My newest coral.

Sharkbait · Aug 4, 2004

Found a snazzy purple gorgonian at the LFS (local fish store) this past week and couldn't pass it up. Each of the polyps is a little bit bigger than a period printed on a page. This was shot with my +7 closeup filters on (hence the short DOF).

Alison · Aug 4, 2004

Cool colors!

Corry · Aug 4, 2004

Cool! Haven't seen a any tank pics lately!

mrsid99 · Aug 4, 2004

Nice pic and good colors.
It looks very healthy too.

photogoddess · Aug 4, 2004

Nice - but then again, I always like your tank shots.

the_peel · Aug 5, 2004

The pic looks great! Loving the small DOF. Question: what is a closeup filter and what's its purpose?

Lyanna · Aug 5, 2004

*jaw drops*
How'd you get this color and this sharpness and DOF? Tell me!!! *cries*

Sharkbait · Aug 5, 2004

the_peel said:
The pic looks great! Loving the small DOF. Question: what is a closeup filter and what's its purpose?

The closeup filters are a set of screw-on filters that just attach to the front of the lens. They're basically magnifying glasses. I have a set that's a +1, a +2, and a +4. To get this shot, they were all stacked together. You can get good magnifcation, but at the cost of DOF. To shoot small polyps like this though, I like to make use of the shorter DOF to accentuate the individual polyps.

Sharkbait · Aug 5, 2004

Lyanna said:
*jaw drops*
How'd you get this color and this sharpness and DOF? Tell me!!! *cries*

The color is pretty natural, actually. It's a purple gorgonian coral. Other than that, I just shot with a flash and tripod, then did a 3-step USM process in photoshop to really sharpen it up even more. The DOF is a result of the closeup filters--they add magnification, but really cut down the DOF.