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alanhill

alanhill

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 18, 2004
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Greater Manchester, England
I've only just found my way here, but I've tried to take photos of fishes for years. I didn't think it would be possible to have a group because I didn't think there were enough people as mad as I am [smilie=wacko.gif]

I am so old fashioned that I'm still using film (and only Kodachrome for serious work) and then scanning the slides. But I know I'm going to have to go digital soon, and I hope I'll learn a bit about digital things here.

Anyway here's a picture - it's one from my latest series. I didn't choose it because the guv'nor round here is called Paradise [smilie=smile.gif] Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to link directly. So here's the URL

http://uk.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pithecanthropus@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/17bd&.dnm=8bc0.jpg
Paradise fish spawning:
Olympus OM2SP + 50mm Macro Zuiko:
1/60s:
f/16 (approx):
Kodachrome 64:
Two Olympus T32 diffused, off-camera
TTL autoflash:


This shot is from an album called Aquatic Photography I've put in my Yahoo area. Please browse it - I hope you can work out the species (mostly abbreviated from the scientific names). I hope you like them.
http://uk.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pithecanthropus@btinternet.com/album?.dir=/17bd&.src=ph

Alan
 
hey alan

welcome to APF, Great to have another PRO here, the pics speak for themselves. they are EXCELLENT. Love the Seahorse. We would love for you to be active here, and try to answer questions newbie users have as far as the technical aspects of photography.

BTW, if you remember, how did you get here, where from?

THanks
Ed "paradise" Admin of APF
 
Thank you.
I came here because of a thread in the Dwarf Puffers forum. jread who is the owner of that forum, posted this URL and I was curious. Does he qualify for a phish? [smilie=biggrin.gif]
I will try to give people the benefit of my experience - but I am far from a PRO - just a dedicated amateur (most of my kit is years old and secondhand as well).
The Dwarf Puffers (aka Malabar Puffers) are my latest project - I have promised Jeremy that I will let him have pictures of our pair spawning and I have been working towards that. They have the advantage that they are trickle spawners, the little female spawns about 6 eggs every second day starting about 3.30pm (BST). I have the feeling that today's pictures were the best so far . . . watch this space [smilie=rolleyes.gif]

Alan
 
Wow you rock!!! I truly hope to see a lot more from you so I and others can learn from you, because dedicated amateur or not, those pics are PRO quality!! I think you should think about releasing a few to magazines like TF hobbyist and the like. You have a gift for film, which will make digital a breeze I'm sure! Thanks much for making your way over,

Tony
 
Hi Alan,

Great to have you here. Not many shoot on film these days as the cost is fairly prohibitive. Especially when starting out. Incidentally, how to you convert your slides to digital? Flatbed or dedicated 35 mm film scanner?

Those pictures are great! Hope to see more!

Cheers,
 
Thank you for the kind comments. I have had some photos published in the past (in Practical Fishkeeping, UK magazine). I try to aim for TFH quality - perhaps I'll send them something some day.
I have a Nikon Coolscan III, which I like, but it's only 8 bit. I would like a better scanner - but that brings up the question of costs. Let's face it, photography is not a cheap hobby (neither is fishkeeping).
I can pay say £200 per year on film & processing and perhaps £500 for a new scanner. Or I can go digital and pay £2000+ for kit that will do more or less the same as my present gear can do now. Then in 3 years that will be out of date . . . [smilie=ohmy.gif]
Decisions, decisions . . .
Alan
 
Hi Alan,

How does one get published in PFK magazine? Do you send in unsolicited articles or photos? Or was it a comissioned shoot?

Personally, I feed that UK aquatic magazines these days have much better pictures that the American ones. Taking TFH for example, besides the cover, most of the content are filled with average or below average photos. The UK magazines are filled with pages after pages of nice pictures.

Cheers,
 
I wrote a letter of complaint to the Editor about a very poor article in one issue. I was careful to praise another article in the same issue. He replied and I offered to write him an article about the goby cichlid Eretmodus cyanostictus - as in my avatar. I had some b&w spawning pictures and he liked what I sent him and that started things. This must have been 15 years ago. I did several more articles, but gave up due to pressure of work and family circumstances.
These days I suppose I'd send an outline by e-mail and attach a couple specimen pictures (not too large).
Hope this helps
Alan
 
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