HONDURAN JAGUAR ?

[caribemob]

nice pets smart jag, i cant tell the difference any more now, here is more parachromis pics, here is my F0 blue dovii male

 

[caribemob]

he's only 6'' and already showing a hump , and show quality color's, His name is Mojo, cause his color's are unbelievable , last two pics are of his lady that I didn't name her yet but i'm leaning on reverse

 

[notnew2dis]

Not lighting trick...just lighting. I use two Nikon SB-800 flash units and a Nikon SB-900 flash unit. Two on the top, one on the bottom shooting through a diffusion sheet of opaque plastic. On each side of the tank I place a reflector. That's part of the process.

With that amount of light I am able to shoot at a very low ISO (100) and use a very high aperture f32. This gives you a lot of latitude in capturing both detail and color. All of the images are shot in camera RAW (which collects 16 channels of information rather than the standard 8 in TIFF or JPEG). The images are processed in Nikon's Capture NX and converted to TIFF images. That is done in Photoshop.

The bottom line is that I have been a photographer for fourty years....learning the camera basics with film cameras. Believe me when I tell you that this might be the single best advantage that I have...camera basics. Today's digital cameras make it to easy to be comfortable with point and shoot. I try to challenge myself every time I pick up the camera to shoot photos...trying NOT to just grab another picture of a fish.

I worked as a military photographer for nine years photographing not only autopsies (where I honed my macro photo skills) but also for American Forces Radio and Television where I carried either a film or video camera all the time...three years in Europe and three in Asia...plenty of photo ops to practice. I also spent two years as the photo editor of a military newspaper in Fort Carson Colorado. I worked for NBC 21 years and have owned an advertising agency for eight....both of which requires me to think not only on a creative scale, but also with photo/video imagery.

It all boils down to practice, experience and a desire to improve every time I pick up a camera. And yes, I do have some nice equipment: Nikon D200, D300, D700 and D3...as well as a half dozen high end film cameras.

I take a couple hundred photos every week. But if someone wants to write off what I do to "lighting tricks"...have at it. I do what I do because I enjoy it. I'm not really interested in convincing anyone otherwise. And I do think that folks enjoy looking at my pictures.

Mo

I was being sarcastic, dude. I would give my left nut to be able to do what you do

 

[fallin49er]

I was being sarcastic, dude. I would give my left nut to be able to do what you do

I agree..well maybe not my left one at any rate it is fairly obvious that Aquamojo is very good at taking pictures and is at the photgraphy skill level that I am quite sure most of us are striving to get to. Now, having said that...MO: please send me some Hondo fry.... ...no shame man.... .....98671

 

[Aquamojo]

I was being sarcastic, dude. I would give my left nut to be able to do what you do

Not a problem. Just filling in the blanks for a few others. They know who they are.

 

[cchhcc]

Perhaps one has to have grown their fish to adulthood before they can appreciate the difficulty of taking photos that really capture the "real life" essence of a particular fish. Phone pics of juvies won't result in many cover shots, that's for sure. Little guys may have good color for their size, but only a fully grown specimen really pops with color.

Given that very few fishkeepers grow anything to full maturity ("rare" species die from amateurism too!), at the least it's easy to appreciate Mo's collection for the dedication and talent needed to raise fully mature examples of many different species. Anyone can buy a fish, rare or otherwise, but it takes skill and dedication to provide it what it needs to thrive. The rarest species I know is 'sp. Rio Livedtoseeadulthood'!

Many of us have taken shots at the annual ACA Convention of stunning fish only to get home and see our photos bear little resemblence to what we saw in person. Then we see Mo's shots of the same fish and realize he was indeed able to capture what we saw.

Over the years I've yet to take more than two or three fish photos that really represent what I'm seeing with my own eyes. I chalk that up to poor camera technique, not to poor eyesight. Videos are even worse. They flatten out all colors into a dull gray that makes everything look pretty unspectacular.

In Mo's case, he couples great fish with great camera skills. I tend to couple my great fish with my moronic camera skills (hence, not a lot of pics from me!). And lots of people shoot average fish with average camera skills. Only one of those three photos is worth posting!

 

[caribemob]

Just a normal everyday Petsmart Jag...Had him since he was about 2"..the lady sold him to my son as a Green Terror..go figure...

wow I can really see the blue on that Petsmart Jag, he's going to be a stunner. Now i actually don't see a difference in this one and the previous posted one's. Mo just has better equipment, I bet if he could photo that fish it would look just like the others, however still nice fish regardless though

 

[Aquamojo]

Thanks Chris.

 

[tiddlywinks]

mojo ur pictures are godly how much was ur camra??

 

[Aquamojo]

mojo ur pictures are godly how much was ur camra??

Thanks. The day I can tell the camera to take the pictures for me is the day I retire. LOL Someone still has to light the photo, wait for the shot, and push the button.

The D3 body was $4300. The D700 was $3k.