This is a leafy sea dragon, and to me it’s one of the most intriguing creatures on the planet. They are found off the coasts of Australia, although I photographed this one in the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. To prevent unwanted reflections in the Plexiglas, I placed my lens up against the side of the aquarium with a rubber lens hood between the rim of the lens and the surface of the Plexiglas. When shooting through a material like this -- less-than-optically-superior glass or plastic -- it’s important to angle the lens axis perpendicular to the side of the aquarium. If it is oblique, even a little, image quality degrades significantly. I used a 50mm macro for this picture, and the settings were 1/125, f/7.1, 800 ISO. I used a flash because the ambient illumination was so dim.
3 Comments
Sep 1, 2019, 11:37:17 PM
Jim - Steve: The flash was used off-camera. On-camera flash is the least attractive type of artificial light we use. Stan: No, I used a portable Canon flash. The rubber lens hood goes on the lens, and with the flash being used off-camera, the lens hood wasn't an issue.
Aug 24, 2019, 12:36:54 PM
Steve D - Hi Jim Nice photo... How did you prevent a hotspot from the Flash? Where did you set the Flash Unit?
Aug 24, 2019, 10:19:07 AM
stan greenberg - did you use a ring flash? if so, how could you still get the rubber lens hood on?