hyperfocal
New member
Here are a few of my favorite shots. They vary in quality, but I like them all and hope you do too.
A few of my favorites...
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kactusficus
More is not enough
wow I love the sharpness of the sponge and the tube, and I love the softness of the texture and colours from the euphillia, xenia and the ric, and I love the fun scene with the urchin (gorgeous colours on the urchin, by the way)!!
would love to see more!
would love to see more!
hyperfocal
New member
Thanks! The shots were taken with my Nikon D70, using either the Nikon 24-85mm F/3.5-4.5 G or the Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G ED IF AF-S VR lens. Most were shot with ambient tank light (10K MH), except for the feather duster and the green ricordia which were lit from above by a Nikon SB-600 speedlight wearing a Gary Fong LightSphere.
EDIT: Oh, Kellypug -- no, the urchin was only hauling the hermit around as camouflage. Or, as a festive hat. Definitely one of the two, though. Either way, not to eat... it'd only eat my coralline algae.
EDIT: Oh, Kellypug -- no, the urchin was only hauling the hermit around as camouflage. Or, as a festive hat. Definitely one of the two, though. Either way, not to eat... it'd only eat my coralline algae.
kactusficus
More is not enough
and by the way, your avatar is hilarious! can we see it larger??
hyperfocal
New member
Heh, I wish I could take credit for it. I ripped it off from someone on another forum, who probably did the same thing 
I just googled "cat couch potato" and found it at http://www.squoogy.com/images/CouchPotato.jpg
I just googled "cat couch potato" and found it at http://www.squoogy.com/images/CouchPotato.jpg
Absolute Reef
New member
I love the 1st pic!
hyperfocal
New member
Pincushion sea urchin (Lytechinus vaniegatus)
He was cool, broke my heart to get rid of him -- but he ate coralline at an incredible rate and abducted frags, snails, hermits etc. It was funny at first, but eventually got to be a real pain in the assets.
He was cool, broke my heart to get rid of him -- but he ate coralline at an incredible rate and abducted frags, snails, hermits etc. It was funny at first, but eventually got to be a real pain in the assets.
shaggydoo541
New member
Absolutely amazing. I am going to practice every chance I get so I can take pictures like that. I too have the 105 mm lens, but I can't seem to get the same clarity you get and my coloration is almost always off. I get pretty good pictures when things are close to the front of my tank and I can shoot head on, but if they are further back and if I have to go at an angle its all downhill from there. Any tips? Or should I just keep practicing. I have a speedlight I can use remotely but have not tried it at all, is it useful? All this equipment is my wife's so I'm mostly clueless.
drummereef
Team RC
They vary in quality from great to awesome that is. The first pic is outstanding, not only in composition but how candid it is. 
The first pic is outstanding, not only in composition but how candid it is.
hyperfocal
New member
Yes, you should keep shooting. Tips are great, but nothing teaches like experience
That said, there are a few techniques that I've found useful:
- Shoot with a tripod. The extra stability a tripod gives will improve the sharpness of your shots, allowing you to shoot at slower shutter speeds and lower ISO settings
- Use a remote release or on-camera self-timer. Pressing the shutter release button will shake the camera, reducing sharpness
- Shoot at as low an ISO as possible. The lower the ISO the lower the image noise. Since many aquarium shots are really cropped tight, noise is really obvious
- Experiment with Depth of Field. Shoot the same subject at different apertures and note the effects.
- Use a DSLR. They are more expensive, but are worth it if only for the larger sensor size. Expandability and flexibility are icing on the cake.
- Shoot perpendicular to the aquarium glass (particularly if the tank is acrylic). Shooting at oblique angles adds distortion and increases the risk or capturing reflections
- Never use on-camera flash. At worst, you'll get reflections and blow out part of the image. At best, you'll get horribly flat lighting.
- Clean the tank glass
- Run carbon
- Reduce flow in tank when shooting
- Move the subject as close to the front of the tank as possible. The less water you have to shoot through the sharper the image.
- I like to spot meter and shoot in manual mode. YMMV.
- Nikon's Creative Lighting System is fantastic. He's how I illuminate many of my shots:
It's wireless, automatic and almost foolproof... once you figure out the terrible UI on the speedlight.
- Shooting in the camera's "raw" mode often gives more flexibility in post-processing/Photoshop
- It takes a lot of shooting to get those "WOW!" shots. An award-winning pro photographer (travel/portrait/wedding) friend of mine says she gets ~50% usable shots; I've seen her workflow and she's really closer to 20% ;-) I'm at <10%
- Visualize the image before snapping the shutter. Don't just shotgun the tank, shooting away hoping to get something nice. An interesting but flawed image is better than a technically perfect boring image. Tell a story.
- Read a bit about composition (google "golden rectangle") and keep those principles in mind when cropping. Don't just plop the subject dead center in the frame each time.
Hmmmm, longer list than I anticipated. Anyways, YMMV. I know there are many people out there who get great images with techniques 180 degrees off what I list above. Except for those folks who use the on-camera flash. Pity them ;-)
shaggydoo541
New member
Thank you. I find a lot of that very helpful and will have to keep practicing and try to work in a lot of those tips.
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