Who wants to see my tank?

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 08 Nov 2004, 18:33

At long last i have sorted out FTP and webspace!!

Somehow the photo's don't do it justice. anyone have any photography tips for dark tanks?

The Tank

Left hand side

Right hand side

Feeding

Mrs Krib with fry

Current Stock:
3 X Keyhole Cichlid (Cleithacara maronii)
2 X Kribensis + Fry (Pelvachromis pulcher)
3 X African Butterflyfish (Pantadon bulchlozi)
3 X Banjo Catfish (Bunocephalus coracoideus)
2 X Spotted Climbing Perch (Ctenopoma acutirostre)
2 X LDA33
2 X Panaque L002
2 X Apistogramma cacatuoides
2 X Apistogramma nijsseni
2 X Apistogramma macmasteri
1 X Leporacanthicus joselimai
1 X Gold Nugget
1 X Hypancistrus L262
1 X Twig Catfish (Farlowella vittata)

Java Fern
Java Moss
Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiodes)

Tank is 70 US gallons. 60 imperial gallons.
pH 7.15
Â°GH 3.36
Â°KH 2.24
nitrate <5 mg/l

20% water change weekly with RO water.

2 X eheim 2213
1 X eheim 2215

1 powerhead and airstone.

Post by **medaka** » 08 Nov 2004, 22:43

hi racoll

nice tank indeed. also nice pic's on mum and babies

PlecoCrazy · Post by **PlecoCrazy** » 09 Nov 2004, 05:20

Nice tank of SA and African Cats and Cichlids!!!

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 09 Nov 2004, 09:51

thanks.

this is my first attempt to photograph fish and it's quite tricky in my tank as it's very dark blackwater. with the flash they look lifeless and dull, but i can't get enough light without it for a lot of shots.

i have a pentax optio S4 compact.

any tips?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 09 Nov 2004, 11:29

The biggest problem with photographing fish-tanks is the fact that there's usually not a huge amount of light.

So here's a few thoughts from your photos:
1. The top photo, the camera is being fooled by the bright light from the hood. You need to compensate a little bit to brighten up the rest of the tank. If you got something like Photoshop, you could probably tweak it there, but better would be to get the exposure for the tank itself right. If the camera has some form of exposure control, try upping the exposure a step or two.

If the camera hasn't got exposure control, try aiming the camera lower so that the light from the hood isn't in the picture, and the top of the water is right at the top of the photo. That will help getting the camera to expose correctly.

Also, if your camera has adjustable ISO settings, try setting it to higher or lower values. Depending on the camera, it may well give you better pictures at lower ISO values due to less "noise", and picking up more of the details in the low-light areas. But try higher values too, just to see what that does.

If you're using lower ISO settings, you want to use a tripod (or put the camera on something steady) so that you don't get camera shake.

The other ones are pretty good.

If you have the capability of using an external flash for the camera, you could do that and bounce the flash in the ceiling or a wall (lighting up most of the room in the process), and get a more "life-like" exposure.

--
Mats

metallhd · Post by **metallhd** » 09 Nov 2004, 14:37

You also want to make the room as dark as possible, also consider a temporary light source to show the tank better, ie a light behind it if it has no backing for instance . . .

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 10 Nov 2004, 12:17

Thanks a lot for the tips.

i've already "photoshopped" the pictures a little to brighten them up a bit and remove some of the tannin staining

i think a lot more playing with the camera is needed.

i.e. learning how to use it properly !!!

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 10 Nov 2004, 12:57

racoll wrote:Thanks a lot for the tips.

i've already "photoshopped" the pictures a little to brighten them up a bit and remove some of the tannin staining

i think a lot more playing with the camera is needed.

i.e. learning how to use it properly !!!

Playing with the camera is the only way to learn...

--
Mats

Durlänger · Post by **Durlänger** » 03 Apr 2005, 11:34

Lovely tank

Fill in water so the contrast between water and tank-air will not been seen

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 04 Apr 2005, 18:13

Thanks Durlanger.

Actually i quite like it with the lower water level. the java moss is growing really well above the water and the java fern is also pushing out.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 04 Apr 2005, 21:35

In the feeding pic I spotted a head, right behind the krib; wich isn't on the list!
Opsodoras??

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 04 Apr 2005, 21:47

Ooooohhhh, Racoll!

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 04 Apr 2005, 21:50

indeed, those are old pics, and i changed the list today to when the topic was revived.

that little chap i bought as Hassar cf. wilderi but i think he's a bit more like Hassar notospilus. i've sent jools some pics for the cat-elog. i'm not sure if he knows exactly what it is.

i moved him to another tank as he's a very active swimmer and needs more space.

what do you think he is?