I just realized how good you guys really are

[SMB]

I need to learn more about using flash with my fish pics. Do you put your flash at an angle to the camera?

How far from the tank do you keep the front of the lens?

Usually use a macro lens so right to the glass wall. The flash, with diffuser off camera, coming from above. I don't do it enough so I haven't bothered to work out a flash holder that is easy to position.
The black background is a function of small aperture and dark BG behind the subject (hard to do in a tank). But you can darken it in post.

 

[GaryE]

I'm pretty comfortable using flash manually. Just never have done anything with flash and s fish tank.

 

[GaryE]

Usually use a macro lens so right to the glass wall. The flash, with diffuser off camera, coming from above. I don't do it enough so I haven't bothered to work out a flash holder that is easy to position.
The black background is a function of small aperture and dark BG behind the subject (hard to do in a tank). But you can darken it in post.

I sold most of my gear a couple years ago to finance an Olympus OM-D EM-1 MkII for the wife.. I'll have to sneak it away from her and play a while..

I still have all of my remotes and flash umbrellas and whatnot.

Could be fun working out the details..

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

@SMB

btw, this part was hilarious! “Photography fits everyone on this site! An expensive hobby with lots of gadgets”

 

[GaryE]

Folks like us tend to not like our money....

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Folks like us tend to not like out money....

I almost spit my scotch across the room when I read that!

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I need to learn more about using flash with my fish pics. Do you put your flash at an angle to the camera?

How far from the tank do you keep the front of the lens?

I missed the part where you were asking about where to point the flash... I cannot answer how you are supposed to do it. I can only tell you what my gear does for me... right? I mean, I am a newbie : )

My flash is awesome. It measure target light, distance to target, size of the room... height of the ceiling and of course ambient light... and prolly 50 other things I am clueless about. Once I get the camera set up for the shot I am looking for, I click a button on the flash... it might spin around and point backwards... or the upper left hand corner of the ceiling... or not flash at all... the technology is supposedly as good as a 20 year veteran (I’ll let the real camaera experts here fill in the gaps) I could be miles off base with everything I just said lol

 

[GaryE]

Once I learned how to use a flash for studio stuff, I never would go auto. Of course I don't shoot anything auto, not even with my phone..

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Once I learned how to use a flash for studio stuff, I never would go auto. Of course I don't shoot anything auto, not even with my phone..

And that makes perfect sense to me!

If today’s technology let’s me cheat.... yeah, it’s gadget buying time Bruh! Lol

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

And that makes perfect sense to me!

If today’s technology let’s me cheat.... yeah, it’s gadget buying time Bruh! Lol

I will say this and then let this one go : )

It almost never points itself “at” my tank... or more specifically... directly at my target. at least not with my tank shots.

 

[GaryE]

I played with the flash a bit today..

 

[SMB]

I played with the flash a bit today..

Perhaps a tad bit more power or closer and directed to the subject.
So much of the success of UW photography for me had to do with proper aiming of the strobes.
You got the black BG down!

 

[GaryE]

Perhaps a tad bit more power or closer and directed to the subject.
So much of the success of UW photography for me had to do with proper aiming of the strobes.
You got the black BG down!

Practice makes perfect.. I'm far from perfect.. And oh my, thank the gods of Adobe for Lightroom..

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I shot this today : ) a little hitchhiker. About the size of a pea.

 

[GaryE]

I shot this today : ) a little hitchhiker. About the size of a pea.

What were your settings?

 

[GaryE]

BTW, if anyone wants to have a look at a few of my shots.. https://garyeterry.myportfolio.com/

Definitely not everything or even close to it that I have shot over the years. I need to post more, but well, I have fish tanks.. I don't have a lot of spare time..

 

[GaryE]

My top photo was shot at 1/125 @ f13 40 mm Flash fired from above, I think I had it set at 1/8. So not a full blast.. ISO was set at 64.

This was shot with the wifes Oly E-M1 Mark II with a 12-40 F2.8 Oly M Zukio lens.

