and I forgot to mention the photography!:lol:

wow, amazing pics and tanks. Top of my list of tanks to see in Calgary for sure Kien.

Thanks Doug :-) That reminds me, what is your schedule like this week? PM me! Ya.. this is me inviting myself over to see YOUR tank! :biggrin:

Thanks! Ya, I thought that little baby blue linckia was kinda cool to find. Almost as if I managed to some how captive breed them, but really it was just pure fluke.:lol: Still cool to have a captive born and hopefully raised little linckia though!

Thanks! Definitely want to see yours too so I'll show you mine if you show me yours! :lol:

Picked up a few things over the past week (ya, I know, surprise surprise!) :lol:

Anyway, managed to finally get in on one of Red Coral's clam orders after missing the last couple of Grade A/Ultra Grade shipments.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1024/...81d80fe7_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1171/...efa138e3_o.jpg

Also picked up this pink/teal blasto not too long ago.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1202/...582432ee_o.jpg

Hmm.. looks like that bit of glass needs some cleaning..

And since I was in there snapping picks I figured I'd take a shot of my favourite clam of the bunch, the squamosa (not from the ultra maxima order).

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/...39e6cee2_o.jpg

Those are amazing! I am hoping to get a clam here soon. How are they with the starfishes??? Ive heard they dont go well together?

Excellent! Top-Notch! A-1! Gorgeous! Beautiful! (I can't come up with just one adjective that befits your tanks.) :biggrin:

Really? I didn't know that. I have 3 croceas, 2 maximas and a squamosa with 4 and 1/4 starfish roaming around and I can't say that I've Noticed any altercations.

thanks lance :-). I have a couple more you can add.. expensive & tedious! :lol:

No. That would be my tanks you're talking about now. :mrgreen:

well this is interesting, I will have to do more research.

Love the blues in that second clam.

Do you do any saturation adjustments?

I heard about that clam in the first pic, and yup it lives up to it. very nice.

if I am shooting under T5s (the starfish in orange shrooms) then no. I usually have to drop the saturation for those ones. All other photos then yes, part of my photo processing script will kick the saturation up a notch or two. I've found that the combination of my halides and SLR sensor tends to wash out watery photos. I don't seem to have this problem when photographing under T5 lights tho.

Thanks! Ya.. That clam was starting to develop a reputation of its own :lol:

so is the strainer.

great clam shots brutha.....I dont see any scounts on that last clam.....are you sure its a squam and not a derasa?:wink:

+1

It was sold to me by one of my favourite LFS as a Squamosa.. :-) But after doing some research just now I would agree that it is more likely a Derasa.

????????

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/...3114d206_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1029/...40c0273c_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/...a155fbaa_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1152/...870d761d_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1090/...e1be9c3f_o.jpg

Looks like it's flipping someone the bird.

lol... great shots but it looks like the star if giving you the bird. :lol:

hmm.. well, I was trying to capture how cool it was that he was doing some funky one leg acrobatics but ya.. now I see that he was giving me a big 'ol, F-YOU! :lol:

May have been dropping a t-bag on the coral below?

I probably play too much Halo though.

How is it that you get such amazing shots...you can't tell that they are through water...do you have to do a lot of editing afterwards? What camera and lens combo do you use?

I don't do tonnes of editing no. I have found the trick to be..

1. Shoot through the glass as perpendicular to the glass as possible.
2. Make sure glass is wicked clean on both sides.
3. Turn off powerheads to limit motion of polyps and debris (unless you have a camera that can shoot at 1/500th of a second)
4. I sometimes use a tripod (unless you can shoot at 1/500th of a second).

I use a Canon 5D Mark II or Canon 40D or Olympus Tough 6000 (underwater camera). My lens of choice for photographing just about anything in the tank is a Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens (very sharp lens).

Editing consists of all or a subset of the following tasks.

1. Sharpening (if needed)
2. Desaturate image (if needed due to actinics)
3. Saturate image (if needed, due to halides washing out colours).
4. Adjust white balance if needed

I found the same thing when I was playing with the macro. Even a slight angle can make focusing/getting a sharp shot tough. More so with a horizonta angle I thought...

ya, poor positioning of the lens/camera/subject is the source of many a blurry photo. If the camera is placed at an angle to the glass, the glass will distort the light, resulting in a distorted image. Compounded with that distortion, Automatic Focus sensors often can't properly focus when taking pictures on an angle to the glass. This is also where a tripod really comes in handy.

Kien, i think your photography company is just an excuse to your wife to get all toys right :-)

Thanks now I have cereal & milk all over my key board. Great pics once again Kien.

Lets not forget an eye for good composition helps:wink:

Speaking of composition.. how about some new photos from in and around The Reef?

Set 1 of 3 _____
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/...776d39c9_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...f01051a8_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/...b4f93aed_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/...f9d74ab6_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1297/...8c82713a_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/...9d7a77ab_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/...d2dbb0b9_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/...621f8ac1_s.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/...947745aa_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1281/...25998ebe_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/...aa246681_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/...5e36cb1e_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/...93b86af9_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/...e2d5e5f3_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1307/...a9a49b98_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...0e61334c_s.jpg

oooh very nice. really digging that first milli

Set 2 of 3 _____
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/...3bdba497_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/...80f24c1b_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/...37a0d2dd_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/...c971165f_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/...afb039f5_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/...35979194_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1284/...32896746_s.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/...3f13a650_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...0ddb5e34_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...940e6e3d_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4017/...08eb4781_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/...aea1c4ec_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/...5f7090ae_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1281/...522678d2_s.jpg

Set 3 of 3 _____
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/...e4d06c35_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1267/...f284bc11_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/...919a143c_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1306/...6a59f231_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/...500366aa_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/...f07cfae6_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1265/...a9a307a9_s.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/...6f69bc2b_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...5e4678c7_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/...6b797620_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/...f2e89544_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/...1d8d696d_s.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1269/...1922e9ec_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/...8e93a421_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/...4b7eb82c_s.jpg

Beautiful tank...

Dude!.........great pics!

Could you please put me down for a frag of those zoas on the far right in set 1?....... my gorsh man they are sweet.....

the clams are looking great too!

amazing corals as well as pictures

Kien, we should do some trades sometime....nice stuff man! I especially love set 2 second picture :)

Thanks :-) I believe those would be my candy apple palythoas, or some such thing anyway. Slow growers but definitely striking.

I like trades :biggrin: But sorry, that one (in set 2, pic 2) is off limits! :lol:

Some underwater reefscape.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1294/...ae91c133_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/...62a3fd23_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/...4419b543_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/...70cc494d_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/...57e798c3_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/...e88f39f2_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/...77065872_b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1285/...181e0112_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/...29d61eab_b.jpg

Awesome pictures as usual Kien. Any chance of a FTS of both tanks?

Kien...as always....amazing pictures. I have to say that your tank makes me so anxious to get going on my new tank. Really love your setup!