Notes from Coast Meeting, November 1999

Speaker: Vinny Kutty, professional photographer

(notes taken by Larissa Williams)

Best Camera type: SLR 35 mil (can find used ones)

Close Views:

• If using Zoom: Focal length 80 mil or better

• Macro lenses [60/50/90] Need depth of field

• Extenders can be useful, but:

Lighting:

• Flash! (doesn't really matter types)

• Don't attach on the camera itself, use separate with an extender

• One source of light produces harsh shadows

• Two sources are better than one, 3 is even better than 2!

• To get the multiple flashes at same time, use an AC slave strobe ($19, plugs into the wall). Place on top of the tank, facing down.

Technical:

• Aperture is the lens: 2.8 wide open. 3.3 is 1/2 of 2.8. 5.6 is 1/2 of 3.3. Controls how much light coming in. f22 depth of field. You want the *whole* fish, and get more depth of focus by shuttering down.

• Shutterspeed is the camera. The sutterspeed doesn't matter with a flash. 1/25 is okay. Without flash, a 1/25 would be blurry.

• Hint: Store film in the refrigerator

• Quality of film print today is good. 50 speed is best, 100 speed is a good speed for fish. 200 or 400 is still grainy when developed. (Personal opinion for print vs. slide is that slide will hold the picture better over time.)

Technique:

• In a normal tank, use the 3 strobes flash. Be aware that all dust and stuff in the tank will show in the picture. Clean the tank!!!! Undergravel filter, no algae

• Use Photo Tank!

• Always take pictures in soft water -- hard water will show more grains.

• Focus on the eye of the fish.

Vinny's website:

www.geocities.com/NapaValley/5491/

(mostly cichlids)