Thursday, November 12, 2009

Getting Tanked

So... you know that saying about how it's better to sit in silence and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt?

This post is kind of like that except with me and photography skills.

I borrowed a nice camera from the official unpaid intern of Cece Marie (a site I highly recommend if you are looking for a hostess apron, and I'm not just saying that because the official unpaid intern is my boss) so I could yet again take terrible pictures of my tank.

First I took a bunch and realized why everyone else takes pictures of their reef tanks in a darkened room. For those of you in my own clueless bracket -- taking pictures of something on the other side of glass in daylight gives some great reflections of the person taking the pictures.

Seventy pictures total. Really. Here are the best five.

First, the obligatory full tank shot with full lighting:
Yeah, it's not really in focus in the front, but that was the best of a bad bunch.

Next up, the same thing with just actinic lights on:

Next, a shot that doesn't really show much of the coral, but does show a couple of different types of macroalgae. I think the macroalgae are some of the coolest things in the tank.


Next up, the Duncan, which is growing two new heads (neither of which can be seen in this photo, of course...). There's also a Blastomussa in the background on the other side of the tank:

And finally, the "they're so easy to keep that most people don't even bother" corals which are my favorites:

Honestly, I think most of the improvement came from using a tripod. I may keep the camera another night and try again tomorrow with lighting changes.

Or maybe I'll just take a few hundred pictures of my cats. You've been warned.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Take more pictures before cat hair starts clinging to the lens. Really, you can keep the equipment through the weekend so that you have no excuses. I want to see the crabs.

And thanks for the plug, I'll tell my boss to get ready for the rush of orders.

jeff said...

I lied, sleep awaits the dead.

Man, no mollys' or goldfish or 'what the heck did dad feed all those months while we waited for it all to die'?

And yet the 'forgotten' (sic) got another 6 episodes? Where is the justice?

Is that an Impossible or a Possible -- where is the shame in that?

jeff said...

Just kidding. Those are great shots. When are you going to upgrade and give me the old stuff?

Theresa B (of Nebulopathy) said...

Rvan: For some reason the crabs were hiding. The tentacles of Cthulhu were visible, but they don't photograph very well.

There's some way to do manual focus, right? I wonder if part of the problem is that it's focusing on the glass. Or perhaps the crud on the glass. Maybe if I just cleaned the tank things would look better...

Jeff: There is no justice. "The Forgotten" hasn't even had a dunk tank scene. You're welcome to the tank when you buy me the replacement. I'll even help you move it.