phish photos - what's the secret

[mitten]

Stevins hopke-

Great! A pic of the fish that is in your avatar. A lively representer of persona suntanna.

Mickeyt he windwoman

[jnorth]

Somebody doesn't want his picture taken. Great picture!

[dick benbow]

Over the years of photographing koi there is one secret. Don't use a circular bowl use an elongated rectangle. It's a minute for them to settle down then they will run up and down the length. Often they will hug a side but can be gently persuaded by an assistant to head down the middle. As they head down toward the end your standing at you get a decent head-ons shot. I put in just enough water to cover the dorsal when raised and they feel comfortable with that. shallowere and it seems to make them more nervous.

[Arthur]

We use a square 4'x4' fiberglass tank 16" deep with around 10" of water. The size of the tank allows fish to relax very quickly. The shape, as others have said, encourages the fish to swim in a straight line. With a larger than usual tank, fish will much more often swim down the middle.

A couple more things about the camera. As already mentioned, a polarizing filter is a must. ALWAYS use a flash; if enough natural light is present, set the flash for "fill in".

As we tend to use screens to cut off the hard light causing glare, the tank will be relatively dark. One thing I found over time is to "help" the camera make the right decision about lighting (flash). Check the flash modes available with your camera and select the mode that measures the lighting requirement ONLY on the subject (as opposed to averaging for the whole frame). This technique will avoid over-exposure of the koi itself.

Hope this helps,

[koiczar]

Great shot Steve

Now get a 18" diameter ring, soak it in kerosene, light it and when he jumps again, bingo, you can enter him the next time the circus comes to town!!LOL

[mrbradleybradley]

Quote: Originally Posted by koiczar Great shot Steve Now get a 18" diameter ring, soak it in kerosene, light it and when he jumps again, bingo, you can enter him the next time the circus comes to town!!LOL

lol

Bradley

[koifishgirl]

Steve I have the same problem. I cant get them to calm down long enough to get a good pic and when I do I get the glare. I think it has a lot to do with the camera and the angle of the shot and also the shade. Im going to try and take some pic of just the bowl and water without the fish in different lighting and see what works best for my camera and then try it with the koi. Im just wait for some warm weather.