Shooting tank?

[reddstagg]

Hey guys and girls, im a serial lurker here, and love looking at all your fantastic photos, finally i have a reason to post.

Im doing some work for a fish wholesale/importing business, im setting up there website and trying to take some decent photos of fish to show off the colours preferablly on a plain background .... obveriously we are constrainted with time and the sheer volume of species and cant sit there playing for hours to get 1 good photo of the fish.

So im really looking for some technical tips to help us out, I was considering getting a 12inch cube or 18inch cube and placing a glass plane on an angle to bring fish to the front of the glass, then borrowing some lighting to setup around the tank. Its going to take acouple of days to get through the list of species currently, and even then im not convinced the images we will take in the current holding tanks will be usable.

If ive posted in the wrong section please move or delete... i couldnt work out where to bring something so strange and off the topic.

Many thanks in advance.

Dean

 

[alanhill]

Welcome to APF Dean. Have a look in the articles section, there are pieces by Paradise and CDM that explain how they set up phototanks rather like the one you imagine.
I've never tried this sort of set-up. I'm sure it's fine for many species, but sensitive fishes aren't going to look their best in this type of tank. It sounds as if you have an interesting opportunity - good luck with your efforts, and please show us some results and tell us how you get on

Alan

 

[reddstagg]

Thanks for the tip alan, So far i have had 2 efforts photographing the 1st shipment, with limited success, once photos are uploaded on the companys website i should be able to put them up.

Due to quarintine issues we now dont thinkshooting tank is an option.

The Main problems has been lighting, filtered natural light comes through the skylights high in the ceiling of the complex, and there isnt much in the way of electrical lighting. The last 2 days have been severly overcast, and today we used some portable floodlights which was a serious mistake... besides stressing fish, cause alot of bad reflections... even after throwing the light off walls and other tricks.

Second problem is the absence of a background behind tanks, so we have |Glass|Fish|Glass|Gap|Glass|Water|Glass| so dirty reflections and weird lighting problems have plagued many of the photos, especially photographing fish infront of the side drops.

Anyway later this week i will have a 3rd attempt during midday on a day with alot more sunlight, we should more luck. As this is the first shipment the complex has had through there will always be teething issues, we found it easier to take better pictures of the larger fish, due to less being in each tank and alot slower, im going to convince them that next shipment we need to put some backing on the holding tanks.

Its been so much fun so far, just so frustrating not being able to talk about it to the local hobbists due to the nature of the industry in australia.

Dean

 

[Ibn]

Doesn't sound like you got a chance to read over the articles that Alan suggested.

Forget the natural lighting; there's no way you'll be able to get enough light into the tank for a decent amount of depth and shutter speed. Instead, go for an overhead flash unit (420EX, 430EX, 550EX, 580EX, etc.). You can also shoot in the holding tanks also if they're clean enough (make sure that there's no water spots, stains, scratches, etc.).

This is a shot of one in a holding tank.

 

[jhoetzl]

Second problem is the absence of a background behind tanks, so we have |Glass|Fish|Glass|Gap|Glass|Water|Glass| so dirty reflections and weird lighting problems have plagued many of the photos, especially photographing fish infront of the side drops.

Can you get to a craft store, office supply store?
Some black cardboard, or black foam-core board might be able to help you there.

Short of that, some cardboard spray painted with a flat black paint would be better than layers and layers of glass. Maybe even some thin wood painted black so it can stand on its own...

 

[reddstagg]

Sorry IBN, should of phrase it abit better... the holding tank isnt an option due to the restrictions with the importing of fish within our country which i found out about yesterday (extremely strict down under) and the movement of the fish after being in quarantine, we cannot move a fish from 1 tank into another and back again, its alot of paperwork to move a group of fish from one tank into another

Yeah jhoetzi, we could easily do that and have alot of white flute board that we could use but due to the fish being easily spooked its been ruled out... it was one of the first things i suggested we do but was declined.

I was informed earlier today that we lost 2 fish yesterday due to our antics trying to take photos yesterday with camera flash and putting lights over the top of tanks, and moving the fish from tank to tank would more than likely result in more deaths. So basically looks like we wont bother photographing shipments, until a display room is built and holdfully the fish are more comfortable.

Being in the complex is alot more challanging then shooting my fish at home, at home i just setup my 2 slaves over the tank and snap away, oh well a learning experience.

Dean