I went fishing today... with my camera.

I set up the camera (2 mp Kodak) with a flash filter and began stalking my subject... he was a little shy at first...



Once he realized the reflection off the camera wasn't another beta and settled down I managed to get him to strike a pose.



I know...you're already thinking, "what a great colour for an ink".

Flash is the official Spa mascot, a Beta Splendis or Siamese Fighting Fish. He is really a lover and not a fighter as his little bubble nest (see top left of pic 1) would show... he's just waiting for Mrs Flash to come along so he can impress her.

The bubble nest is also the sign of a pretty happy Beta as they don't make these unless things are just right.

The flash filter on the camera is merely a sheet of paper placed over the flash which I also set to "fill" rather than full on as this will still cause hot spots.

Umm, actually I was thinking "catfood".

Hi Keith,

Nice pics! Notoriously difficult to do, too.


This was the first thing that came to mind when I saw your pictures, well before I read the text..

Real funny!

Kind regards,
Wim

Awesome Keith! I had no idea why our boys blow so many bubbles. We have one old-timer, he's over 2 now, and he doesn't blow so many bubbles. My fish Ephram creates huge nests sometimes. Cool.

Voila, Ephram (hope you're watching this Wim, it's my first attempt at posting a pic):



Okay, now that I've crashed people's computers, how do I make it smaller??

Photographing fish is notoriously hard since the water and movement of the fish makes keeping things focussed really difficult... and Beta's aren't even the zippiest of fish.

Leslie... that is a wickedly good picture and a beautiful Beta.

Yes Keith, I believe from that picture (somewhat like a high powered microscope shot, sorry), we can probably accurately deduce how many scales Ephram actually has. This is his baby pic. He's almost one year older now.

Hi Leslie,

Wow! That is a great pic! The sharpness and the colour rendering are awesome! There is no such thing as too much detail, really, unless you specifically want to do a soft focus type picture. Those you normally only use for flattering pictures / portraits of people, so what you posted here, is just fine. Actually, much more than fine...

I checked the size for you, it is 816 by 612 pixels, so that is probably 25% of the original width and 25% of the original height. This is also fine. Maybe slight on the big side, but most people have at least a 1024 by 768 screen, so it'll fit nicely. If you do want to make it smaller, don't go down much further than about 3/4 of the current width and height, I think. That would make it 612 by 459 pixels, which may be better regarding download speed, but you'll loose a little definition.

Hey, if you could make a photograph of a fish like this, it should be easy to make a picture of an exemplar. As I mentioned, stick it to a wall or something, about eye level. It'll make photographing it very easy.

I am very impressed, both with the quality of your photography skills, and the quality and esthetics of the picture!

And as you noticed, the hosting just worked fine too. Thanks for sharing!

AFAIAC, you don't have an excuse left to delay posting writing and / or ink samples here!



Warm regards,
Wim

Thanks Wim, but my husband took that picture. I was just getting familiar with how to manipulate images. I appreciate your advice though. The one drawback to that camera is that it's huge and *heavy*!

I think if I get some direct coaching from hubby, I may be able to do some simple stuff. The Coolpix is very complex IMO. I much prefer the more user friendly Sony, it's more in my league. I was going to start using that one first.

Thanks again. You've given me some confidence.

I agree with Wim Leslie...we're gonna need to see some pics and if a hack photographer like me can snap a shot or two then I would expect wonderful things from yourself.

"Flash" photography (was that an intentional pun, Keith?)

You both have such beautiful fish. Nature's colours are something else, aren't they?

Just curious....do the males and females of that species ever fight? I'm a dog person so I know zilch about fish...and I don't know much about digital photography either; hubby took all the pen pics I posted here...Will have to learn...soon!

And then you have to worry about reflections off the glass of the tank, good light and color, hoping they will come to the front of the tank (even very clear water will dull the color and sharpness of the image). It's not easy at all. Luckily digital cameras mean you take as many as you want and simply delete the bad shots. That way you can get that 1 in 20 or so that's good without a great deal of expense or waste, and you can make immediate adjustments to your technique or environment.

Nice photos Keith and Leslie!

Mark C.

Betas should only be kept together when they are mating as prolonged exposure will result in the male exhibiting aggressive behaviour towards the female.

Males will try to kill each other.

Breeding them in a small tank is impossible as a natural pond is required for the little spawnlings.

Flash is destined to live out his life as a bachelor methinks.

Betas are an excellent fish to keep as they are low maintainence, require no aeration in the tank, and they actually seem happy to see you. They do jump well so a covered tank is essential.

They are labrinth fishes which means they have underdeveloped lungs and must surface to augment their breathing... for this reason they can tolerate conditions that other fishes could not.

The entire starter kit ran under $20.00 Cdn.

They have personalities these fish. Ephram gets all excited as soon as he sees movement in the morning (feed me, feed me!). He appears to have excellent eyesight. Red will puff up at all sorts of things, and look you straight in the eye as he does it. I have handfed Red, and he can really latch on!

The male's beautiful and graceful nature belies their rather aggressive nature towards their own kind and things they think are their own kind.

The females are rather drab and don't have the great flowing fins but are much sweeter.