A Photographic Reef Tank ?

[Rosseau]

Though I'm no photographic genious, I enjoy taking pictures of my reef creatures.

Often when purchasing coral I consider what sort of photograhic opportunities will exist.



I'm hoping to start a discussion about what livestock, equipment and arrangements you would use for a reef tank geared towards photography.



Should this get any responses, feel free to talk about lighting, dimensions, tank material, rock layout etc etc.


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One idea I really like is to have a small acrylic box which you fill with tank water and place specific livestock in for the sake of taking pictures.

i.e. Photo Tank http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=125913

 

[Kinetic]

Depends on if you want macro shots or "scenic" shots.

For macros I'd say setup a small "clam" tank, super shallow, inline with your current system. Black background, black bottom. Have nothing in it except maybe a rock with a hole.

THen when you want to take a shot, pull your frag / colony out of the display, into this "photo" tank

but that would suck if it was connected to your aquascape...


another thing would be to minimize shadows in your tank, have all your corals staggered, create little "niches" where you can zoom into.

I'm going to be renting a tilt shift pretty soon to take pictures of the tank... make it look miniature and all the nooks and crannies would look like huge mountain sides!

 

[Saiyan]

I think the neat thing about macro is that even a small tank can look huge. With the right composition anything can look scenic. I think the more natural the tank the more it is good for photography. Also one of those blue to dark blue backgrounds that make it look like the water goes off into infinity are a pretty neat effect.

 

[Rosseau]

oops... My link there was off.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=125913


EDIT... Apparently I can't link to other forums on the internet...

Sigh... When I type it in, the link is changed unbeknownst to me, to a RC link.