I didn't do a lot to this one in Lightroom, but since I shoot only raw, it had to be processed. Typically my workflow is to first go into the basic panel and hit the Auto on tone, just to get a base. Usually it's close to what I like, but needs some tweaking. The main thing I'll do is adjust the exposure down. Lightroom likes everything super bright. Then contrast, white and blacks need tweaking Set the tone curve to a medium contrast and add a little bit of vignetting to draw the eye to the center. I try to keep the colors as true to what I saw as possible, but will boost if needed.


Really I'm going for a natural look.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

What were your settings?

I said you guys were good. Lol... I didn’t say I was : ) I shot that on auto with 100mm 2.8 Macro lens.

 

[GaryE]

It's time to step away from auto and play in manual... ;-)

At first your results will suck. You'll hate your camera and possibly even yourself. But stick with it and you'll find that it's really not that hard and your results will improve.

I don't recommend starting down the manual path with the aquarium though. Find something dry that you can play with, something where you have full control of the camera and subject.

Start out in either Aperture priority (Av on the mode dial) mode or Shutter priority so that you can get a feel for what your changes do and still get assistance from your camera. In case you aren't aware, Aperture priority, you control the f stop. The camera will figure out the shutter. You can get a better feel for depth of field and how your adjustments affect it. You can also get a better feel for how your flash works with those settings. When I was shooting racing, I always shot in Av. I didn't have time to figure out Shutter speed. I got pretty good at finding an f stop I wanted for a particular shot and let the camera work out the rest.

Then try out Shutter priority (Tv). This is the inverse of Av. You control the shutter speed, the camera figures out the f stop. Shooting racing, if I was looking for a good motion blur shot, I'd switch to TV. (I had it already setup so I could switch the mode over and it'd be setup how I liked it.

Once you get a feel for those modes and how they affect the results, try going manual.

If you're like me and are furloughed and have time, it's worth the experimenting.

Before I got over my fear of M, most of my shots were ok at best. With film it was a much more difficult decision to take control due to the cost of film and processing just to find you didn't have a clue. Digital removes that cost completely. And, if you can connect your camera to a laptop, you can see on screen immediately the results and master manual in no time.

You definitely don't lack talent, just practice.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

It's time to step away from auto and play in manual... ;-)

At first your results will suck. You'll hate your camera and possibly even yourself. But stick with it and you'll find that it's really not that hard and your results will improve.

I don't recommend starting down the manual path with the aquarium though. Find something dry that you can play with, something where you have full control of the camera and subject.

Start out in either Aperture priority (Av on the mode dial) mode or Shutter priority so that you can get a feel for what your changes do and still get assistance from your camera. In case you aren't aware, Aperture priority, you control the f stop. The camera will figure out the shutter. You can get a better feel for depth of field and how your adjustments affect it. You can also get a better feel for how your flash works with those settings. When I was shooting racing, I always shot in Av. I didn't have time to figure out Shutter speed. I got pretty good at finding an f stop I wanted for a particular shot and let the camera work out the rest.

Then try out Shutter priority (Tv). This is the inverse of Av. You control the shutter speed, the camera figures out the f stop. Shooting racing, if I was looking for a good motion blur shot, I'd switch to TV. (I had it already setup so I could switch the mode over and it'd be setup how I liked it.

Once you get a feel for those modes and how they affect the results, try going manual.

If you're like me and are furloughed and have time, it's worth the experimenting.

Before I got over my fear of M, most of my shots were ok at best. With film it was a much more difficult decision to take control due to the cost of film and processing just to find you didn't have a clue. Digital removes that cost completely. And, if you can connect your camera to a laptop, you can see on screen immediately the results and master manual in no time.

You definitely don't lack talent, just practice.

Thanks for writing this! I am not furloughed... but I am stuck working from home, so yeah, lots of time on my hands. I am taking a class on my camera this weekend. A beginners class specifically for my camera. I am still spending to much time trying to figure out where to go to make changes for manual shots. I do want to start trying what you described above. I have to be honest with myself and admit that I don’t even understand the “terminology” yet. Much less the interactions of those terms : ) I am learning. This thread has been amazing : ) I keep picking up new things : )