Documentary photos

[louist]

Trachyphyllia boring shrimp/crab

I bought a fluro green Trachyphyllia about 2 months back. It had a notch on its rim but I assumed it was damaged during shipping.

The coral expands during night time as per usual, but that notch never healed up. Today I moved it into my nano tank and while I was sitting there and looking at the tank, I thought I see something move in that hole, so out came the camera.

First photo shows the extent of the damage, before and after extraction. The second photo shows the "shrimp" itself. If anyone can ID it, it would be great. If you look closely, you can see eggs and I only hope I won't end up with an infestation. This guy actually resembles something I buy at the fish markets.....

So what documentary photos have you guys got? What tips do you have regarding taking these photos?

IMO, developing the skill to take good documentary photos is a very useful skill in reef keeping. It allows you to document disease states, growth, help get ID on critters etc.

Here are a few of my tips:

• Keep the plane of the sensor parallel to the area of interest, this ensures that the area of interest are within as much of the DoF as possible.
• Use unsharp mask to increase sharpness of the photos
• Take photos from a few angles since most creatures have multiple features of interest.
• Include a scale whenever possible.

 

[gregr]

I'd add to your list "use a background that makes the subject stand out", as you did in those photos. Man that is one creepy looking... thing Great pics as usual-
Greg