Does light matter? You be the judge
Rather than go on a super winded explanation, I will explain the process on how I took these shots:
First:
Control shots. This is how I would normally take shots with no added light or flash
Second set:
Added a 48" T5HO light I had lying around
Third set:
Started with one flash, then moved to two
The goal of this thread is to show you the different options for taking a wide range of shots, but additionally, what happens when you transition from one shooting style to the next. I have not adjusted ANYTHING but white balance on mostly the T5 lit ones since they were super, super yellow.
I have titled every single shot according to their EXIF. This is how it will read, ___my title for the shot___its order_-__Shutter speed__F-stop__ISO
I will try to give a little explanation under each to show what I was doing through every shot. I tried to consolidate as much as I could so you wouldn't be seeing the same EXIF on many. if I missed one, I apologize.
Lets get started:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psimvt85dd.jpg
Control 1 - 1-40 4.5 800
This is the control shot. This is how I would normally shoot if I didn't have flash
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psz6zhwjgk.jpg
Control Close Up 1-40 4.5 800
The close up shows some ok sharpness, but nothing to write home about
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psrpudkfvl.jpg
New Light 1 - 1-60 2.8 400
T5 Light added. Notice I didn't change the settings much to show how much more overexposed the shot is now that I have added a ton more light. The next few shots show the transition of settings to accommodate to the added light. This will show you in what direction you want to take your settings when you are letting in too much light in to a shot and overexposing.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psr8grqmzv.jpg
New Light 2 - 1-60 4.0 400
Notice I closed down the aperture a little here to f/4 rather than f/2.8 and it is still very bright
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psealpqlao.jpg
New Light 3 Close Up - 1-60 4.0 400
Same settings as above but a close up to show the overexposure
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psbvsdxrkc.jpg
New Light 4 - 1-100 5.0 400
Closed down the aperture again and also increased shutter speed. Increasing the shutter speed allows you to stop the discus motion more, and more light allows you to increase this value without sacrificing the aperture which controls the depth of field.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psxsddjuq2.jpg
New Light 5 Close Up - 1-100 5.0 400
Close up with the settings above. Notice how much sharper it looks with shutter speed 1/100 but also the fact that we stopped down the aperture to f/5
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...pslbiv9k3l.jpg
New Light 6 Close Up - 1-100 5.0 400
Just another close up to show the sharper image than with the control light
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psjxctcz8b.jpg
1 Flash Transition to flash
So, now we make the transition to flash. Kept the same settings as the previous shot, but notice now how much BRIGHTER it is! Flash simply overpowers everything. Next shows me adjusting the settings to have better exposure. This is a trial and error many times, but you will see the transitioning from settings by checking out the titles. KEEP IN MIND, both the regular LED lights AND the T5 lights are STILL ON here. Notice how the flash pretty much neutralizes them.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psudqqqw8l.jpg
1 Flash 1 - 1-200 8.0 100
Still unusable. Have to reduce further. Keep noticing in the directions that the settings are going
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...pssvk3eee2.jpg
1 Flash 2 - 1-60 11.0 100
Getting better. This is still one flash only, keep in mind.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...pszetczjmb.jpg
2 Flash 1 - 1-60 11.0 100
With 2 flashes now. This allows me to spread the light in a larger part of the tank. Notice that other areas of the tank still look dark. This is in part for the low aperture as well as ISO setting
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psga7ilx4d.jpg
2 Flash 2 - 1-25 14.0 100
Better lit. next one is a close up
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psn9ipens3.jpg
2 Flash 3 Close Up - 1-25 14.0 100
Better right?
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psllouk6ma.jpg
2 Flash 4 - 1-40 14.0 200
Increased ISO to 200 and it better lights the rest of the tank
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps3euz5rjn.jpg
2 Flash 5 - 1-40 11.0 200
Opened the aperture a bit for this shot because this discus is a little darker and the angle was further from the flash. Keep in mind, the flashes are in certain areas, and you want to stay in those general areas to get the best lit up shots
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psgtgccxm4.jpg
2 Flash 6 - 1-40 11.0 200
Now just showing the settings at work.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psdidyyoqh.jpg
Last one. I like the end result of flash shots because you can get the background to darken a bit which focus your attention to the discus. However, this isn't the only reason why I prefer flash over control lighting. In the next post, I will show you close up shots of both lighting set ups.
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Keep in mind, the next 3 shots are all cropped down to the EXACT same size.
We will start in the same order as above.
Control
T5
Flash
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psuu03qq6s.jpg
Control close up
Notice the sharpness really takes a hit with these settings
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...pstvdfgpau.jpg
T5 lighting.
This shot is almost acceptable as far as sharpness goes. I actually wouldn't mind using this setup in the future when I do not feel like taking the flash out. However, for some reason, taking this light out and taking it towards the discus tank completely freaks them out!
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...pswoo4v7sa.jpg
2 flash setup
I like this one the best, and you can see it is the most sharp.
I hope you liked this demonstration :)
Edit, as an added bonus, I hadn't realized that these were ALL the same discus. This really makes this an apples to apples comparison.
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
That tank is soooooo nice.
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Ricardo thats a great intro to lighting, flash and Fish pics. Very nicely done! Nice Fish Too!:)
Thanks for the thread!
al
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Quote:
Originally Posted by
alcastro
Good looking subjects.
You're telling me! They came from a good source ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ericNH
That tank is soooooo nice.
Thank you very much. I'm glad you like it. I believe it still looks rather plain, but plain works well for me for grow outs. Eventually I plan to add DW and a small sand layer, but that will not be for another year or so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
brewmaster15
Ricardo thats a great intro to lighting, flash and Fish pics. Very nicely done! Nice Fish Too!:)
Thanks for the thread!
al
Thanks Al. Lighting, or rather LIGHT itself plays the biggest role of all in photography. If you (general, not you specifically Al :)) can get a grasp on the way light affects a photo, you can better prepare yourself to take better shots with that understanding. Flash does change a lot of variables, but I wanted to use it here to simply show the progression of light.
Furthermore, I'd like to point out again that NONE of these are edited in any way other than WB correction. That means, I can get these to look a lot better! I chose to show you a straight conversion for complete transparency.
Secondly, I will point out one major flaw in my flash photos. Typically, you want to diffuse your flash somehow. I chose not to do that here, because in reality, I do not have a modifier small enough to use any more. I use to have a Gary Fong diffuser that would have worked quite well here, however, I gave it away as I never saw my self using it in my personal shooting. Now I regret it of course, because a modifier, ANY MODIFIER, helps even out the light tremendously.
I will most likely do a follow up to this thread with the use of modifiers, and without.
What is a modifier? It can be as simple as a piece of white paper. I have used this in the past with the exact same photography you see above. You can use wax paper, you can use styrofoam, which I believe Matt has used in the past in one of his YT tutorials. If you haven't checked that out yet, please do so. I don't have the video saved currently, but if Matt would be so kind, I'm sure he could link it here as well.
If you have any questions, please ask them. There is no such thing as stupid questions ;)
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Mo Devlin once told me he would use several flashes on the tank he was shooting but would cover them with a milky white tupper ware container on all but the up flash or camera flash. It was so scary the detail he would get on the scales and fins not to mention the iridescence of the scales.
by the way very nice pictures :o
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
This is an excellent post! Lighting makes a huge difference!
While we are on the subject, what do you think about using a fill from a front angle or so? I know Mo uses fill flashes quite a bit, I've never gotten the hang of using fills with fish or maybe my angles are off. Ever tried using a fill Ricardo? Thinking more to light the entire fish rather than have really nice light on the head and have it fade off through the body to the tail. Lighting the entire fish like it is in the face really is the outcome.
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Discus-n00b
This is an excellent post! Lighting makes a huge difference!
While we are on the subject, what do you think about using a fill from a front angle or so? I know Mo uses fill flashes quite a bit, I've never gotten the hang of using fills with fish or maybe my angles are off. Ever tried using a fill Ricardo? Thinking more to light the entire fish rather than have really nice light on the head and have it fade off through the body to the tail. Lighting the entire fish like it is in the face really is the outcome.
I have never actually tried this Matt. Not quite understanding the angle but I can try a few in the next couple of days to see if it makes a difference. I have 3 strobes I can use and I can try modifying. However, I can't use my studio strobes as they are just too large to make it work.
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pitdogg2
Mo Devlin once told me he would use several flashes on the tank he was shooting but would cover them with a milky white tupper ware container on all but the up flash or camera flash. It was so scary the detail he would get on the scales and fins not to mention the iridescence of the scales.
by the way very nice pictures :o
Yes, modifiers make a huge difference. I would NEVER do a photo session without some kind of modifier, even if the modifier is a ceiling. It is like night and day.
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
When ever I've tried filling from the front sides I always seem to get to much direct on the fish even turning that flash very low. I think I'd need to diffuse it quite a bit or bounce it somewhere as all I'd be trying to do is lighten up the tail half some more instead of having the light taper from the head. Sending you a quick PM Ricardo!
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Yes, but which looks better to your eye?
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
To bad your fish make such poor subjects! Seriously, that is a beautiful tank.
One thing I noticed about the images with flash, there seems to be much more backscatter. This is a real problem with strobes and UW photography. In that setting it can be corrected by angling the flash/strobe outward. I wonder if that would work on the tank, not shooting the flash straight down.
Re: Does light matter? You be the judge
Maybe the tank should be cleaner and water more polished! ;) LOL just kidding. It's hard to avoid, I think you are going to hit it no matter what in an aquarium. I don't usually worry about it, I always take it out in post. A simple dust and scratches filter in photoshop will usually take care of it, and you can clone the larger particles and particles on the fish itself.