My local aquarium club, the Marine Aquarium and Reef Society of Houston, invited Marc Levenson down to teach us all a little something about aquarium photography. For those of you who don’t know Marc, you have to visit his site Melev’s Reef. He’s a great photographer, a wiz with acrylic work, and is so involved an entrenched in this great hobby. Marc has been an editor of Reefkeeping Magazine, as currently runs a reef-related podcast called Reefcast.
Hammer Coral Macro Shot
During the photography discussion, Marc went step-by-step with us, explaining cameras, lenses, and various techniques to capture that special photograph. I thought I had a fairly decent grasp on aquarium photography since I’ve researched quite a bit and most of the picture I take actually turn out pretty good. But using some of his recommended tips and tricks, I was able to get even better shots from my stock lens on my Canon XSi, and a few awesome shots on a handful of borrowed lenses. I have James Wiseman of Reefpix.org to thank for letting me borrow a few of his lenses, especially the awesome macro lenses.
For a great guide on aquarium photography, you’ll have to visits Marc’s “Fotos” page over on Melev’s Reef. His webpage covers pretty much everything discussed in the meeting, perhaps with a little less detail and obviously less hands on, but it’s still a good guide for aquarium photography.
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- Green Mushroom Coral
Green Mushroom Coral
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- Spotted Mushroom Closeup
Spotted Mushroom Closeup
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- Green and Purple Hammer Coral
Green and Purple Hammer Coral
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- Ocellaris Clownfish
Ocellaris Clownfish
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- Marc Levenson with Top Down Box
Marc Levenson with Top Down Box
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- Rock Anemone Mouth Closeup
Rock Anemone Mouth Closeup
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- Frogspawn Coral Closeup
Frogspawn Coral Closeup
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- Leather Coral Macro Shot
Leather Coral Macro Shot
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- Neon Green Lobophytum Leather Coral
Neon Green Lobophytum Leather Coral
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- Yellow Assessor Hovering Over Galaxea
Yellow Assessor Hovering Over Galaxea
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- Sea Hare CloseupSea
Sea Hare CloseupSea
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- Angled Full Tank Shot of Reef Aquarium
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- Purple Mushroom Closeup
Purple Mushroom Closeup
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- Galaxea Coral Closeup Shot
Galaxea Coral Closeup Shot
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- Left Side of Mixed Reef Aquarium
Left Side of Mixed Reef Aquarium
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- Mushroom Rock and Galaxea
Mushroom Rock and Galaxea
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- Banggai Cardinalfish
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- Leather Coral Closeup
Leather Coral Closeup
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- Rock Anemone
Rock Anemone
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- Mixed Reef Aquarium Full Tank Shot
Mixed Reef Aquarium Full Tank Shot
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- Red Skirted Zoas
Red Skirted Zoas
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- Vivid Orange Florida Ricordea
Vivid Orange Florida Ricordea
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- Sea Hare Foraging for Food
Sea Hare Foraging for Food
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- Orange Ricordea Closeup
Orange Ricordea Closeup
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- Marc Levenson Giving Demonstration
Marc Levenson Giving Demonstration
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- Red Skirt Zoanthids
Red Skirt Zoanthids
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- Green Ricordea Macro Shot
Green Ricordea Macro Shot
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- Mixed Reef Aquarium
Mixed Reef Aquarium
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- Leather Coral in Current
Leather Coral in Current
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- Sea Hare's Head
Sea Hare's Head
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- Marc Levenson Giving Demonstration
Marc Levenson Giving Demonstration
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- Euphyllid corals are among those listed on the proposal
Hammer Coral Macro Shot
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- Banded Coral Shrimp Under Ledge
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- Green Florida Ricordea
Green Florida Ricordea
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- Green Fuzzy Mushroom
Green Fuzzy Mushroom
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- Bright Orange Ricordea Macro Shot
Bright Orange Ricordea Macro Shot
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- Herbivorous Sea Hare
Herbivorous Sea Hare
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- Live Rock Covered in Purple Mushrooms
Live Rock Covered in Purple Mushrooms
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- Spotted Mushrooms Growing on Overflow Box
Spotted Mushrooms Growing on Overflow Box
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- Large Hammer Coral Colony
Large Hammer Coral Colony
After the meeting was over, Eric Borneman, Brian Plankis, and a small group of reef aquarium enthusiasts (myself included) sat around and discussed a few issues plaguing the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The hot topic of course was the growing presence of lionfish that made their way into local waters and exploded in numbers. But that’s a topic for another time (sorry for the teaser).
