Acro heaven

[gregr]

Just finished editing a batch of photos I took at a friends store last Saturday. It kinda makes me feel a little better about my boring tank that he's got employees to take care of this incredible system. I think if it were mine it'd be full of hair algae
Tank is 800g and 14 feet long. Fills me full of awe every time I see it.


The close-ups are here.

[cdearing]

Wow Greg! Those are incredible photos. Such beautiful corals. It's really a fantastic tank. Thanks for sharing!
Cyn

[gregr]

Thanks- I thought the folks here would appreciate the corals. They really are superbly healthy.

[charlie]

Un $%^&^&**** real

[TimH07]

Un $%^&^&**** real

i concur

[Reefland]

Between that and watching the video of Kevin's 600, who could compete.

[Nemo Keeper]

WOW!!!!! I can't look at my tank anymore...thanks...LOL

[denhay14]

Haha hes got employees to take care of it. That would be awesome but also takes part of the fun out of it. Awesome tank though hope to have one like that someday.

[Nemo Keeper]

Yeah Iknow what you mean! I was just thinking though, must be a pain in the A** to do a water change...LOL

[gregr]

This is an hdr (high dynamic range) image of a section on the left side of the tank. This is actually 6 images stacked together to make one. Each shot is taken at a different exposure level (brightness) going from almost all black to almost all white. You end up with a lot more detail in the dark and light areas- this is my first try but I see potential.

[zhenya]

Great work, Greg!
How long does it take to take six images with a different exposure levels?
That last shot is absolutely beautiful I must add.
You need to give me some pointers on how to do this some day...

[gregr]

To take all of the images... well, it only takes a few seconds really. Use manual exposure mode and select your aperture (I think I used f10 for the attached shot). Then select a shutter speed that gives you 3 stops under exposed, take the pic, then set the shutter speed so that the shot is two stops under, then one, then zero, then plus one etc etc. Most likely you can get away with minus two up to plus two but I err on the safe side.
If you have Photoshop CS4 I can give you directions on how to process it with that, or you can use any of several decent programs that do hdr processing specifically.
Of course a sturdy tripod is critical because the framing can't move at all between shots. I think most people that shoot hdr images are doing landscapes but I thought it would be worth a try to do a coral shot because the contrast in reeftanks is just way too much. Your restricted to shots of stuff that doesn't move though so it has limited use.

[Papa Doug]

[gregr]

One more try at the hdr thing. Same part of the tank, different batch of pics and different processing settings. I think this one looks a bit more natural.

[charlie]

One more try at the hdr thing. Same part of the tank, different batch of pics and different processing settings. I think this one looks a bit more natural.

Good God, would you stop, I am starting to drool now!!!!!!!!

[Poseidon]

That is cool Greg! Will you post the image that the camera's built in light meter said was "right"?

[gregr]

I shot this in manual exposure mode and don't remember which shot was in the middle... so I looked at the histograms and chose the one that looked the middlest

[zhenya]

I shot this in manual exposure mode and don't remember which shot was in the middle... so I looked at the histograms and chose the one that looked the middlest

It is a very nice shot all by itself but it's no where near the HDR results.

One of this days I will have to upgrade my gear and software...

[twisted]

Awesome pics! thanks for sharing!

[twisted]

jonas, go drink a cup of tacks. make sure you gargle before you swallow