Photography

These pictures were taken under Neptune SKY lighting in Coral Growth mode. I cleaned up the images in Lightroom. 

The reef has been doing well lately. I've been staying on top of water testing, and of course daily glass cleaning duty.  Some of the other things I've done lately:

Dosed Prodibio
Changed the RODI filters
Cleaned the Nyos 300 skimmer's collection cup and squeegee assembly
Cleaned and re-set the algae turf scrubber, pulling out over 2 lbs of green hair algae.
Sent off and received a current ICP test.

In a previous article  I mentioned how you could decide one what type of camera to buy. This article will go into how you can take beautiful pictures with your digital camera, using a few simple settings.

July 20 - 22, 2007: MAAST, MARSH, and DFWMAS all joined together for a fun collection trip near Galveston, Texas. The plan was to scoop out some peppermint shrimp out of the ocean, play in the water, and enjoy a bonfire. We had a great time, and here are some pictures to prove it...

April 18 - 19, 2008: The Board of Directors from the Cleveland Saltwater Enthusiasts Association contacted me to come out and speak to their club... While I was there, I had the opportunity to visit a couple of fish stores and see a member's tank.

You will recognize some or most of these images, but I was thinking how it would be nice to put these in one webpage, especially describing the techniques used to get the images.

In the past couple of weeks, I have had three opportunities to photography newly released baby Peppermint Shrimp in my tank. I didn't even know what they were at first, but it was fascinating to study them up close. However, shooting them with my digital camera was challenging.

My friend Jessy takes great late night pictures, and I asked her to show me some of her secrets. We walked down to the beach and set up our cameras on tripods, and then commenced shooting.

If you use a computer that operated with Windows XP, Microsoft offers a simple PowerToy called Image Resizer. You can download it here, for free:

ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe

Once downloaded, double click on the file to open the program. It will install quickly after a few clicks of the mouse.

Are you considering the purchase of a digital camera? Cellphones take pictures, tablets too, but a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) is almost inevitable with this hobby. We seem to require more than just saltwater experience: You need to know how to work with electrical components, plumbing, woodworking, and more. Photography is equally important for a number of reasons.

In an effort to come up with a better way of viewing corals and clams from above, especially in photography, I came up with a box that keeps the camera & lens dry and gives the photographer the ability to bring out the vivid colors without the issues of wave motion or light reflections.

If you would like to purchase one, please visit my Reef Shop.

For a long time now, I've followed discussion of extension tubes for macro photography. And a few years ago, I looked up what they cost and quickly dismissed them. However, in the back of my mind, I kept thinking "what if those are really what I need to get these stellar macro shots?"