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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- Red Skirted Zoas
Red Skirted Zoas
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- Yellow Assessor Hovering Over Galaxea
Yellow Assessor Hovering Over Galaxea
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- Green Mushroom Coral
Green Mushroom Coral
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- Bright Orange Ricordea Macro Shot
Bright Orange Ricordea Macro Shot
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- Rock Anemone Mouth Closeup
Rock Anemone Mouth Closeup
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- Purple Mushroom Closeup
Purple Mushroom Closeup
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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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- Spotted Mushrooms Growing on Overflow Box
Spotted Mushrooms Growing on Overflow Box
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- Euphyllid corals are among those listed on the proposal
Hammer Coral Macro Shot
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- Spotted Mushroom Closeup
Spotted Mushroom Closeup
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- Left Side of Mixed Reef Aquarium
Left Side of Mixed Reef Aquarium
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- Marc Levenson with Top Down Box
Marc Levenson with Top Down Box
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- Galaxea Coral Closeup Shot
Galaxea Coral Closeup Shot
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- Green Fuzzy Mushroom
Green Fuzzy Mushroom
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- Marc Levenson Giving Demonstration
Marc Levenson Giving Demonstration
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- Herbivorous Sea Hare
Herbivorous Sea Hare
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- Rock Anemone
Rock Anemone
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- Vivid Orange Florida Ricordea
Vivid Orange Florida Ricordea
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- Ocellaris Clownfish
Ocellaris Clownfish
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- Green Ricordea Macro Shot
Green Ricordea Macro Shot
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- Angled Full Tank Shot of Reef Aquarium
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- Live Rock Covered in Purple Mushrooms
Live Rock Covered in Purple Mushrooms
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- Neon Green Lobophytum Leather Coral
Neon Green Lobophytum Leather Coral
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- Mixed Reef Aquarium
Mixed Reef Aquarium
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- Banded Coral Shrimp Under Ledge
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- Sea Hare CloseupSea
Sea Hare CloseupSea
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- Sea Hare Foraging for Food
Sea Hare Foraging for Food
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- Leather Coral Macro Shot
Leather Coral Macro Shot
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- Banggai Cardinalfish
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- Mushroom Rock and Galaxea
Mushroom Rock and Galaxea
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- Mixed Reef Aquarium Full Tank Shot
Mixed Reef Aquarium Full Tank Shot
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- Orange Ricordea Closeup
Orange Ricordea Closeup
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- Leather Coral in Current
Leather Coral in Current
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- Large Hammer Coral Colony
Large Hammer Coral Colony
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- Green Florida Ricordea
Green Florida Ricordea
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- Red Skirt Zoanthids
Red Skirt Zoanthids
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- Leather Coral Closeup
Leather Coral Closeup
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- Frogspawn Coral Closeup
Frogspawn Coral Closeup
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- Green and Purple Hammer Coral
Green and Purple Hammer Coral
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).
