The biggest difference in the photos is the lighting. The photos I posted in the other thread had three high powered Nikon flash units focused on one square foot of tank. Top two flash units were set to fire at +1.3...or a third more flash energy than a regular burst. This allows me to use a VERY low ISO (100) and a very high aperture that allows not only a greater depth of field, but also more detail. The photos are shot in RAW and processed as 16 bit (rather than a smaller file size 8 bit). All of this helps in milking out the last little bit of detail.
John...you are using a head on lighting. If you can position the flash above the tank and shoot down you will see a big difference. Remember that the photo is simply a recording of reflected light. When you point the camera down the light reflects back off the neutral gravel and up onto the fish...overexposing slightly. The overhead flash makes a huge difference and will actually help because the light will bounce up and slightly illuminate the bottom of the fish.
When you are post editing your pictures, depending on the program I would suggest looking at two settings. The first is "levels". You can compensate for some of the overexposure by adjusting the mid range and highlights. You might also look at the "shadows & highlights" setting. Very often this small tweak will help fill in some lost detail due to the overexposure.
Be interested to see some photos of your buddies fish. You can see the blue when they are in the tank. I do think it's possible that F1's my not have the same bright coloration.
PM me if I can help you with any of the photos.
Mo
