# So it turns out a flash IS really useful



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Digital SLR photography is f*cking ridiculous. My camera body is worth about 1200 dollars. "woah digital SLR cameras are expensive" I think. No, digital SLR photography is expensive. See, stock lense sucks, so a Sigma EX Aspherical lense is another 560 dollars. Then I pick up a 420 EX flash for my camera, 250 dollars. God damnit









I've got almost as much money in upgrades on my camera than the bloody stupid camera itself









But the pictures... well they turned out pretty good. Turns out flash isn't really the devil after all










The shot of the bunch



























Strange thing happened with my kribensis today, while going in for a shot he charged the glass and smacked into it right in front of me. So between my convicts, a green terror and a kribensis, the krib is the most insanely aggressive????









And a tiger barb. I still think these guys are pretty neat









That's right death in numbers, you love it









Let me tell you though, these crazy flashes are alot more complicated than I thought. You figure "it makes a burst of light when the shutter opens" right? BZZZZT wrong. That's what I thought and that's why I couldn't get anything but sh*t from my first shots until I read the manual. Turns out the f*cker sends a test burst into the tank, which the camera measures through it's metering system which sends feedback to the flash which then adjust the intensity of the flash accordingly and sends out the second adjusted flash for the picture itself. Add to that that the flash changes something based on the focal length of your lense (I don't know what, but it makes neat noises when I zoom in or out and the indicator LED on the back shows which focal length my lense is set at) and overall I'm confused as f*ck as to what's up with this crazy thing.

Expect better pictures as I figure out what the hell all this crap does. High speed vs low speed sync? I thought it fired the flash when the shutter was open, how can that have a speed???


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## Fido (May 21, 2003)

Nice! I found that using tissue over the lense helps!


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

> That's right death in numbers, you love it


actually i dont they look kinda green








jk
that new setup makes your fish look better in some way
i cant figure it out yet


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

The pics are incredible. It's well worth the investment if you like photography. I use a small digital camera and the pics are ok at best when taking pics of my fish.


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## cErx2Oo3 (Sep 13, 2004)

Death in # said:


> > That's right death in numbers, you love it
> 
> 
> actually i dont they look kinda green
> ...


 it focuses on your fish and kinda blurs out the bg... nice pics though


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

RedShoCk said:


> Death in # said:
> 
> 
> > > That's right death in numbers, you love it
> ...










thats not it
thats how all camera's are

thats it i found out whats the problem








those dam scratches


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

yeah the glass on this aquarium is f*cking terrible, but what are you gonna do









If I wasn't lazy I would clone brush all of them like I did the "best" shot, look at how fudged up it was before editing.

I also removed a big piece of rock. God I love digital


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

elTwitcho said:


> yeah the glass on this aquarium is f*cking terrible, but what are you gonna do
> 
> 
> 
> ...










i was messing with you

and i need to learn how to spice up my photo's
other than just shrinkin them in paint


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## yorkshire (Jul 27, 2004)

Cool pics elTwitch,








looks like flash is the way to go :nod: 
any ideas of which external flash's are recommended for the canon G5 by any chance?

I think the tiger barb pic is my fave, especially after trying to get a good pic of the ones i had. unfortunately they've all been eaten now


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Heh, my method for photographic tiger barbs is to just get something remotely in focus and take as many shots as possible hoping for a good one. They move around way too damn much to do anything else really.

I'll check into the Canon G5 flash issue for you, I imagine it should be less expensive than the insane prices they want for the EOS Digi SLR ones (mine was the CHEAP one


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## slckr69 (Feb 21, 2004)

twitcho is going to have even better pictures now


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## Atlanta Braves Baby! (Mar 12, 2003)

Wow excellent clear and crisp pics you caught there. Good work


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## yorkshire (Jul 27, 2004)

slckr69 said:


> twitcho is going to have even better pictures now


 i know, just aint fair is it









elTwitch, your method of taking pics of the barbs is the same method i use for taking pics of anything......if you take enough, one will eventually be ok :nod: 
Thanks for havin a look for a G5 flash for me.

Why is it all my hobbies are so expensive? I've just aquired £200 i wasn't expecting and dont know wether to get a flash, put it towards a 450 bowfront, or buy a new swing arm for my minibike


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## Gordeez (Sep 21, 2003)

Good thing I already won two Potm contests. Once he gets ahold of the flash, And properly work it, Super amazing pictures will appear.


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## Ries (Mar 20, 2004)

he's beautiful


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

Gordeez said:


> Good thing I already won two Potm contests. Once he gets ahold of the flash, And properly work it, Super amazing pictures will appear.










noooooooooo
i still havent won one yet 
give everyone some time


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Gentlemen, your time is nigh. I'm starting to get the hang of this sh*t









The first few shots are to illustrate the kind of crap my poor kribensis has to put up with from my shithead GT. If the krib ever comes out the GT runs like hell, but then he just comes back to piss off the kribensis again. These shots are right in front of the cave the kribensis calls home, with the GT trying to annoy him into giving up I guess










This is the posture he takes when he's being defensive, I guess to display his colors and make himself look like a bigger target than he is by turning his side and extending his fins. He does this whenever the krib starts to come at him









If the krib doesn't come at him, then he just goes even more in his face... what a sh*t









I really like the shape of his... uh... "side fin" which you can see how he's curving his rays to stabilize himself









He's sexy. Note the level of detail the flash brings out with a higher ISO and wider aperture and shutter speed. To be honest, I can almost use whatever speed I feel like now, this one was taken at 1/180s f/6.7 at 59.0mm iso100 which is quite frankly almost impossible even under 400 dollar lighting setups.









We should start calling this the yorkie shot

















Somehow, my clearest and best shot was of the tiger barb, the fish that won't sit still for half a f*cking second, comes out the best. I don't get it









Hope you guys like it. I'm workin on something like this for the piranha tank, the water is unfortunately clouded up temporarily


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

dam bro
i need to find a flash like that
my lighting is crap


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I'd definately recommend it, the reflector I have set up isn't even good, there's a big f*cking hole in the middle for the tank light to come through (originally I didn't put a hole in, so I got out my flash and camera, turned out the room light and realized it's hard to focus in the dark) so when I set something up a little better, the pictures should be even nicer.

I'm finally getting towards the potential of my camera, it's so nice to be able to say that. God I wish my piranha tank wasn't all foggy


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

between gordeez , yorkshire, and eltwitcho, noone is gonna win another potm again

the photo gestapo strikes again









great shots though man, i really dig tiger barbs too man







crazy little bastards

i have one thats killed three tank mates, so now hes solitar till i can get some more,

gonna try gettin like 6 more this time, all different colors too


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## yorkshire (Jul 27, 2004)

Amazing quality pics Twitch, def gonna invest in a flash now :nod: 
just need to rob a bank 1st :laugh:


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I'd definately suggest it yorkie, since I've got myself a rhom and I'm coming after your photo niche next


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## Gordeez (Sep 21, 2003)

mr.freez said:


> between gordeez , yorkshire, and eltwitcho, noone is gonna win another potm again
> 
> the photo gestapo strikes again
> 
> ...


Im Fishless








I got Africans though...:laugh: 
The tiger Barb Looks Nice Twitch


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## 00nothing (Mar 26, 2004)

el twitcho buy ureself a slave unit (its a small attachment that goes on the bottom of the flash) then u can use the flash from above the tank using the on camera flash to fire it they are well worth the money and are fairly cheap also bouncing the flash can help and give some interesting results


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## syd (Nov 6, 2004)

when the fish were still, the pics were very high quality. like they were taken out of axelrods text book.


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