Lures diving in the water, studio shot with two lights on a blackbackground

Yesterday a friend showed me an image of a lure swimming in the water on a black background. This was some sort of relief because when I did my first test, I had to quit the idea of using a black background because reflections flare and light spills were everywhere. So yesterday, with renewed energies I set up my studio and the first thing I did, in addiction of putting my black vinyl background, was to cover 2 sides of the tank with black cardboard.
I also got rid of the large lights, any umbrella or softbox would send too much light out of control so I decided to go hard and small. One SB800 was set with its dome and the other with a Honlphoto Grid one of each of the narrow side of the tank, power settings changed a lot during the session so is hard to tell which has been the most commonly used. I also switched the main light from one speedlight to the other, again hard to tell some sort of rules.
Once everything was set the first test shots were suggesting a decently dark background that could be easily manipulated in Lightroom, giving me the proper black I needed. Now I needed to find a way to focus on the lures, so I put one in the middle of the tank, same distance from the two longest walls, and hoped for the best. I obviously took the focus with the lure under the water, I have read somewhere that the liquid element not only increase the magnification of the objects but also swift the focus point.
Since I was on my own I needed something that could help me moving the lures, for this reason I tied them to a thin fishing line of the length of the longest side, with a weight on the other end. I could pull the lure to one end of the tank, the weight would lift up to the opposite edge and once I released the lure the weight would pull it to the other side … gravity!

I shot with the camera parallel to the wall of the tank, with a bit of angle from above, a pretty high angle, and a very low one and achieved different results. Parallel or with a small angle worked fine, the images are sharp when the focus is on the money, but from a very high or very low angle, like in this image, sharpness and focus became an issue and I believe that is because of the thickness of the glass, that would create refraction and a bit of distortion. I’m not an expert on this matter but I believe I’m not far from the scientific explanation.
I made so many shots that my D7000 was smoking, well at least it was very hot and sometimes needed a break to process the files. The SB800 showed how good they are for the hard work, not a single complain, never stopped, always recycling fast and with just one set of batteries. Some intensive processing in Lightroom followed, I needed the blacks to be black, and the lures to be sharp and well exposed. It has sure been a challenging experience, I have made an unlimited number of mistakes and probably none of the images is really good, but it has been my first step, hopefully I’ll do it better next time.

Andaman Islands, India. Red Snapper (Lutjanus bohar) caught with a stickbait. SB800 through Orbis Ring Flash

Andaman Islands, India. Red Snapper (Lutjanus bohar) caught with a stickbait. SB800 through Orbis Ring Flash, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

The Orbis Ring Flash sure is a great light modifier for my fishing portraits, is just a tad bulky to carry on a suitcase full of lures, reels and all kind of tackle. Fort this reason I not always bring it with me, but when I do I never regret. She is pretty, has a gorgeous smile and can perfectly hold a fish, a great plus for a fishing photo. I love the specular ring on her sunglasses, is a kind of brand signature of the Orbis.

SB800 through Orbis Ring Flash triggered with Nikon CLS

Front cover shot for the magazines: Voyages de Pêche, Mundo Pesca and Pesca&Barcos. Sb800 through Orbisflash

This image has already become the front cover for three different magazines: Pesca&Barcos in Spain, Mundo Pesca in Portugal and Voyages de Pêche in France. Is a shot that I love, perfect timing around sunset, great smile and amazing Sea Bass. I lit it with the SB800 through the Orbis Ring Flash, a wonderful combo for my fishing portraits

Jigging the Andaman

I have just come back from the Andaman and I must say that it has been a very surprising trip. I knew that Akshay and Darran had been working hard on the jigging side, but until I could figure out myself I didn’t know what to really expect.

I must admit that the results have been quite spectacular, not only in term of fish landed or size, but in the map that these two guys have been able to design in the last two years. During our week we fished areas that are probably untouched as far as jigging is concerned, and the long trip to Invisible Bank, once the Mecca for the vertical style, is no longer necessary.


In fact we visited the Bank on a beautiful day, blessed with a flat calm sea and fast run, and we landed a massive amount of fish. Thus, the majority was GT and apart from one decent animal, most of them were medium to small size. It was also more difficult to find the right places, the area is indeed very big and scouting the places is not something that can be done on a daily basis, and we hopped on the biggest school of fish by chance, moving from one place to another.

So the right places are not too far away from the dock, well at least as far as Andaman is concerned, and the marks on the plotter are growing by the day. We landed a very interesting variety of fish, from GT to Doggies, Snappers, Ajs, you name it. And the funny thing is that in certain areas you can have two guys tossing poppers and one jigging and they all will catch fish.

I have to say bravo to my Indian friends, they worked hard to develop a brand new fishery, and it will sure payback in then future giving more opportunities to their costumers. Check their web at: Game Fishing India

Are Sea Bass aggressive or what?

Check this out guys, a good fishing week-end, lots of strikes and many missed fish. Good fun, the best you can get in a Mediterranean summer day. Light tackle all the way, like the good ol’ times.

