Benefits of Flash

[Alvin Koh]

Hi all,

Given the chance, I would prefer to take pictures without flash because the colors that come out are much more accurate and it does not "flush" away the colored shine in the scales. (Especially crossbacks/reds).

However, there are some situations the use of flash could be useful besides using it in an environment that is too dark.

Using flash often washes out the whole body of the fish making it look "white/pale", however, it tends to show the actual color of the fish (gills/rims) without influence from the aquarium lights.

This can be quite apparent especially to see the gill/rim development of a fish. (Somewhat similiar to taking the fish out of water). Using flash, a red asian arowana may look silverish, but look at the gills and rims and you'll notice that the actual color will show. I think this is a good gauge of the actual color of the fish as well.

To be on the safe side, taking pictures with and without flash would increase the changes of getting a more accurate picture of the fish, especially when posting pics to sell pictures.

Regards,
Alvin.

athanx for the wonderful tips alvin koh...


CHEERS!

Alvin,
I agree with you that photographs of aros taken without flash show more accurate representations of the fish. I don't think we can do justice to an xback or a red if we use flash because most of the time the colour of the body is no longer true to the colour of the fish. It becomes "diluted". Sometimes I have to use flash with fish that are jittery and will dart about the aquarium so fast that I can't get a good shot of them!
Regards kchee