A very different Perch+ tank pic.

Perch (C)

This is a scan off a transparency . It reminded me of an ingenious tank I came across by fluke. A friend gave me an old plastic planter about 2 foot across and about 18 inches tall. It was out of an office foyer or something. The good bit was it had 6 sides.
I cut square apertures on the front three and siliconed plate glass on the outside ( The inside was rough and wouldn't have taken it.)
I covered the back three walls with concrete to look like a river bank below water.
It was brilliant because I could use flash on top and either side of the main viewing pane in the front sides .
Its still in the garage some where !
It took a long time for the cement to get rid of its nasties, but it worked. Thought you might be interested.
JohnR

A most effective image and it sounds like a great set-up. Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks Justin.
The post was really to show how silly things we pick up can be so useful. I suppose if I set it all up and did it again on dgital it would be a lot better. I might just do that.!!
Fed up with birds anyway !!
JohnR
PS The basic thing wrong with this set up are the pebbles! You just don't get 'em like that on a lake floor !That's the trouble with setups. You have to get it right.

Nicely done John, unless you said I wouldn't have known any different about the pebbles in the set-up as we have a lot of chalk streams and water bodies with perch in them so it looks fine to me. Great detail showing all the refinery of s great looking fish.

I often use a tank set-up to photograph Newts.. Worth the effort if you can get it right as you said..

Kind regards,

Brett

Yes, there is a lot of satisfaction to be had getting set-ups right, Made a few bloomers myself too!

Great detail in the fish, well done.

Ian

sounds a very interesting set-up John and that's a very nice shot.

Matt

I like it!

WEll worth the effort - and doing again digitally too I'd guess!!

Like it.



Mark

Get that tank dug out John if you did this sometime ago I would imagine that now would produce even better results. Bit of good thought gone into this.

Major.

Really great shot John, like it a lot I was watching a Nat.Geo. programme a while back and a well known marine photography couple (i forget the names) were shooting tropical fish is a similar sounding setup back in their studio, I thought then what a great idea it was and something maybe one could try at home on a simpler basis.

Thanks

A speciality of the restuarants in this region-Really nice realistic looking image-nice to have on file and would suggest you dust it off use it some more

Dave

Pebbles or not on a lake floor - it makes for a cracking picture. The portrait of your fish is really beautiful., and I hope to see more! Don't believe you are fed up of birds though!

Perfectly exposed shot John.
You're right about the pebbles. We've got about four ft of mud on the bottom of our ponds. Carp love it though.

John

I can remember when I did a parasitology course as part of my BSc (Hons) Plant Science Degree at the University of Liverpool, dissecting cysts on the livers of Perch caught at Lake Bala, North Wales. Little white tape worms came wriggling out. Since then I will never eat fish or any other meat product unless it is well cooked . Superb image and very natural looking set up. Excellent.

Firstly, its a great scan John

That aside, its excellent use of the brain cells, and a very fine reward

Alan

Thanks everyone.
Here's a pic of the tank
I found the old tank and cleaned it up a bit. I removed the clutter around it so you can get the idea !
Cheers
John

Very nice portrait and an interesting bit of background - amazing what you can come up with!

Thanks for the explination of how it was taken. Did the you get much flash backscatter in other shots?

Thanks
Tom
Do you mean off the glass ? If so the answer is no because the small flashes are taped tight up to the glass panels on either side, and then there's a third resting on glass on the top.
They are all (or were ) heavily baffled with hankies, greaseproof paper and all sorts !!
Cheers
JohnR