DGee's Box O sticks V2

[drawman]

I'm curious @DGee what rocks did you use for your restart? Looks like BRS Tonga branch to me I like the look a lot.

 

[DGee]

The 810 has become my go to camera for most everything. It is amazing in all light situations. The built in AWB is much more precise. My images still come out blue, but not over saturated as they were in the 7100 or 5200. It is my first full frame and I'm happy I went with it. I love the amount of options and adjustable parameters. Compared to my previous Nikons, they are almost like point and shoots compared to this thing. It is very large and heavy, but I don't mind. I've even enjoyed shooting video with it and I rarely shoot video. I posted a short macro vid on my build that was shot completely with the 810 and 55mm macro.
I still have my 7100, but that has been relegated to wildlife photography. That is my primary photography passion. I posted some images in my build thread from a recent trip.
I made a lens tube for photographing top down shots, but it is nothing compared to the one you made. I really need to make something like you have. Would make top down shots much easier.
I'm glad to see that my shooting parameters are not much different. I just need to keep practicing. Both at the macro photography and photoshop. I tend to do everything in Camera Raw, but I could probably produce better images if I learned to mask and adjust background and foreground objects separately. The images you took of your fish and coral with the macro lens are nothing short of amazing. I can't imagine the patience you need to get the perfect shot. Gives me something to practice and aspire towards.
Did you take a class on Photoshop or are you self taught? I'm seriously thinking of taking an online class to improve my abilities and would appreciate your input.

I recently purchased a Nikon 200mm f/4 micro, but had to send it in for repair. The M/A ring cracked and wouldn't allow me to focus the lens correctly. That's what I get for trying to get an expensive lens for cheap on eBay, lol. My plan is to use this lens primarily for flowers and insects, but I'll probably try it on my tank as well.

One thing you might want to try is manually setting your white balance using a piece of paper. It'll force an offset reference point which may help you out shooting under the mass of blue light. As for Photoshop, I'm completely self taught, and honestly know very little in comparison to many. I'd say I know just enough to get me into trouble lol. I know there's so much more I could do with the photos I've just never taken the time to learn or to mess with them that much. I'd love to shoot my F5 and bang out rolls of film taking tank photos, sadly it would also probably run me broke to get 10 good shots.

Ebay is so hit or miss, you can definitely find deals sometimes but it also seems like a place for people to dump their junk. I have an addiction to pawn shops, there are a few great ones here in town that I always frequent to look for camera gear and guitars (another terribly expensive hobby) but you can sometimes find great deals at pawn shops on really nice stuff, another bonus is you can get your hands on it before you buy it. If you've got cash in hand most places are willing to barter.

As an example, this is the Tierra Del Fuego I posted on the previous page before I did any editing.

 

[DGee]

I'm curious @DGee what rocks did you use for your restart? Looks like BRS Tonga branch to me I like the look a lot.

The pieces are definitely Tonga, I picked them up from a local reefer who had torn down his 600g and had them dried out for quite some time. Honestly I've never been much of a fan of the tonga branch look but the big piece was pretty amazing so I decided to go with it.

 

[Faraday]

I'm so glad I found this thread. I made some notes that will be helpful on my new build so I really appreciate you sharing your tank. Also the pics are fantastic!

Just curious, are you still working on the 8ft tank build?

 

[DGee]

I'm so glad I found this thread. I made some notes that will be helpful on my new build so I really appreciate you sharing your tank. Also the pics are fantastic!

Just curious, are you still working on the 8ft tank build?

It's funny, I never had much interest in sharing my tanks over the years but I do feel it's important to share knowledge and I've grown to enjoy sharing the trials and tribulations of the tank.

As for the 8' tank that's still the plan but not until we buy or build a new house. We've recently gotten more active again in looking for a larger piece of property to build on.

 

[Michael Naegeli]

Wow!!! Great Job.... that tank is just Ridiculous!

 

[bubbaque]

That's crazy before and after photoshop. Would you mind sharing what you did to get the finished result?

 

[DGee]

That's crazy before and after photoshop. Would you mind sharing what you did to get the finished result?

