By Request...My Aquarium Litghting Setup.

[almo]

It ain't much to look at, but it gets the job done. The strobe on the left is cobbected to my D60 via PC Sync cable, different lighting effects can be achived by moving the strobes arund, or just using one.

I was going to try and get a shot of the camera in there, but my P&S died so I had to use the D60 to shoot this.

Here is the right side...


And the left side...


Full tank...


And a couple of shots I took today...

[JSPhoto]

Just curious why you went to the effort of using strobes when natural lighting can do the same or better? The below photo was from a very dark room at the Indianapolis zoo and uses just the available light from the tank.

JS

[almo]

Just curious why you went to the effort of using strobes when natural lighting can do the same or better? The below photo was from a very dark room at the Indianapolis zoo and uses just the available light from the tank.

JS

There are quite a few reasons actually. Cichlids don't sit still for pictures. There is not near enough light for the high shutter speeds and the narrow f. values I need. Most of the shooting I do is at night, to eliminate reflections, so there is no natural light.

I am afraid that flash is a necessity.

[JSPhoto]

These were not sitting still either, they were moving back and forth .; I also have all kinds of fish shots in similar lighting where the fish were moving around and used just the avaialable light. Most of the rooms in the zoo are dark, the only light are the lights in the tanks. I used a Canon 50mm f1.8 for these, no flash. Your shots here have dark areas that shouldn't be dark with the way your strobes are set up.

JS

[Asylum Steve]

I also have all kinds of fish shots in similar lighting where the fish were moving around and used just the available light...

Well, we use what we feel we need or want to use. Available light vs. flash will always be a topic of discussion, and each is a compromise of sorts.

A lot has to do with ISO as well. High ISO might allow you to use available light with the DoF and shutter speed you need, but the fidelity of the image may suffer.

Your shots here have dark areas that shouldn't be dark with the way your strobes are set up. JS

This is the result of light placement. John's got his strobes at the top pointing down, and not using any fill light, so naturally there are bound to be shadows and dark spots. You also control this to a great degree by the contrast you choose for your image.

[MJS]

Everytime someone in this family wants a fish tank we just grab our SCUBA gear and hit the back yard, Biscayne National Underwater Park, or in this cas, Grand Cayman Island. No, its not a whale sighting, me on the left and son on the right.

[Alison]

Thanks for that John :thumbsup: