First time post here - Fish Scales

[Aquamojo]

My passion for photography dovetails nicely with my passion for keeping aquarium fish called cichlids. I love taking pictures of them as much as I do keeping them. IN my home I have 23 aquariums (totalling 7000 gallons) and a 1600 gallon fresh water pond in my basement. Most of the fish get extremely large...on average a foot or better. This fish is called a Hericthys Pearsei (PEAR'-si).

I shot this with a Nikon D200 with a Nikkor 105mm Micro lens w/VR. I used a single source flash placed above the tank on a sync cord. There is a small refelctor that give me some additional fill. It was an ISO of 250, shutter speed 1/60 at an aperture of F11.

I just stumble on your site and am really enjoying it. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[a5i736]

If you didn't tell me it was fish scales it would take me awhile. Right now it just seems like a texture and it's hard to find interesting imo. Plus i think it is a tad bit out of focus.

 

[rmh159]

I don't know if it's out of focus or just shot with a shallow depth of field due to it being a macro shot.

As a "fish shot" I don't think it works just because it's such a close up. You lose a lot of references that would tell some random viewer that it's a fish. I think it DOES work as an abstract though.

Not a bad shot though. I think given your hobby with the aquariums this print would fix the scene but I don't think it's something that a random person would look at and think "Woh cool fish!".

 

[CFRacer22]

If you didn't tell me it was fish scales it would take me awhile. Right now it just seems like a texture and it's hard to find interesting imo. Plus i think it is a tad bit out of focus.

are you serious, you must have never seen a fish in your life?

anyway, I'd like to see shots of your house with all these fish in it

 

[Aquamojo]

Thanks for the feedback. I take hundreds of pictures of my fish every week. 90% are the more "Fish ID" photos...where you can see the entire or most of the fish. I started experimenting with more abstract photos (thank you rmh159). Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine just purchased 30 of my pictures for inclusion in their July issue (plus the cover shot). They are doing a spread featuring my "abstract" pictures. I'm beyond psyched.

One thing that is a challenge when photographing aquarium fish...other than them not stopping to smile for the camera...is that I am shooting trough 1/2 inch of glass and a couple foot of water. This can play hell with focus issues. Has anyone evr used any of the 3rd party sharpening plug ins? I would be curious.

Here's another shot of the entire fish...and an additonal macro shot. Thanks again for the feedback. It's greatly appreciated.

 

[a5i736]

are you serious, you must have never seen a fish in your life?

anyway, I'd like to see shots of your house with all these fish in it

I OWN A FISH

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

The first one is nice for me... the third one is really beautiful.

 

[Aquamojo]

are you serious, you must have never seen a fish in your life?

anyway, I'd like to see shots of your house with all these fish in it

My site is listed on the photo.

a5i736 ~ As I said, most of the fish I own are large...some enormous by most aquarium standards. One of my fish in the pond ia a Pacu (the fish species) named "Brutus". Brutus is 36" long and 22 pounds. To steal from Crocodile Dundee..."That's not a fish. THIS is a fish." LOL

 

[beyondanytherapy]

Wow, that's a gorgeous fish! Is he a kind of flowerhorn?

Personally, I love texture shots. The only thing I don't like is the area of the fish photographed. Personally, I'd like to see a more "interesting" area of the scales to be zoomed in on. Maybe showing more of the area where the colors meet?

 

[Aquamojo]

No. "Flowerhorns" are a hybridized fish born of to different species of Cichlid.

Here's a shot of another set of scales. This fish is a Parachromis Managuense.

Did anyone see my question on third party sharpening plug ins? Thanks in advance.

 

[xfloggingkylex]

cool fish, those abstract shots would make great backgrounds.

Third party? well the most popular is photoshop, GIMP offers a free solution though and is pretty much just photoshop lite (on the wallet)

 

[Dragoness]

Well personally I love them all, I don't havethijng bad to say at all!

I must be biased though because I love photography and keeping cichlids...ponds you name it. UNfortunalyI only have 1 55 gal tank now though.

So we share the same hobbies! I would totally love to speak with you sometimes, I need help taking photos of my fish!

 

[Aquamojo]

I would love to talk to you. PM me with any questions.