Birds eye view: do you take top-down shots of your reef?

[YoubetyourWrasse]

I bet Mo Devlin aka Aquamojo could take some amazing coral shots! Would love to see more Marine work out of him. I love his contributions to photography and aquaculture.

 

[ScubaFish802]

I take top down tank photos using a submersible camera - great for reflective mantle shots of tridacna.
Jay

You can't leave us hanging now! Got any pics handy?

 

[KrisReef]

Fish are ok through the glass but the reef tank was designed for a 'God's eye viewing' experience, imo.

Sadly, my phone pictures taken form either direction are corrupted by the spectral intensity of the tank lights and the surfaces i am picturing through. I forgot about submersible cameras. I might want to get one for fun and sharing?

 

[cliff076]

120 gallon

 

[icedgxe]

Under blues with all flow turned off. Orphek filters on an iPhone.

 

[Reef and Dive]

Yeahhhh!

 

[maroun.c]

Top down is a more "realistic" view of the reef as when u dive I tend to look at most corals top down and not from the side.
Most of our tanks are a bit on the low sode and scape and coral growing up leads to one looking at many corals from below or at non optimal viewing angle when looking through tank glass so top.dowm.allows us to better appreciate looking at coral colors and structure.
Glass also has a tint so takes away from the beauty of looking at one's corals.
Taking pics through glass has its own challenges with distortion caused by the glass and reflections which makes it tricky, topndown shots are way easier and nicer and at of better quality as a 10-20mm glass always takes away from the clarity of a picture.
Water ripples from fish motion or wave makers as well as reflection of tanknlighting are a challenge so a top down viewing box or a porthole for camera or phone makes it much easier.
And on the bright side you can participate in the pic of the month contest in the photography forum and win an Avaast porthole every month

 

[steveschuerger]

iPhone 13 Pro with Kraken Glasses filter

 

[Jeffcb]

These are from last year May 2022. I need to take new ones. They grow like weeds.....Green Slimmer literally sticking up out of the water an inch

 

[Kristopher Conlin]

I have had good luck with shooting top down. I turn off all the flow and move my lights around to reduce glare. The colors of the coral seem much more intense when viewing them from above.

 

[TheNewGuy321]

you should see her now! Walt Disney

 

[rugger]

 

[Spicy Reef]

I just have to say... You people here have some amazing talent and artistry, pics are fantastic!
I'm hoping some of that rubs off on me

 

[Coinzmans Reef]

I have a piece that looks like this, called silly string. Does this have a trade name?

Pinky the Bear around my parts in the N.E.

 

[TX_REEF]

You mean there's another way?

What a lovely candy shop

 

[Reefer Matt]

What a lovely candy shop

Thank you!

 

[ReefGuard Systems]

I always snap a few during water changes

 

[DanyL]

I rarely do, maybe once a year.
But boy it looks good even when I'm not trying.

These are about 1/2-1 year old pics, looking back at the display pic now and I realized some of these little frags not only grew to fully blown colonies, but already been taken apart and grew back to mid-large size frags again now lol

Display:

Sump ("frag chamber"):

 

[Chasmodes]

My Chesapeake Bay Oyster Reef Biotope Aquarium 100g

 

[OrionN]