Got out this past weekend and spent several hours near low tide poking around the rocks on a jetty. Other than a bit of sunburn (missed a couple of patches!) I managed to get some cool stuff, new photos in the Gallery, and the following as a teaser...

not to be dumb but what is that?

Porichthys notatus

You should look at all of his pics in his gallery...

You should look at all of his pics in his gallery...

Everyone should look at Dave's photos in the galley. You'll never be the same afterwards.

You should look at all of his pics in his gallery...

I just did. Apodichthys fucorum, one orange, one green. Interesting. Those are really cool-looking fish.

Dave, your photos are great. What's the preserving technique?

Nate,

Thanks. It's a very labor-intensive task, glad to know some folks like the results.

I've been taking photos in two home-made narrow photo tanks, with a separate pane of glass to keep the fish pinned up against the front pane. I keep fish in a dark bucket, anesthetize the fish with clove oil or MS222, then hand-fix fins with fine forceps and strong (100%) cool or cold formalin. Work quickly, because they fade out and lose colors and eyes cloud up really fast. If you want or need to release the fish afterwards, just knocking them out until they lose equilibrium is fine.

Absolutely critical is using clean water at all stages, perhaps especially when anesthetizing the specimens. Any little particles of sand, mud, funk, etc. will get suspended and stick to the fish's mucous coat. Debris and bubbles really stand out in the final photo, and there's only so much you can do with Photoshop. It's easier to prevent the problem in the first place, brush anything off of the glass and/or fish with a fine paintbrush if necessary. As clove oil causes many fish to generate more mucous, changing it frequently is very critical - it's cheap enough that it's way worth it.

I'll use artificial flash under poor lighting conditions (which is often when you get the most interesting specimens!), but to my eye natural light is preferable. Hard mid-day sun often is too harsh, and can give harsh shadows and wash out colors - if possible, find a tree with a semi-open canopy to get the appropriate light levels... I also use a piece of black cardstock with a hole for the camera lens to cut down on reflections off of the front pane of glass.

Photo below is a riffle sculpin, Cottus gulosus that I took last weekend. There's some other new stuff up in the Gallery - had to release several large hardheads that were too large for my photo tank!

Cheers,
Dave

Any little particles of sand, mud, funk, etc. will get suspended and stick to the fish's mucous coat.

I hate FUNK, it just ruins everything!

riffle sculpin, Cottus gulosus

Wow, that's a really nice picture < Looks kinda like a painting.

Dave-

Did you reflect some light onto the head to brighten it up?

Hey Fritz,

No, that's just sunlight. I not really happy with that, and sculpins are particularly bad since their heads are so wide. If you put the fish in the tank facing the other direction, the head is too dark and you can't see sufficient details or the canal pores. I've been thinking about setting up some sort of diffuser to reduce the glow when there's no shade and it's only direct sunlight, but that's just more stuff to lug around, and it seems the wind is ALWAYS blowing out here so it would be a total pain in the tail... Still, it seems better than using flash...

cheers,
Dave

Dave-
Did you reflect some light onto the head to brighten it up?