You can see the adjustments I made here, for me it's really just about making each photo look as realistic as possible as if you were standing in my living room. Keep in mind I actually run a set of custom settings for saturation and other things inside the camera so I can compensate for them in Photoshop. Each camera is different so the setting really don't cross over unless you were shooting a Nikon d300 with similar lighting.

 

[erk]

One thing you might want to try is manually setting your white balance using a piece of paper. It'll force an offset reference point which may help you out shooting under the mass of blue light. As for Photoshop, I'm completely self taught, and honestly know very little in comparison to many. I'd say I know just enough to get me into trouble lol. I know there's so much more I could do with the photos I've just never taken the time to learn or to mess with them that much. I'd love to shoot my F5 and bang out rolls of film taking tank photos, sadly it would also probably run me broke to get 10 good shots.

Ebay is so hit or miss, you can definitely find deals sometimes but it also seems like a place for people to dump their junk. I have an addiction to pawn shops, there are a few great ones here in town that I always frequent to look for camera gear and guitars (another terribly expensive hobby) but you can sometimes find great deals at pawn shops on really nice stuff, another bonus is you can get your hands on it before you buy it. If you've got cash in hand most places are willing to barter.

As an example, this is the Tierra Del Fuego I posted on the previous page before I did any editing.

I haven't tried setting white balance manually, but will definitely try it on the next shoot. That should help in getting better colors and hopefully help the sensor pick up more details. I also haven't tried pawn shops much. Will keep them in mind the next time I start looking for another lens or camera accessory.

Looking at your settings from Camera Raw, I typically only bump up clarity and vibrance. I'll play with saturation a bit as well as increasing the temperature. I usually set it at 16ooo-20000K. Thank you for sharing your settings and methods. Helps to learn what others are doing.

 

[choss]

Just read this start to finish as well. Will be following along with great interest. Wasn't there also a mention of going to an 8' tank? Is that still in the future?

 

[DGee]

I haven't tried setting white balance manually, but will definitely try it on the next shoot. That should help in getting better colors and hopefully help the sensor pick up more details. I also haven't tried pawn shops much. Will keep them in mind the next time I start looking for another lens or camera accessory.

Looking at your settings from Camera Raw, I typically only bump up clarity and vibrance. I'll play with saturation a bit as well as increasing the temperature. I usually set it at 16ooo-20000K. Thank you for sharing your settings and methods. Helps to learn what others are doing.

You'll find that once you crank the temperature up you'll lose pretty much all of your color, so I always start there then make adjustments from there to bring the colors back. Best thing to do is just start moving sliders and playing with the photo, eventually you'll figure out how to manipulate them to get the color back and things looking like what you see with the naked eye.

 

[DGee]

Just read this start to finish as well. Will be following along with great interest. Wasn't there also a mention of going to an 8' tank? Is that still in the future?

Yes the 8' tank is still the plan, but it won't be happening till we build our new house.

 

[choss]

Yes the 8' tank is still the plan, but it won't be happening till we build our new house.

well that is the perfect time to do it! How many of us debate building a dream home just so we can have the perfect tank setup?

 

[echopiece]

DGee, how are you maintaining temperature now with the MH's? Fan? Chiller? If a fan, do you have it hooked up to a reef controller?

 

[DGee]

DGee, how are you maintaining temperature now with the MH's? Fan? Chiller? If a fan, do you have it hooked up to a reef controller?

I run an Apex on the tank, eventually going to GHL. I won't even begin to talk about my dislike and my issues with Neptune.

We keep the house pretty cool in the summer but I have a feeling a chiller will be going back online. I do keep a 10" fan in the sump.

I lot of people worry about the heat and power consumption with running halides. The flip side to that is that my 300w heater doesn't even come on once the halides are on and the tank stays an even 78-78.5 in the cooler months.

 

[DGee]

The fan isn't on on the Apex, it runs 24/7. I've always ran a 10" fan on the backside of the sump so there's air circulation down there.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

@DGee, any new updates? I love your reef!

 

[poomba]

Wow. I can't believe I've never seen this thread. Beautiful tank.

 

[Wrangy]

Yeesss, updates would be awesome!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

@DGee, hope all is well! Any new updates? Man, I'd love to see some more of this reef!