Not My Fish... Pictures Of The Downtown Aquarium In Houston, Tx Usa

[wendywc]

Comments welcomed...
Taking pictures of the sharks was pretty hard due it being dark and the acrylic tunnel giving off lots of reflection. I'm having a harder time taking pictures of my fish at home. The community tank I have has some really small, fast fish. Any tips?

*** MORE PICS HERE ***

 

[TigerMan]

that's a realy cool place

 

[Discomafia]

Brilliant pics, I especially like the fifth picture (mandarin ?) and the pic of the fish with the long spiny nose. Never seen a picture of one of those before, any chance of ID'ing it? Also, what is that fish the fifth from the bottom (looks like some BW fish I've forgotten the name of) And what's that in the jellyfish's stomach? Is it food? Thought it was a goldfish on first glance. The pic of the shark from the bottom makes it look really menacing. And is it just me, or is that puffer looking really starved?

 

[Krib Crazy]

You are a really good photograoher!! You dont need any tips you need to give me tips! LOL. The pufferfish looked kinda skinny. The oscar looked really good that make me want to get 1 (only fish my mom lets me get another tank ) Im in love with the turtles i have 3 of them. Does anyone happen to know what the yellow fish at the bottom is? Its so pretty

 

[wendywc]

Thanks for all the nice comments! I guess I'm used to those pro photographers who are highly critical... which is okay but they never give out any tips because they don't want other people to know "their secrets".

Brilliant pics, I especially like the fifth picture (mandarin ?) and the pic of the fish with the long spiny nose. Never seen a picture of one of those before, any chance of ID'ing it? Also, what is that fish the fifth from the bottom (looks like some BW fish I've forgotten the name of) And what's that in the jellyfish's stomach? Is it food? Thought it was a goldfish on first glance. The pic of the shark from the bottom makes it look really menacing. And is it just me, or is that puffer looking really starved?

Sorry I didn't caption the fish. 1st pic - They dyed the jellyfish's food orange so you could see them eat better. 5th pic - Yes, it's a mandarin. 6th & 10th pic - Both of the same creature... a stingray/shark/chainsaw thing. I forget what they called it. Its one of those deep sea creatures which are just out-of-this-world aliens to me. 9th pic - 5th from the bottom - It's a polkadot grouper. 13th pic - the last one - I don't know; I guess it's a butterfly fish of some kind. Maybe changing from juvenile to adult.

 

[Fishy412]

that grouper is most often called a panther grouper but i guess polkadot grouper fits it

 

[wendywc]

You are a really good photograoher!! You dont need any tips you need to give me tips! LOL. The pufferfish looked kinda skinny. The oscar looked really good that make me want to get 1 (only fish my mom lets me get another tank ) Im in love with the turtles i have 3 of them. Does anyone happen to know what the yellow fish at the bottom is? Its so pretty

Thanks! The oscar made me want to get one too. He was posing like crazy and just kept following us for quite a while.

That day I was using a Nikon SLR D70 with a Tamron 18-200mm lens. All tanks except for the shark tunnel were lit pretty well from above which made it easier to see and capture pics. I tried both without flash and with flash... and let me say pictures with flash were the best ones. The only problem is having a white spot on your subject if you don't slightly angle away. I need to buy a seperate flash with diffuser... that would definately improve things. I also have a pocket Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX8K. This is a great small camera that has an amazing macro mode and image stabilizer. I also like that it acts like a rangefinder for night pictures.

For those who want to improve their digital pictures, I would recommend trying a graphics program to adjust their pictures. From what I've seen, almost 100% of the professional digital photos out there have been adjusted. This is not altering your pictures; this is just adjusting the raw image your camera takes. Taking a class in Adobe Photoshop and digital photography was the best thing I did for improving my pictures.

Here's a few things that I do at home:
I import my pictures into iPhoto. I like iPhoto because it's easy to adjust the levels in your picture. I usually adjust pictures by slightly increasing sharpness, contrast, and saturation. If the picture has a blue, water cast, I'll also slightly lower the tint and increase the temperature. If the photo is too dark, I'll slightly increase exposure and brightness.

