Georgia Aquarium with a new D700

[juniormc8704]

Was in Atlanta for a few days on business and managed to escape for a few hours to get some pics at the aquarium.

This is the first large scale public aquarium I can remember seeing. Didnt really care for the reef area, as honestly, we all have much better looking corals.....but the fish....and all the other amazing animals...took my breath away...The Whale shark was simply spectacular.

There are a bunch more, and even more coming once i finish going through them all. Just visit my homepage to see a slide show.

 

[kilroy217]

If you're looking for a public aquarium with a great reef tank, take a look at the Atlantis Aquarium in Riverhead, NY (Long Island). I feel very lucky to have such a gem in my local area.

 

[ibanezgfx]

Nice pics!
I really like the sand tiger (#2)

 

[Mobatic]

GREAT PICS! VERY HIGH DEF hah

 

[SirToppemHat]

awesome pic of the sea dragon

 

[themanthelegond]

Awesome pictures! the image of the shark is so clear! what lens and settings were you using?

 

[jefft72]

Awesome! I tried to get some quality shots of the sea dragons when I visited this past summer, but they came out blurry(head was in focus, but tail was blurry or vice versa). I was attempting to use manual focus with my Canon Rebel XS w/ stock lens. I need more practice time with it.

I really like how the first shot really shows a deep blue to the water. Are you using any special filters or post processing?

 

[Recty]

I like all the pictures except one. The first one with the whale shark just doesnt look true to life, it looks a little off color. The shark is some shade of reddish purple and the water is a dark purplish color.

Anyway, I'm just being picky Picture quality is nice but the color is so far off what I would expect in real life it kind of ruins the shot for me.

 

[juniormc8704]

Awesome pictures! the image of the shark is so clear! what lens and settings were you using?

I was using a Nikon D700 with the 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Shutter Priority, ISO 3200, NO FLASH on any pics.

 

[juniormc8704]

Awesome! I tried to get some quality shots of the sea dragons when I visited this past summer, but they came out blurry(head was in focus, but tail was blurry or vice versa). I was attempting to use manual focus with my Canon Rebel XS w/ stock lens. I need more practice time with it.

I really like how the first shot really shows a deep blue to the water. Are you using any special filters or post processing?

No special filters, and I wasnt even able to really set my custom white balance. I now know to go into the tunnel to setup the white balance, so next time they should be even better.

The pics all too a LOT of post work. White balance primarily, and noise reduction. Also, a good about of cloning, as several pics had reflections from the lighting in the room behind me.

Definitely the hardest shoot ive done. Its really hard to shoot through 2 feet of acrylic without getting distortion. Next time out should be a lot more fun, knowing what i need to do now.

 

[juniormc8704]

I like all the pictures except one. The first one with the whale shark just doesnt look true to life, it looks a little off color. The shark is some shade of reddish purple and the water is a dark purplish color.

Anyway, I'm just being picky Picture quality is nice but the color is so far off what I would expect in real life it kind of ruins the shot for me.

Ill post the original later, it took a TON of work to get that pic to come out. Also, my calibrated monitor is in for repairs, so that didnt help any.

 

[IPT]

I think you did amazingI Especially since you layed out the circumstances and what you worked against. Since you were at such a high ISO I imagine you were handheld then, not tripod? A whale shark! Man, who would have thought? That is unreal.

I second the Atlantis Aquarium in RIverhead sentiment. it is totally AMAZING! When I was there I had my mom P&S but managed to get some good images. There are a ton of them here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16037758#post16037758
I don't want to hijack your thread so I wont post any here though.

 

[DAS140]

What is this? It's unique and beautiful as well.

 

[juniormc8704]

Thats a Sea Dragon. It was my understanding that they had some much larger ones but something happened to the tank and they lost them. These were on the smaller side, at about 6" but still really wonderful to watch.

Im not really sure how that pic came out as nice as it did, but we all catch some luck from time to time. They are really sensitive to light, so their tank is very dim, and no flash can be used.

This shoot really made me feel good about my decision to upgrade to the FX sensor in the D700. The noise at ISO 3200 was MORE than acceptable. A little Noise Ninja later, printable pics.

I had the whole set printed to see how they looked on paper, and all with the exception of one of the jelly pics turned out great.

Keep in mind that i took about 350-450 pics while i was there, and only came out with about three dozen keepers.

 

[juniormc8704]

I think you did amazingI Especially since you layed out the circumstances and what you worked against. Since you were at such a high ISO I imagine you were handheld then, not tripod? A whale shark! Man, who would have thought? That is unreal.

I second the Atlantis Aquarium in RIverhead sentiment. it is totally AMAZING! When I was there I had my mom P&S but managed to get some good images. There are a ton of them here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16037758#post16037758
I don't want to hijack your thread so I wont post any here though.

thanks for the kind words. Yes, all were hand held. Next time i will bring my mono-pod as there were many employees that clearly knew their photo gear, and were really cool about stretching the rules. =)

 

[IPT]

there were many employees that clearly knew their photo gear, and were really cool about stretching the rules. =)

Rules...what rules? Like no tripod allowed or something? No flash I guess I can understand, what were the "rules" you speak of?

 

[engineeronh2o]

awesome hd pics but I wasn't impressed with their reef

 

[xtm]

Nice shots!

 

[thepenalty]

With picture like this, i can die.
Pure beauty!

 

[reefman23]

Ill post the original later, it took a TON of work to get that pic to come out. Also, my calibrated monitor is in for repairs, so that didnt help any.

I hope you dont mind but I adjusted the WB by simply using the dropper to select the white spots on the whale shark...

BTW, great pictures. Those sea dragons aren't easy to capture like that!

Jesse