My Reef Tank Photo Journal

[oceanleaf]

Hi all,

I have been an amateur nature photographer for a while, and I'm now trying my best to adapt my skills to reef photography.
I would like to share some pictures from my 40G AIO reef tank.
Hope everyone enjoy!

My favorite coral of my reef. A colony of Gold Torch.

Under cool white light

Close up of a mouth!

 

[Rmckoy]

looks great . What camera are you using ?

@Mibu great quality pictures similar to what’s seen in your posts

 

[oceanleaf]

looks great . What camera are you using ?

@Mibu great quality pictures similar to what’s seen in your posts

Thanks!

I use a Sony A7ii camera with an SEL90M28G macro lens.

 

[Goaway]

Very gorgeous photos, high detail of the torch!

 

[maroun.c]

Great shots!

 

[oceanleaf]

Very gorgeous photos, high detail of the torch!

Great shots!

Thanks!

 

[oceanleaf]

Some more shots of torches in my reef!

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Hi all,

I have been an amateur nature photographer for a while, and I'm now trying my best to adapt my skills to reef photography.
I would like to share some pictures from my 40G AIO reef tank.
Hope everyone enjoy!

My favorite coral of my reef. A colony of Gold Torch.

Under cool white light

Close up of a mouth!

Love the first shot!

 

[maroun.c]

Can you share info about these shots, lighting, parameters, are u using flash ?

 

[oceanleaf]

Can you share info about these shots, lighting, parameters, are u using flash ?

Hi sorry for the delay in reply.

Sure. Here are the parameters.
F-stop: f/8
Exposure time: 200s
ISO: 250 - 500 (depending on how far back in the tank the coral is)

I always use a tripod to stabilize my camera.
I use custom white balance setting by following steps outlined in this thread.

I use a custom-made flash with mainly royal blue color with a hint of blue and cyan (or cool white in some instance).

 

[watchguy123]

Great camera, lens, set up and coral. Doesn’t get any better than that. Your photos look super

 

[kiran]

This is really great work.

I have a similar setup with an A7RII and the 90mm macro.

May I ask how you're shooting these? Like through glass or if you're using an underwater lens hood? Any orange filters?

I have 2 Savage bicolor LED studio lights. Are there any recommended colors you recommend I use for shooting with them?

Love the work!

 

[oceanleaf]

Great camera, lens, set up and coral. Doesn’t get any better than that. Your photos look super

Thanks a lot!

This is really great work.

I have a similar setup with an A7RII and the 90mm macro.

May I ask how you're shooting these? Like through glass or if you're using an underwater lens hood? Any orange filters?

I have 2 Savage bicolor LED studio lights. Are there any recommended colors you recommend I use for shooting with them?

Love the work!

I mostly shoot through front glass because I generally like the front view of corals better than the top view (this might not apply to all types of corals). When shooting this way, you have to make sure that the camera is perpendicular to the glass to prevent aberration. The topic is covered in great length in this article.

When using blue light, I think a lot of people use orange/yellow filters with great success. I personally found them to produce pictures that are too orange and also too dim, so I never have good success with them

For lighting, royal blue (450nm) probably produces the best fluorescence, but I found that cool white light (>6000K) generally produce really good color too (again this might not apply to all coral specimens).

Here is a comparison of the same corals (two different shootings).
Under blue light (using color correction method outlined here).

Under 6000K white light with auto white balance on the camera.

Hope this helps!

 

[kiran]

Thanks a lot!



I mostly shoot through front glass because I generally like the front view of corals better than the top view (this might not apply to all types of corals). When shooting this way, you have to make sure that the camera is perpendicular to the glass to prevent aberration. The topic is covered in great length in this article.

When using blue light, I think a lot of people use orange/yellow filters with great success. I personally found them to produce pictures that are too orange and also too dim, so I never have good success with them

For lighting, royal blue (450nm) probably produces the best fluorescence, but I found that cool white light (>6000K) generally produce really good color too (again this might not apply to all coral specimens).

Here is a comparison of the same corals (two different shootings).
Under blue light (using color correction method outlined here).

Under 6000K white light with auto white balance on the camera.

Hope this helps!

Thanks a lot for the reply! Will using a rubber hood up against the glass help with the aberrations?

 

[oceanleaf]

Thanks a lot for the reply! Will using a rubber hood up against the glass help with the aberrations?

I believe so. Anything that helps keep the lens straight will be helpful. However, it is not necessary. I don't use any equipment to align the lens and only eyeball it.

 

[kiran]

I believe so. Anything that helps keep the lens straight will be helpful. However, it is not necessary. I don't use any equipment to align the lens and only eyeball it.

Thanks! I appreciate the info.

 

[oceanleaf]

Happy Thanksgiving weekend!
Hope everyone has a good time and gets some great shopping deals.

My favorite NPS coral, a fathead dendro.

 

[oceanleaf]

Showing some love to the softies!

 

[oceanleaf]

Sunday is the time for feeding frenzy!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Beautiful photos!!!