Sorry, if the above was too much info... but for those who wanted to know, I believe in sharing.


EDIT:
Found it. The guy in the 6th & 10th picture is a sawfish.

Sorry about calling the other one a polkadot grouper. That's how it's listed in my book and then under the description it has "Other name: Pantherfish"

 

[Discomafia]

Nice camera! I'm jealous! How far away from the fish were you when you shot these pics? Any EXIF info? Aperture, ISO, shutter speed, that kind of stuff... And the Tamron 18-200mm, what a great zoom lens! What other cameras do you have? Also, mind if I ask you how much the D70 set you back?

Cheers,

 

[Matty]

amazing pictures! I love the sharks, oscar, rays and sawfish!

You are a really good photograoher!! You dont need any tips you need to give me tips! LOL. The pufferfish looked kinda skinny. The oscar looked really good that make me want to get 1 (only fish my mom lets me get another tank ) Im in love with the turtles i have 3 of them. Does anyone happen to know what the yellow fish at the bottom is? Its so pretty

Thanks! The oscar made me want to get one too. He was posing like crazy and just kept following us for quite a while.

That day I was using a Nikon SLR D70 with a Tamron 18-200mm lens. All tanks except for the shark tunnel were lit pretty well from above which made it easier to see and capture pics. I tried both without flash and with flash... and let me say pictures with flash were the best ones. The only problem is having a white spot on your subject if you don't slightly angle away. I need to buy a seperate flash with diffuser... that would definately improve things. I also have a pocket Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX8K. This is a great small camera that has an amazing macro mode and image stabilizer. I also like that it acts like a rangefinder for night pictures.

For those who want to improve their digital pictures, I would recommend trying a graphics program to adjust their pictures. From what I've seen, almost 100% of the professional digital photos out there have been adjusted. This is not altering your pictures; this is just adjusting the raw image your camera takes. Taking a class in Adobe Photoshop and digital photography was the best thing I did for improving my pictures.

Here's a few things that I do at home:
I import my pictures into iPhoto. I like iPhoto because it's easy to adjust the levels in your picture. I usually adjust pictures by slightly increasing sharpness, contrast, and saturation. If the picture has a blue, water cast, I'll also slightly lower the tint and increase the temperature. If the photo is too dark, I'll slightly increase exposure and brightness.

Sorry, if the above was too much info... but for those who wanted to know, I believe in sharing.


EDIT:
Found it. The guy in the 6th & 10th picture is a sawfish.

Sorry about calling the other one a polkadot grouper. That's how it's listed in my book and then under the description it has "Other name: Pantherfish"

wow, didnt read this post. as for the photo editing programs, you might want to check out apple's new arperture program. its really good, easy to use and gives amazing results. Steve Jobs explains it better than i ever could at www.apple.ca/quicktime. click on the macworld main event.

 

[wendywc]

^^^ Hmm, will do.

To reply to Discomafia:
I was just a few inches to 2 inches away from the tank when I took the pictures. When I bought the D70 (about two years ago), I got it with the 18-70m DX lens for $900 after a $200 rebate. The Tamron lens has a much wider range and is just so much better; the Tamron cost me $350. So I sold the DX lens off. You're sure to get the D70 cheaper now since the D70s and D200 has come out.

I need to check the info on these pictures for their settings, but... I always set the ISO at 200 and never crank it up unless its for a dim night picture without flash. Also, I mostly use the camera in Auto mode. My digital camera collection is just the D70, its Tamron lens, and the Panasonic pocketcam. My 35mm cameras are just collecting dust and I need to sell or donate them.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Beautiful photos! The eel is just

 

[severina]

I'm from Houston too and I LOVE that place! I'll be driving down 45 and see the big neon ferris wheels and go "Wheee! Fishies!" *giggles*