My friend's african cichlids (56K WARNING)

[benny]

Hi guys,

Doing some housekeeping before I move and consolidate my image web server. Found some old pictures of my friends' african cichlids..

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{D862FBFE-7FC7-47BA-A8B0-93517589B35C}.jpg

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{00705DEC-581D-46FD-BD06-4DFA07D53B2C}.jpg

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{26FE0202-271A-45F1-BC59-7C97BC9481F3}.jpg

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{8924A35C-887B-4A6B-A2A7-3E486AA7387E}.jpg

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{FC28BF4D-E86C-47AF-9931-E619F1F11B64}.jpg

Most of them are about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in size.

If the link does not show, it means the server is not longer in use. Sorry.

Cheers,

[benny]

This one is one my my favorite. A very lucky shot.

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{BBF5D622-043D-4F9F-870B-6AE084D81BC9}.jpg

Here is the reason why the background is all black.

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{B6576DC4-99B8-4646-9331-2AE5ADEE6D64}.jpg

The tank has a black background! [smilie=laugh.gif]

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{0FAC471E-9960-4FB8-9149-C0B74179DB22}.jpg

Cheers,

[benny]

Here's one more ocellatus..

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{B790F5CB-2F7F-4AE1-9848-C394C7CEDD66}.jpg

Cheers,

[Molino]

All great shots there Benny! My question is are these taken with an external flash? or just a lot of tank lighting?

[benny]

Thanks!

They are taken with external flash. The tank was a bit too dim as it's got only 15W of FL lighting on it.

Cheers,

[Meganfitz]

I'm speechless... [smilie=c: I aspire to take pics that good, and whenever I use the flash, they come out looking HORRIBLE, but yours are great!! I guess I'm not speechless after all! [smilie=lol.gif]

[Gordeez]

Those are ALL Great Shots!
Im going to have to look into that External Flash for my Camera.

Once again, Great Shots Benny!

[CDM]

These are really excellent aqua photos. The composition is very simple and clean. [smilie=c:

[Verse914]

Great shots benny!!!!

[Snitchols]

Simply gorgeous.

Hey benny

Amazing shots, you are really an impressive photographer. I have seen that upsidedown cat shot before in a contest somewhere.

A question, is this tank drilled and the filter is a sump? I dont see any filtration at all, is the intake hidden behind the rocks? Also, how do you hold the external flash, is it hand held , or stationary on a tripod or something? and at what angle to the tank and the camera?

[inkfish86]

B.E.A.-utiful!!!

[benny]

Thanks guys,

There whole series was a old set shot quite sometime ago. The updside down catifsh with the dickfeldi one was in Cichlid-Forum.com's contest last year. Although I don't keep any african/large cichlids, I do pop by there once in a while.

The tank is actually 60 Litres or 15 Imp gal. It measures only 2 ft wide. The filtration used was an simple overhead filter, which was removed for the shot. The bioload wasn't heavy so it wasn't really a problem. The flash was held by my friend while I took the picture. I told him basically to follow the fish from above.

All shots are taken handheld, and perpenticular to the front glass pane to avoid chormatic aberation.

Cheers,

[benny]

Here's another where we try to "freeze" the air bubbles instead.

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{DC6AF002-E8E8-4E8F-8889-5D90100E474A}.jpg

We didn't quite like the look of it, so we switch the air pump off instead. We felt tht there was too much "distraction", whether the bubbles were frozen or left as "streaks" of white lines.

Here is another Altolamprologus compressiceps, but taken at the bottom of the tank to avoid an all black background. Personally, I prefer to try to get a plain background (preferably black) if I want a profile shot of the fish. I find it much cleaner. But it seems that credibility of the photo is always questioned. I've since abandoned shooting this way.

http://geo.instantlogic.com/Images/Photos/{6E913208-6840-46D2-9F9A-706FCB49A670}/{3DB96AAB-5F5D-4A57-B6B4-E5EE6DB11691}.jpg

Cheers,

I dont do this often, but [smilie=c: [smilie=c: [smilie=bowdown.gif] [smilie=bowdown.gif] [smilie=bowdown.gif]

[benny]

I dont do this often, but [smilie=c: [smilie=c: [smilie=bowdown.gif] [smilie=bowdown.gif] [smilie=bowdown.gif]

Thanks for your kind compliments.

Cheers,

[CDM]

Any photo of these could win the photo of the month.

[Finz]

Very very nice [smilie=bowdown.gif] [smilie=kewlpics.gif]

[JerseyJay]

All the pictures are taken w/ flash through front glass ?

Hmm...There is no shadow behind. They look like they were taken w/ external flash from above.

Can you please go over your camera settings and position of flash. If you can, please get the picture of you taking the picture of your tank

[Finz]

Jay - he did say the flash was held above the camera. If the camera points straight and the flash points down, chances are pretty good that the shadow will not be in the picture.

The flash was held by my friend while I took the picture. I told him basically follow the fish from above[/quote]

[JerseyJay]

Jay - he did say the flash was held above the camera. If the camera points straight and the flash points down, chances are pretty good that the shadow will not be in the picture.

I missed that sentence thats why I was not sure how all of them didn't have a shadow.

But he did say

""All shots are taken handheld, and perpenticular to the front glass pane to avoid chormatic aberation. ""

[benny]

All the pictures are taken w/ flash through front glass ?

Hmm...There is no shadow behind. They look like they were taken w/ external flash from above.

Can you please go over your camera settings and position of flash.

Hi guys,

Sorry for the confusion.

All photo are taken with external flash positioned from the top of the tank. Camera angle is 90 degrees perpendular to the front glass pane. No tripod was used. Setting on the camera is manual, shutter speed of about 1/125 and aperture of F16 on the average.

To eliminate shadows, I did the following:

1. Use a black background to "absorb" any shadows.
2. Use external flash from the top.
3. Avoid showing the substrate in the picture if possible.
4. Switch off the air pump, which might cause certain patches of the air bubbles to shimmer more than others.

Hope that's clearer.

Cheers,

[ccplim]

Benny, i am really speeachless. Hope to learn more from you one day.