Just for Fun No C&C will be given: Plecostomus apprenticeship

Here we see our two plecostomus, Nemo (on the right) and Piccard (left).



Piccard is quite young, and has so far mostly fed on the bottom, but lately he has taken up his hereditary profession as a window-washer.

Tonight, as he was working at it, Nemo just lay on the bottom, then scurried over to another part of the front wall, and finally moved into an area not too far from where Piccard was working (seen here).

At the lower left, three Silver Dollars (Metynnis argentus) watch the photographer at work. (They always work as a team.)

No, Doug

The Silver dollars are not a team - they are a school.... maybe they are learning somethiong

Oh my, it's been ages since I had a tank with those - I love to watch the algae eaters do their job.

The first thing that struck me about this photo, Doug, is how evenly lit it is. Often flash needs to be used in photographing aquaria, which can create all kinds of problems and undesired harshness.

With that in mind, how did you address the lighting and exposure in this photo?

Nice details and colors as well! Curious looking creatures.

Hi, Don,

Don Cohen said:

The first thing that struck me about this photo, Doug, is how evenly lit it is. Often flash needs to be used in photographing aquaria, which can create all kinds of problems and undesired harshness.

With that in mind, how did you address the lighting and exposure in this photo?

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Well, it was a "point and shoot" grab shot. The aquarium is of course lit by a fluorescent lamp in an overhead hood. I took the EOS 40D, with a Sigma 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 OS on board, in the P exposure control mode, mounted my 580EX II flash unit in the shoe, head facing forward, and activated it, left all settings at the defaults (including white balance at AWB), aimed it at the tank, and fired! The center AF point was preselected, and I AF focused with it on Nemo and then recomposed.

But the good result wasn't a fluke (to make a bad joke). I have often taken pictures of the aquarium with that exact setup, with similarly satisfying results.

Nice details and colors as well!

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Yes, I am always quite pleased with the result done that way. Certainly some more attention to the balance between the ambient and and flash components of exposure might have optimized the result.

Curious looking creatures.

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Indeed. They have very interesting "personalities".

Best regards,

Doug

Hi, Kathy,

Kathy Rappaport said:

The Silver dollars are not a team - they are a school.... maybe they are learning something

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An excellent point, and of course we always aspire to that!

Oh my, it's been ages since I had a tank with those - I love to watch the algae eaters do their job.

Click to expand...

Yes, they are wonderful - they have great "personalities".

They are the only fish we name - both of these after famous submarine captains. Nemo of course refers to the captain of the Nautilus in Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, and Piccard is named after Jacques Piccard, father of the bathyscaphe Trieste, which reached the deepest point on the Earth's ocean floor.

Best regards,

Doug