[aquawolf]

I spent most of the day working on my 75 gallon reef tank and then started taking pictures. I tried some things that were new for me, and learned a couple of lessons from them in the process.

I am planning on adding a whole bunch of pictures to this thread so it will not be very friendly to those who are on dial up connections. Sorry about that, but I hope everyone that can see them will enjoy them.

The main new thing I tried was top down photography. I do not have a photo box and I learned that you should not use the flash, but oh well.

 

[aquawolf]

This one I did not use the flash and only the actinics were on so it did not come out quite like I had hoped.

 

[kwdelre]

Cool pics....maybe you can find out from CRVZ how he got rid of the light reflection.

 

[aquawolf]

Cool pics....maybe you can find out from CRVZ how he got rid of the light reflection.

Thanks for the suggestion Will. Hopefully someone with great photo skills will jusmp in here and offer that advice as I am just a point and shoot guy.

 

[Franko]

looks good

 

[aquawolf]

Here are a couple of my Zoanthid frags:

You can see how I placed new tile squares next to the current frags to give the zoos a place to "walk" onto for ready made frags someday.

 

[aquawolf]

looks good

Thanks Franco! There are a lot more where these came from.

 

[aquawolf]

Here is a new shot of The Kracken with the flash on:

Some Blastomussa:

This is an orange Montipora Danae, with a Purple Cap on the shell, and Green Cap to the right:

 

[aquawolf]

An encrusting Montipora frag:

Here is a shot of my Pocillipora when I first got it:

And a picture of it today:

 

[crvz]

The best way is to loose the flash and grab a tripod (I use a $20 thing I bought on amazon). Figure out how to set it to aperture priority, if possible, and then you'll have a bit more control. Which camera is it?

Top downs are tricky. One, you can't use a tripod (or if someone does, I'd love to see it!), so holding the camera steady enough is trouble. And it's hard to avoid reflections without a photo box. Sometimes I'll try to shade them, but even still that's not really effective.

 

[crvz]

But the side tank shots look great. What settings are you using for those?

 

[BeckyC]

I like the blastomussa, M.

 

[aquawolf]

This is an Echinophyllia (sp?) frag that I got from a club meeting, with a little acro behind it:

In this shot you can see the Eagle Eye Zoanthid colony along with some Palythoas and Ricordia Yumas in the background:

I hope you all have enjoyed the pictures so far. I have some things to go take care of and will add more to the thread later.

 

[aquawolf]

The best way is to loose the flash and grab a tripod (I use a $20 thing I bought on amazon). Figure out how to set it to aperture priority, if possible, and then you'll have a bit more control. Which camera is it?

Top downs are tricky. One, you can't use a tripod (or if someone does, I'd love to see it!), so holding the camera steady enough is trouble. And it's hard to avoid reflections without a photo box. Sometimes I'll try to shade them, but even still that's not really effective.

But the side tank shots look great. What settings are you using for those?

The camera is a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z10, which is a point and shoot 2.3 Megapixels with an 8X optical zoom. I will readily admit that I know nothing about photography, at all, so I just leave it in whatever settings it has when I turn it on.

I have no earthly idea what an aperature is, let alone how to give it priority over other things. Call me simple, but it seems to work okay for me.

I like the blastomussa, M.

Thanks B! :lol:

 

[BeckyC]

I like that zoa shot, as well.
Almost put me in the mood to shop either for zoas or a new camera.

 

[aquawolf]

I like that zoa shot, as well.
Almost put me in the mood to shop either for zoas or a new camera.

Thanks, I would love to have a tank with nothing but zoas and rics in it sometime. You will see in the next series of pictures that my rics would like that as well.

The main question will be which one are you allowed to shop for that will not get you in trouble?

 

[YLChik]

Thanks, I would love to have a tank with nothing but zoas and rics in it sometime. You will see in the next series of pictures that my rics would like that as well.

The main question will be which one are you allowed to shop for that will not get you in trouble?

my pony tank was almost nothing but zoas - I really liked it!

 

[aquawolf]

my pony tank was almost nothing but zoas - I really liked it!

That is a thought as well Amy. Thanks for stopping by!

 

[aquawolf]

Back to the pictures.

I have seen where some people have pictures of their Ricordia Gardens. While I would love to have one of those one day, I currently am the proud owner of a Ricordia Weed Bed.

This is one large rock that is almost completely covered in multiple layers:

On the other side of the tank I have another large rock that looks like this:

Of course this means that I am continuously finding new little babies on my live rock in various places.

This is my Fungia, aka green plate coral:

 

[aquawolf]

Here is an unknown LPS frag I picked up after the TRT Picnic. I really liked it when I picked it out, but just can't remember the name of it. :doh:

This is a Favia Brain that we cut up using a wet saw at one of the Columbia Marine Aquarium Club meetings: