Lemony Lemons
Active Member
Beautiful tanks & gorgeous setup!! I feel like I just watched an episode of national geographic - nice job!!
Short intro, pic intensive!
- Thread starter tektite
- Start date
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Reefnjunkie
Acropora Junkie
Nice set up, pics and overall 'everything!'
By chance if its a short answer would you mind sharing the type of lens, and settings you use to take the pics of the fish, i.e. ISO, F stop etc, I'm a noob obviously and need a few pointers, unless of course you have just trained your fish to stop swimming that is.
Again only if its a short answer, I don't want to derail your thread-but like I said
GREAT PICS!!!!!
By chance if its a short answer would you mind sharing the type of lens, and settings you use to take the pics of the fish, i.e. ISO, F stop etc, I'm a noob obviously and need a few pointers, unless of course you have just trained your fish to stop swimming that is.
Again only if its a short answer, I don't want to derail your thread-but like I said
GREAT PICS!!!!!
OP
OP
I usually use my 24-105 kit lens with my 5D mkII to take the fish pictures. ISO I like to keep at 400 for most aquarium pics, sometimes go to 800 if I need a bit more light. I just really hate noise in my images so I keep ISO as low as possible. Noise level will vary greatly at different ISO's for different cameras. F-stop is as low as the lens will go, f4-f5.6 depending on zoom level. Not great as far as light goes, but going any faster with a different lens there makes depth of field so incredibly shallow, not really worth it IMO unless you're looking for that kind of picture. Shutter I use 1/200-1/250 usually, unless the fish is swimming really fast that's usually good enough to not get motion blurring. Shutter speed is key, just remember whatever your other settings are, if you use too slow of a shutter speed and there's motion blurring there's no way to ever fix that. If the picture is dark/underexposed from too fast of a shutter speed it can be lightened in post-processing. Lots of tradeoffs with different camera settings 
Lower ISO - higher quality image but less light captured, higher ISO - more light captured but image quality degraded with noise, lower f-stop number - more light let in but shallower depth of field, higher f-stop number - less light let in but greater depth of field and more of the image is in focus, lower shutter speed - more light captured, but can get motion blurring from moving subjects, higher shutter speed - less light captured but 'freezes' motion on moving subjects. Its all about finding the correct balance for you and your camera of those three settings.
With faster fish, you'll have to 'track' them to get the best results, don't wait for them to swim where you are but constantly stay right in front of them as they swim. Watch their patterns, sometimes they'll swim slower in different areas of the tank, or you'll notice they pause in some section of their swim pattern, or slow down enough to get a good pic right before they turn. As you keep moving the camera to keep them in the frame, it helps with motion blurring on the fish, plus focusing. Digital cameras have 2 steps to the shutter button, halfway press focuses, full press takes pic. The delay between the two has gotten very quick with cameras now, but its still there. So if you're stationary taking a pic of a fast moving fish, by the time you fully press the shutter and the camera focuses and takes the shot, you're often left with just a tail in the pic
Lower ISO - higher quality image but less light captured, higher ISO - more light captured but image quality degraded with noise, lower f-stop number - more light let in but shallower depth of field, higher f-stop number - less light let in but greater depth of field and more of the image is in focus, lower shutter speed - more light captured, but can get motion blurring from moving subjects, higher shutter speed - less light captured but 'freezes' motion on moving subjects. Its all about finding the correct balance for you and your camera of those three settings.With faster fish, you'll have to 'track' them to get the best results, don't wait for them to swim where you are but constantly stay right in front of them as they swim. Watch their patterns, sometimes they'll swim slower in different areas of the tank, or you'll notice they pause in some section of their swim pattern, or slow down enough to get a good pic right before they turn. As you keep moving the camera to keep them in the frame, it helps with motion blurring on the fish, plus focusing. Digital cameras have 2 steps to the shutter button, halfway press focuses, full press takes pic. The delay between the two has gotten very quick with cameras now, but its still there. So if you're stationary taking a pic of a fast moving fish, by the time you fully press the shutter and the camera focuses and takes the shot, you're often left with just a tail in the pic
nature786
Well-Known Member
You Sir are Special; good with the camera, with a reef tank, a macro tank and to top it off that room is cleaner than most peoples bedroom.
Awesome Job and thanks for sharing.
Almost forgot..... Welcome to one of the greatest Reefing Forums.
Awesome Job and thanks for sharing.
Almost forgot..... Welcome to one of the greatest Reefing Forums.
ReeferMan420
Active Member
Very cool tank and love the pics.
I have a question about your flatworm infestation. What kind of experiments are you conducting? As to see how long they survive with AEFW infestation? Treaments etc? I am always interested in marine research in regards to aquarium care and would be interested on what you are studying.
Great tank and set up!
I have a question about your flatworm infestation. What kind of experiments are you conducting? As to see how long they survive with AEFW infestation? Treaments etc? I am always interested in marine research in regards to aquarium care and would be interested on what you are studying.
Great tank and set up!
OP
OP
Thanks everyone!
LOL! You should see it when it wasn't just cleaned for a pic
I'll be doing a variety of experiments, the first one (should start within a few days) is how long the adult AEFW live without access to a host acro. Other questions I'm looking into are how long it takes eggs to hatch, how long it takes for AEFW to grow from hatch to egg-laying maturity, along with investigating several dips for killing both adults and embryos in eggs. There's a bunch more questions Kate and I will be looking into, but those are the big ticket items people are most interested in. I have threads started on RC and my local reefkeeping forum, maybe I should start one here too
LOL! You should see it when it wasn't just cleaned for a pic
I'll be doing a variety of experiments, the first one (should start within a few days) is how long the adult AEFW live without access to a host acro. Other questions I'm looking into are how long it takes eggs to hatch, how long it takes for AEFW to grow from hatch to egg-laying maturity, along with investigating several dips for killing both adults and embryos in eggs. There's a bunch more questions Kate and I will be looking into, but those are the big ticket items people are most interested in. I have threads started on RC and my local reefkeeping forum, maybe I should start one here too
DaniSLOelle
Active Member
Amazing! Your DYI skills are so very impressive, clearly well executed. You are an inspiration! I appreciate how full of life your macro algae tanks are, your fish must think they're in heaven! Also as impressive is your work with AEFW. Is that a pair of mandarins? Thank you for sharing!
OP
OP
My macro tank is quite a unique environment, that was my pair of green mandarins. I found them a new home as I'm planning on redoing my macro tank and didn't want to put them through a period of low food as pods built back up in the main tank. They would mate almost every single night, sometimes twice a night I never got around to raising the larvae. I miss them, am on the lookout for a new pair but I'm being extremely picky this time as far as coloration and conformation, I want an above average pair.
I didn't have my macro lens so I couldn't get great pics when I had them, but I got some:
Newly released eggs:
Fertilized egg:
Newly hatched larva:
48 hr old post-hatch larva
72 hr post-hatch:
I never got around to raising the larvae. I miss them, am on the lookout for a new pair but I'm being extremely picky this time as far as coloration and conformation, I want an above average pair.I didn't have my macro lens so I couldn't get great pics when I had them, but I got some:
Newly released eggs:
Fertilized egg:
Newly hatched larva:
48 hr old post-hatch larva
72 hr post-hatch:
Stunning photos. Thanks so much for sharing them with us! Welcome to R2R
