by AquaNerd | Jul 29, 2014 | Science, Seahorses
There is something that is just so alluring about sea dragons. Although they aren’t too different from seahorses, usually moving in the same slow and methodical fashion while they cruise around the aquarium, they are far more elaborate in their appearance. Looking like an ultra modified versions of their close seahorse relatives, sea dragons are often adorned with elaborate fins that resemble marine vegetation like Sargassum, kelp, and whatever else is readily available in their habitat. And like seahorses, the sea dragons are just so cute and are super easy to photograph. They can get quite camera shy, but after warming up to us, we are usually able to get good pictures of them, such as the one shown above. The image was taken at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. by AquaNerd | May 27, 2014 | Corals, Photography, Science
As aquarists who frequently dabble in the realm of photography, we can appreciate this new product from Houston-based acrylic fabricator, Building an Obsession. Announced just a couple of days ago, BAO has a swanky new top down box for DSLR style cameras, which, as you could imagine, would make taking photos of corals so much easier. The top down box features a 6″ deep carbon fiber tube that mounts to the camera via the universal tripod mount. The lightweight tube sports a crystal clear acrylic window that helps keep water off the lens while also preventing distortion of the images. The top down box also has an optional “lip clip”, which is an add-on that lets you better stabilize the camera be letting users mount the entire assembly to a tank rim or eurobrace. The clip is adjustable to allow for various angles of shooting. The first batch of these top down boxes is complete, and each will retail for $50 by AquaNerd | Dec 27, 2013 | Fish, Science
For the latest AquaNerd Picture of the Week, we’re digging up an oldie but goodie. This image of an Acropora granulosa is one that we took a few years ago at a local fish store, T&T Fish and Reef. We originally posted the photo back in 2010, but since we were still a fledgeling little blog at the time, we felt that it didn’t get near enough love. So, we are shamelessly sharing it once again. The colony has was quite large, with the gorgeous branches and stems growing tightly together. The coral’s body sported an almost greenish hue, with the color quickly morphing into purple as you move toward each corallite. The actual polyp is sharp white, contrasting nicely with the purple background by AquaNerd | Dec 11, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Industry, Photography, Science, Tanks
By: Daniel Leija The use of cell phones is nothing new in this hobby, as they’ve been a vital tool with applications that help us calculate how much calcium to dose in our tank and give us the ability to monitor and control our aquariums from afar. While these apps haven’t been around for too long, comparatively, something that has been in use for what seem like an eternity is cell phone cameras, and hobbyists are always improving aquarium photography with their phones. With the constant competition of who is the best and top dog of the smartphone industry, it is the camera in our phones that is always upgraded. For example, the iPhone 5 has an 8 megapixel camera. This year the iPhone 5s was released, and while it stayed with its 8 megapixel camera, it increased its aperture to f/2.4, allowing up to %33 more light into the camera. It also got really neat features like the burst mode allowing you to capture things in action with more success. It also got the slow-mo feature slowing videos down making for really neat shots of fish eating or swimming. While DSLR macro shots are relatively nice, we all know that is another hobby that gets expensive. Nothing is going to beat a nice crisp shot you get with a true macro lens attached to that awesome camera of your choice, but we have found great success snapping close up pictures of our tanks with our phones by AquaNerd | Nov 18, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Invertebrates, Photography, Science
As an aquarium hobbyist who is also fairly passionate about photography, I am always looking to capture those unique moments when I’m at a fish store or some other venue where fish, corals, and invertebrates take center stage. Often times, I’ll have my camera in hand and I can snap off a few decent shots here and there. More often though, I’ll be without my DSLR and have to rely on my smartphone, which isn’t exactly the most ideal option. The phone of choice for me has been the iPhone, with the 5s being my most current option. For those of you familiar, this phone can actually take decent pictures. Unfortunately, the pitfall for the on-board camera, like with most cameras, is blue LEDs. Thankfully, I stumbled upon this cheap little hack that can get you photos that are closer to what we see with the human eye.
