Some of my Fluorescence In Corals photographs

smoq

smoq

New member
Since the first time I saw a photograph of a coral fluoresce in the dark, I wanted to learn how to shoot them myself. This is, by far, my favorite thing in photography and a phenomenal occurrence in nature. Here's some of my shots, you can check more by visiting my homepage. I will be posting some more here, too. Let me know what you think:

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Great shots! May I ask for the method how u captured these images? I find it very difficult capturing the color of corals in blue or even UV light.
 
Thanks everyone. Fluorescence is a natural thing corals do, it's absorbing light of one wavelength and releasing it in another. To capture that you need a filter on the lens that filters out blue spectrum of light and an enhancement light source to illuminate fluorescence. I'm using a custom cut out gel for my flash and a yellow filter on the macro lens to capture this. It requires a good amount of practice to dial the flash so it filters all other wavelengths and still shows a properly exposed fluorescence picture. Hope that helps. I will post more later
 
smoq said:
I'm using a custom cut out gel for my flash and a yellow filter on the macro lens to capture this. /QUOTE]

Killer shots . . . . . you are the man/woman!!!!!!!! Can't tell by the name, mine is Bela & I am male :).

If you do not mind sharing:

1. What gel? Can you be specific wrt brand & colour/gel #?
2. What Yellow filter? Can you be specific wrt brand & colour#?

Marcin,

This is very usefully info! I had planned to order a shortpass filter for my flash but put if off due to the cost ($325) and not knowing whether it will work or not. Thanks to you I am now very confident that it should work. Thanks !!!!!!
Click to expand...
 
Bikermike said:
Amazing photos
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Thank you:)


SushiGirl said:
These are awesome shots. Can I ask what this piece is?
Click to expand...

Thanks. This is some crazy chalice my good friend have in his tank and I'm begging him to frag me a piece. It's glowing even in daylight. He got it from another reefer but if you'd buy this from a vendor you'd probably pay a ridiculous price.


Bela N said:
Killer shots . . . . . you are the man/woman!!!!!!!! Can't tell by the name, mine is Bela & I am male :).

If you do not mind sharing:

1. What gel? Can you be specific wrt brand & colour/gel #?
2. What Yellow filter? Can you be specific wrt brand & colour#?

Marcin,

This is very usefully info! I had planned to order a shortpass filter for my flash but put if off due to the cost ($325) and not knowing whether it will work or not. Thanks to you I am now very confident that it should work. Thanks !!!!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks Bela, I'm Marcin and I'm male:) You can check my bio on my homepage. As far as gels, I bought a sample of Rosco gels and experiment with the various dark blue ones they have. Many of them work, I can't tell you which one I used but it's definitely dark blue or dark violet. If you order a sample pack from Rosco you'll receive more colors that you'll ever need:) And they fit my flash (SB 900) nicely
Again, with yellow filter it was like that- I went to a plastics store, bought a piece of dark yellow acrylic and cut it out to fit a lens filter. This place that sells those fluorescence filters you mentioned is crazy expensive IMO. Just go to a plastic store and ask for yellow acrylic sheets. Or, you can try experiment with Tiffen filters, they have three different shades of yellow. Hope that helps
 
Smoq, I suspect it's the chalice we have a small frag of that we got @ NextWave. My boyfriend paid $125 for it for one eye (it now has 3 more starting, yay!). We're not big on designer corals & he bought it only because he liked it. An hour after we bought it, it was announced as limited edition. The guy that sold it to us said he'd be back in a year to get frags back LOL. I told him good luck because we're not into fragging, either! So, that looks to me like a Steve Tyree Limited Edition Tropicana Twist chalice & since it went LE, one eye is now more than $125!! It's awesome to see how it's gonna look all grown up since it's our most expensive & only designer piece!
 
These are pretty impressive I have never seen anyone do this before. I am a photographer for a living but still haven't dabbled that much in tank photography this thread may have been just what I need to start taking some photos thanks!!!
 
Thank you guys/gals, I really appreciate your input. My little dream is to have my own coffe table book/album about coral fluorescence sometime in the future. I need more subjects to photograph though, need to befriend some local LFS:)

SushiGirl said:
Smoq, I suspect it's the chalice we have a small frag of that we got @ NextWave. My boyfriend paid $125 for it for one eye (it now has 3 more starting, yay!). We're not big on designer corals & he bought it only because he liked it. An hour after we bought it, it was announced as limited edition. The guy that sold it to us said he'd be back in a year to get frags back LOL. I told him good luck because we're not into fragging, either! So, that looks to me like a Steve Tyree Limited Edition Tropicana Twist chalice & since it went LE, one eye is now more than $125!! It's awesome to see how it's gonna look all grown up since it's our most expensive & only designer piece!
Click to expand...

That could be it, neither I nor my friend knows but we really don't care. He is very cool and I'm positive he's gonna give me a frag someday. Good to know though.
 
SushiGirl said:
Smoq, I suspect it's the chalice we have a small frag of that we got @ NextWave. My boyfriend paid $125 for it for one eye (it now has 3 more starting, yay!). We're not big on designer corals & he bought it only because he liked it. An hour after we bought it, it was announced as limited edition. The guy that sold it to us said he'd be back in a year to get frags back LOL. I told him good luck because we're not into fragging, either! So, that looks to me like a Steve Tyree Limited Edition Tropicana Twist chalice & since it went LE, one eye is now more than $125!! It's awesome to see how it's gonna look all grown up since it's our most expensive & only designer piece!
Click to expand...

There was a 24 hour sale that just ended (don't think I am aloud to say the name here). You should have seen the prices of those chalices! On sale for $699, regular price $1200 (this is per eye). I will only go for a designer if I actually like it and it isn't one of them that has prices like the chalices mentioned earlier.

Great pictures! What kind of zoanthids are the first and second pics?
 
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