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In
an ideal world I should be able to tell you that all it takes is
"a camera and a roll of film". However, I am pretty sure
that very few of you (if any) believe in an ideal world - and you
are right. No, it takes much more than film and camera.
Taking
photos of fish is not an easy task. There are quite a few
good reasons for this. Fishes are very active animals, they do not
sit still, they get frightened very easily, they are rather small,
they are behind a reflective surface (glass or acrylic), they are
reflective themselves, they live in water, they can't be moved to a
more suitable place or different lighting conditions and they have
various colors which need to be reproduced with the outmost accuracy
if the species is to be recognized. These factors make shooting them
a really hard task. There are quite a few places in the internet
which will tell you the basics on how to shoot fish. Most of this
information is well written and simply following the instructions
will let you have some good quality photos of most species.
However,
sometimes one may wish to have something different, get a shot which
will reveal some special characteristics or present a new image of
the fish. Actually, I have seen the same photos time and time again,
in many sites. It is very common to see the same photo (usually
scanned from a good quality book) in many sites during the same
search. This is one more reason to shoot your own pictures and try a
different approach. People is fed up seeing the same things all over
the net. They will be glad to stop at any site that has to offer
some good
quality, slightly different fish photos. After
all, when you build your site, you want to show your own fish and
tanks, otherwise why should you bother in the first place ? All in
all, this article is dedicated to you, the proud owner of some
species and beautiful tanks who wishes to share their view with
people who can't visit you. On top of that, you own a camera and you
are also fed up with the "typical" shot of an overexposed
tank in which you can barely see some things floating mid-water
which you correctly presume to be the fish. This is not what you
want right? And if this is what you are satisfied with, there is no
reason to read the article, you can do it anytime. So, we are
looking for something special, photos that will catch the eye of the
visitor.
One
such category of photos is close
ups. These photos demand some skills from
the photographer; they are not for the beginner and there are no
"thumb rules" to follow. The rules are generally the same
as with normal photos however you are required to know the basics of
photography since you will have to manually override any indications
and/or automation of your camera. You still have to watch the
background, head the flash at an angle and follow the fish but there
are more than that. You will work at a distance
of 5-20 cm from the fish which means that
you will have a very sallow depth of field.
In order to get the fish in focus you will
have to work with very small f/stops (8 or 11) and still you will
have a 2 cm range to work within. This means that if you focus on
the eye of the fish (which is looking at the camera) then the
"in focus" range will be 1 cm before and 2 cm after the
eye. The flash Guide number has to be found and the power of the
unit has to be set manually (I mostly use 1/8th of its power but I
have a powerful unit with a GN=36). A
Guide Number (GN) = 36 means that this
flash unit, when an 100 ASA film is used, can light properly an
object at a distance of 36 meters when the lens aperture (f/stop) is
set to 1.
Based
on this you can do your calculations (e.g. f/stop 2 =
18m; f/stop 4 = 9 m etc.) The unit has to be on the same axis as the
lens (you will be working within a 10x5 cm frame, therefore you
can't have it off axis if you work alone) but you still have to tilt
the head of the unit so that the lens and your flash unit
"see" the same area (experiment with a still object placed
at the same distance before going to your tank). You can use tape to
secure the flash unit on the lens and preferably use a zoom lens or
a telephoto otherwise you will have to stick your camera on the
glass. Note: you can't use the flash on
the camera's "hot shoe". There will be a parallax error (i.e.
the unit will "see" a frame above the one your lens is
pointing at). With normal lenses you will not be able to shoot any
fish which is more than 10 cm behind the glass. Large fish are even
more difficult to shoot unless they sit still in parallel with your
camera. Their heads are too big for the sallow depth of field and,
if pointed towards you, it is better to take more shots. As a
reward, this sort of pictures are far more interesting than the
"full body - in parallel" shots. You may use your bellows
or extension rings with other lenses, too.
In
short you can use a normal lens, a
zoom lens or a telephoto lens. Each lens
is better suited for a different purpose. Usually the normal lens
will bring more detail, the telephoto lens will allow you to work at
a larger distance from your subject and the zoom lens has the
benefit that you can arrange the working distance. Of course there
are also drawbacks. Zoom lenses and telephoto lenses are heavier
(much heavier) than the normal lens and this will cause your hand to
"tremble" which - at this magnification is fatal. Unless
you have a specific problem with distance I would recommend the use
of the normal lens with the extension. When using telephotos or
heavy zoom lenses, the use of a sturdy tripod is a must.
Do
not try to focus with a
bellows, lens and a unit on it! Simply move the camera back and
forth till the fish comes in focus.
To
get closer to the fish
(macro-photography) you have four options : extension
rings, automatic or not bellows, special filters or a macro lens.
A true macro lens is the best (easiest)
solution but it is also--by far--the most expensive. On the other
hand you can use the cheap solutions (extension rings or close up
filters) or go for the golden rule which is the automatic bellows.
The latter is also the most versatile tool since you can use any
lens with it and play with distances. It also offers you a true
macro capability up to very large magnifications (image size on film
bigger than actual -life- size). Finally it has a continuous
magnification range in contrast to close up lenses and extension
rings.
Continued
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