving the umbrella toward the back of the tank and compensating for the front light by bumping up the output of the camera flash...and got this shot.



    Full disclosure I got more "oops" ...pictures I will never post....here than most shoots. The key of course is to continue to experiment with your set up and don't settle for average. Through trial and error I got ONE shot that I thought was different...at least from what I normally post.



    With the exception of the algae at the back bottom of the tank...something I never have to worry about showing up under normal circumstances...I liked the effect. It sort of resembled sunlight coming down.

    The biggest challenge I had here....all of the light that I used forced the camera to almost "squint" through the lens. I had to shoot at the lowest ISO, the highest aperture and the fastest shutter speed (1/320th) in order to cut the light. In addition, most of the flash units were set to at least half to quarter power.

    In the end...



    ...it's all about light, luck and practice.
  • DaRe
    NCS Medlem
    • september 2009
    • 22831

    #2
    Fantastic Photos aquamojo!! As usual I might add, I've seen your work on other sites as well!

    Keep it up and welcome to this fora!


    If you wish you can add the photos directly in the post.

    Steps:
    • Click on "Hantera bifogade filer" below
    • Then "Välj fil"
    • choose your jpg you wish to post
    • Click "Ladda upp"
    • click "Stäng det här fönstret" in the file upload window.


    You can add 5 pictures at a time.

    Preconditions. The JPG files must be smaller than 373.4 KB, but can be 10000x10000 pixels still if you wish.

    BR,
    David
    Senast redigerad av DaRe; 17 juni 2011, 12:00.
    Klart du ska vara medlem! Vi har ett växande medlemsantal och kommande år är jubileumsår, vi firar det väldigt gärna tillsammans med dig!

    ///David
    Ordförande Nordiska Ciklidsällskapet

    Kommentar

    • HåE
      Användare
      • september 2007
      • 1525

      #3
      Awesome shots and stunning fish! Interesting flash set up.
      När man är ute på djupt vatten är det klokt att hålla munnen stängd.

      Kommentar

      • Aquamojo
        Användare
        • april 2007
        • 39

        #4
        Dave,

        Do the photos have to be uploaded or can I link them from a remote URL?

        Thanks for the warm welcome.

        Mo

        Kommentar

        • RobinH
          Användare
          • augusti 2008
          • 2150

          #5
          Great Photos Mo.. keep em coming!
          CA

          Kommentar

          • HåE
            Användare
            • september 2007
            • 1525

            #6
            Mo, do you still have that beautiful Herichthys labridens "yellow'"?
            När man är ute på djupt vatten är det klokt att hålla munnen stängd.

            Kommentar

            • DaRe
              NCS Medlem
              • september 2009
              • 22831

              #7
              Ursprungligen postat av Aquamojo
              Dave,

              Do the photos have to be uploaded or can I link them from a remote URL?

              Thanks for the warm welcome.

              Mo
              Not sure, I'm afraid you need to upload them. I'll check with the guru Joakim Draktoft.

              /David
              Klart du ska vara medlem! Vi har ett växande medlemsantal och kommande år är jubileumsår, vi firar det väldigt gärna tillsammans med dig!

              ///David
              Ordförande Nordiska Ciklidsällskapet

              Kommentar

              • Joakim Draktoft
                NCS Medlem
                • april 2002
                • 7334

                #8
                Ursprungligen postat av DaRe
                Not sure, I'm afraid you need to upload them. I'll check with the guru Joakim Draktoft.

                /David
                With [img ]-tags you are able to show them.

                Btw, I moved this topic to the section International instead.
                Joakim Draktoft
                f.d Webmaster Ciklid.se
                ____________________________________________

                Kommentar

                • Gäst

                  #9
                  Ursprungligen postat av Aquamojo
                  I wanted to try something different with the lighting set up. Here are the pictures that I shot yesterday. The goal, of course is to evenly light the fish without overly illuminating things around the fish.
                  Brilliant! Thanks for sharing.

                  Andreas

                  Kommentar

                  • HåE
                    Användare
                    • september 2007
                    • 1525

                    #10
                    Ursprungligen postat av Joakim Draktoft
                    With [img ]-tags you are able to show them.

                    Btw, I moved this topic to the section International instead.
                    Hoppas du skickade ett PM till honom om detta. Annars hittar han nog inte sin egen tråd.
                    När man är ute på djupt vatten är det klokt att hålla munnen stängd.

                    Kommentar

                    • Joakim Draktoft
                      NCS Medlem
                      • april 2002
                      • 7334

                      #11
                      Ursprungligen postat av HåE
                      Hoppas du skickade ett PM till honom om detta. Annars hittar han nog inte sin egen tråd.
                      Lämnade kvar en pekare till denna placering. Går han in på originalplatsen så hamnar han här.
                      Joakim Draktoft
                      f.d Webmaster Ciklid.se
                      ____________________________________________

                      Kommentar

                      • Aquamojo
                        Användare
                        • april 2007
                        • 39

                        #12
                        Ursprungligen postat av HåE
                        Mo, do you still have that beautiful Herichthys labridens "yellow'"?
                        I do. I will post photos of them.

                        Kommentar

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