We used walking the dogs and soft plastics rigged weedless and without any kind of weight: Super Flukes, Houdini Shads, Slug-go, and alike. First shooting with my new combo and the photos are mostly crap. I have to get used to it and work my way with the new flash too, is just a simple matter of time.

Look at this little European Sea Bass what kind of lure tried to inhale. And haven’t I been so lazy I would have had some other images of mini predators taking WTD as big as them, but the fish were biting and I was more into the fisherman rather than the photographer mood.

Bullfighting in Madrid

Last Sunday I received a wonderful invitation to see a “Rejoneo”, one special kind of bullfighting where the bullfighter rides a Spanish horse, especially trained for this kind of show. The place was nonetheless the “dome” of Spanish bullfighting, the famous arena of Las Ventas, in Madrid. Hermoso de Mendoza, Andy Cartagena and Sergio Domínguez completed the billboard against 6 bulls from Los Espartales. That’s enough for technical infos, I’m not a bullfighting major fan or expert and the main reason I went is because I love to see what they can do with the horses in front of the bull, something absolutely magic.

Fact is that I had THE seats. “Tendido 9”, front row. Nobody in front of me but the bullfighters and helpers ring, the fence and the arena. Obviously I took with me the entire pack of camera equipment: my old D80. 5 lenses, SD cards etc. First lens to be used a Nikkor 10.5 f2.8 Fisheye, just to get an idea of how the “Plaza de Toros” looks like

The zoom that worked the most has been the Nikkor 18-200, pretty efficient in terms of focal length and fast focus yet not fast enough neither too sharp, especially when worked constantly at f5.6. As the afternoon light got dimmer also the D80 showed its limitations with the high ISO I needed to use. Noise was showing pretty heavily in most of the images and together with my scarce experience in these kinds of photographic events, delivered many poor images, and many already swallowed by the recycle bin.

Among the major difficulties I had in the beginning was trying to compensate the exposure difference between the shaded areas and those where the sun was still heavily shining. Once it settled lower on the horizon I switched to manual and worked more or less with the same setting for the rest of the evening.
Eventually I found myself with a bunch of underexposed images, more noise then, while those I have tried to shoot at a lower shutter speed came out quite blurred… It’s the story of the dog biting its tail, and sure enough I couldn’t go any further than ISO 800.

Have played with different kind of focusing, shutter speed, metering and focus point, and when the 18-200 became too slow to capture the dimmer light of the evening I switched to the 60mm f2.8 trying to gain a couple stops. Unfortunately, because of the Murphy’s Law, the rest of the action happened almost entirely on the other side of the arena and couldn’t get many decent frames.

Anyway, let’s not find excuses, what was missing was a good photographer dealing with the situation: my complete lack of experiences in sports and fast action in general heavily shows in the results and the only thing I can think of now is to go back in the near future and try again. Thus, I doubt very much I will be able to do it again from such privileged position.

If I will have such chance I will try to put my hands on a good 70-200 f2.8 and a body that allows me to pump up the ISO with no fear. Is a very exciting show and there are many good opportunities for amazing photos.

Can I help you?

People sometimes are strange, let me explain you.
I have an internet tackle shop (http://caranx.net/tiendas_esp_engl.htm). Is a specialist shop, solely dedicated to top water and jigging in saltwater. This is what I have been doing in the last 20 years, being a fishing guide and travelling to the world explaining people how to do it. So today I got the call from this guy, he needed some lures to catch Dentex, quite a nice predator we have here in the Mediterranean. He says he has seen my videos, he’s been following me in the mags and he is sure I can suggest him the best for his fishing.

Great, so far so good. I record his data and get myself ready to fix the order. I start suggesting him a white 120g Hooker, a lure I think is really worth having when fishing for these critters. He replies he likes the lure but maybe he wants it pink. I try to explain him that more important than the colour is the brightness (or the lack of it) of a lure, and he says ok…but I want it pink. Then I recommend him another metal jig I know it works well. Too heavy he says, and the colour doesn’t suit his taste. The third lure I propose is a 100g Ouka in White, in fact I believe he needs at least a white lure, but he says he was thinking about the pink/blue/sardine. So far none of my ideas was accepted and I told him he should probably tell me what he needs in fact he seems to have pretty clear ideas about his fishing needs.

At this point he picks another jig, one I don’t have in stock and I put forward a similar one, which is available. He declines and asks me again if I have that jig I just told him I don’t have. Nope, still is not available. I offer him another lure I know works well for the Dentex, many friend are pretty fond of it. He says no, he wants that jig. Again the one I don’t have. Then he thinks back again and asks me for the alternative lure I advised before and picks one. Guess what colour? Pink. At the end of the phone call he bought three pink jigs of his choice plus another one somehow I managed to advocate and I think he didn’t refuse it because he didn’t realized it wasn’t pink.

Well, after this conversation I have mixed feelings. On one end I’m happy because I made a sale and he bought the lures is confident with. A very good thing because he will fish them hard and catch some fish. On the other I wonder why on earth he called me if he knew what he wanted and couldn’t care less for my help. A simple e-mail could have sorted out everything faster and painless.

Can you help me?