Saturday, September 27, 2014

Experimental aquarium photos

Taking photos of tank residents, I'm usually restricted to the first half inch or so on the other side of the glass. Beyond that, seaweed and swimmers, bubbles and shadows all get in the way. And there are already the scratches and algae on the glass itself to contend with. The photos are blurry, noisy, and dark, mostly unusable.

But the other day, I jammed the lens right up against the glass, ignored the obstructions, and aimed deep into the water. Here are the results, with just cropping and light level adjustment; I reduced the noise minimally, or not at all on some, in order to keep more of the detail.

The hermits love to climb into the anemone's mouth. They clean out detritus, and sometimes argue with her over a juicy shrimp. She doesn't seem to mind most of the time. This is one of the larger Hairy hermits, all pinkish from eating Violet Tunicates.

A smaller, blue hermit in a shell I brought from the pet store. There's a second hermit just behind a thin blade of red seaweed.

In the shadow of the eelgrass and sea lettuce.

A better view of Val's (the anemone's) side wall. I did smooth out most of the noise here, so distant detail is lost.

Farther back, two hermits on a dark brown, stumpy seaweed. The one in the orange whelk shell is a Grainy Hand hermit. No noise correction, no spot removal.

25 minutes later, a smaller Hairy hermit has climbed on top, for a better view.

A bit closer, on the side wall. An Asian mud snail and his reflection.

(I'm recovering from surgery, working slowly, as I can. All is well.)

2 comments:

  1. Oh that picture of Val is stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to hear you are doing well!! These images are amazing!!! I would say this experiment is a success! Aren't you glad you don't have to pay for film any longer?

    ReplyDelete

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