The majority of the photos that I take are done with a single flash placed over top of the tank. The only other light is the tank light...the only benefit is that it allows me to focus on the fish. I noticed that after a period of darkness the fish are generally more lethargic...and in the case of the Zonatum I noticed that the colors (blue/green) are more intense. I think this is because the background coloration of the fish is more bleached. Anyway...I wanted to capture this image.
I turned on the lights and focused on the fish...then set the camera to manual with an aperture that allowed greater depth of field. This gave me some "wiggle room" on focus. All of the tanks are spray painted on the back of the tank with afrosted glass paint. It appears opaque when you look at it with the tank lights. I put a small flashlight on the floor, turned the light out and watched as the fish drifted past the staging area (with the flash overhead)...then I snapped the pictures. I literally could not frame the picture.
It was touch and go...I got a few nice shots and a few unexpected shots. Overall I was pleased with the results. This is just a small number of the pictures that I took. The one thing the technique DID do...is gobble up my memory cards. In all I took almostseventy shots to get these.
Even some of the stuff that wasn't full in the frame came out OK.
Here's the lighting set up.
I took one shot of Jmbo with this lighting technique.
I turned on the lights and focused on the fish...then set the camera to manual with an aperture that allowed greater depth of field. This gave me some "wiggle room" on focus. All of the tanks are spray painted on the back of the tank with afrosted glass paint. It appears opaque when you look at it with the tank lights. I put a small flashlight on the floor, turned the light out and watched as the fish drifted past the staging area (with the flash overhead)...then I snapped the pictures. I literally could not frame the picture.
It was touch and go...I got a few nice shots and a few unexpected shots. Overall I was pleased with the results. This is just a small number of the pictures that I took. The one thing the technique DID do...is gobble up my memory cards. In all I took almostseventy shots to get these.
Even some of the stuff that wasn't full in the frame came out OK.
Here's the lighting set up.
I took one shot of Jmbo with this lighting technique.
