Tube Anemone

[agaace]

Shooting data: http://www.flickr.com/photos/agatast...499276174/meta

Tube Anemone, Monterey Bay Aquarium, CA.

Yet another weirdo living on this planet. Enjoy!

This is a very interesting animal. Not only looks like a flower, but also "roots" where plants can't - it anchors in the shifting sand. To shield itself from grit, this delicate creature makes a tough leathery tube, sinking it two feet into the sand. When a predator like the barber slug comes by to clip off its tentacles, the anemone retreats quickly down the tube - sometimes pulling the slug in with it! Luckily, an anemone's tentacles grow back after an attack.

[Nik]

this is stunning.
it looks peaceful and flowly.
i really love the movement you've captured so beautifully!

[agaace]

Hi Nicole,
Many thanks for your kind words!

[carregwen]

Another stunning aquarium shot. Great colour and composition. We shall have to start calling you 'The Mermaid"

You've inspired me to visit the Sea Life Centre in Birmingham UK next month. Seems aquariums are a good location. Do you use a polarizer to shoot through glass - it's supposed to help store reflections?

[Donald]

Do you use a polarizer to shoot through glass ...?

As others have said - 'stunning'. I, too, am interested in the 'how did you do it'. There's a sea life centre close by use and you've given me some ideas.

[arith]

I saw something interesting om the telly and it was an underground creature that breathes poison gas and secretes undiluted sulphuric acid and creatures that live in solid ice and move around by secreting anti freeze.

Found in Wales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snottite

[agaace]

Thanks guys!

Do you use a polarizer to shoot through glass - it's supposed to help store reflections?

No, I didn't use a polarizer for these aquarium shots, for two reasons: 1) I don't have a polarizer that fits the lens I decided to use, 2) polarizer would further slow down shutter speed, and it was already pretty dark and challenging not to have motion blur (take with you the fastest lens you've got). Both auariums I've been to are dark around the display area, and instead, the display itself is illuminated. So there's very little light reflecting on the glass from the outside (except for the green 'Emergancy Exit' sign that has to be there above the door, and at a wrong angle you can see it in the glass). Other than that I had no major problems with reflections. I once asked if tripods were allowed, I heard 'no' but they let me take it with me, so I used it anyway. The next time I didn't even ask about tripods The biggest challenge is opening hours - no matter if you go when they have just open, or when they are about to close, always full of visitors, children running around etc. So you have to share space with them, and need a lot of patience. Very often I was just standing and waiting when people finish watching something and just go away.

[DrJeans]

agaace, Nice shot.
He was astonished, lens 50 f/1.8 II!
I thought that macro lens.

[rick55]

A beautiful shot, Agata. It gives a great other-world feel, as if you're viewing it under water.

One more technical question. I see that the EXIF says auto WB: is that what you generally do for these? I know you can't toss a gray card into the tank. I'm wondering how it would work to shoot a gray card outside the tank. That won't allow correcting for a color change through the glass, but we can hope that whoever built the aquarium considered that people would like to view the subjects in as natural a color as possible. I assume that's why they keep the lights down on our side of the glass, as you mentioned.

Cheers,
Rick

[carregwen]

Thanks guys!

I once asked if tripods were allowed, I heard 'no' but they let me take it with me, so I used it anyway. The next time I didn't even ask about tripods

You could always try a monopod. Tell 'em it's a walking stick for your ski accident.

Thanks for the other info.

[Dave Humphries]

You could always try a monopod. Tell 'em it's a walking stick for your ski accident.

Does anyone make a walking stick handle that you could screw onto a monopod I wonder?

Agata,

Lovely shot, wonderful subject, I don't think I have seen anything that exotic in SeaLife centres here

Having done a bit myself, I second all your advice, e.g. fast, but not too short, lenses (and the hanging around).

I do wonder whether it would look even more amazing with some LCE applied; e.g. try USM at 20% amount, 80 pixel radius and 0 threshold, see what you think.

Cheers,

[carregwen]

Does anyone make a walking stick handle that you could screw onto a monopod I wonder?

Some people are never satisfied... Stick

[Dave Humphries]

Some people are never satisfied...

You're right I'm not, I've got two monopods already, I just need a handle

[agaace]

One more technical question. I see that the EXIF says auto WB: is that what you generally do for these?

I usually use auto WB unless I'm lets say in a stadium shooting a hockey game for example, where it makes sense to change it to avoid the cast that I will need to remove anyway. With the rest of shots, I change WB later in postprocessing, if I need it. I don't even have a grey card yet.. For sunsets and sunrises, and night shots, which is what I usually shoot, you don't really want true colors - you want what you remember seeing with your eyes. And that's my philosophy - I usually try to recreate what I've seen. In the aquarium there's a mixture of various colors and sources of light. I've seen these anemones yellowish and that's how I captured them. I tried cooling down the shot to remove the yellow cast but I didn't like the effect.