Atlantis Marine World

[jhale]

the end

there was so much more to photograph, I spent most of my time in front of the reef tank. next time I go back I want to get close up to the sea lions, sharks, sea turtle, and sting rays



some of our members, master, house, and pratt

 

[jhale]

aaron, thanks

herman, :smash:

sharn, go you'll love it, the ball valve was extra large I'd say :lol2:

 

[Quang]

WOWOWEEWA

Thanks for the pics J!

btw, whats the inside joke on the lionfish getting past this point sign?

 

[prattreef]

Great shots Jon. Froggie the sign says sea lions The joke is that the sea lion enclosure is located adjacent to the reef tank and one time a sea lion got past the trainer and made it to the edge of the reef. It would have been a disaster if it got in.

 

[Quang]

Sea Lions...ops.:smash:

hahaha oh those sea lions

 

[jhale]

heh, Froggie, I can see the confusion, sea lion, lion fish.
the sign was posted in an area far away from those lion fish tanks.
like Randy said the sea lion made it to the edge of the reef tank, at the top there's no ledge, just catwalks around it. I guess the sea lion was peering over the edge of the tank deciding what it wanted to eat first when the trainers found it and must have had a heart attack

 

[Pedro]

Nice Pics J, some of them look like you were diving in there. Now i don't see any pics of the clownfish tank, don't tell me you don't have any.

Great place to visit!

Also, being that the glass is so thick, taking pics can get tricky. So kudos to you.

Mind if i add to the thread?

 

[scarf_ace1981]

i plan to visit w/ a friend of mine from NJ. since i'm into reefing he thought it would be a cool idea to go. i hope the reef bug bites him soon

i doubt we'll get a glimpse @ behind the scenes :sad2:

 

[jhale]

Pedro thanks.
I did not make it to the clown fish tank
I got as far as the piranah tank then had to stop because they were setting up tables for the dinner.

your right, taking photos of the main reef tank is tough. the plexi is thick, and it's scratched in a bunch of places. the light is also difficult to work with as it's not as intense as we have over our small tanks. I found the best method was to shoot the pics one or two stops under what the camera meter recommends. this gives more detail and richer colors. Much of the work is done developing the pics in PS. you end up having to boost the contrast quite a bit. in some shots I might have been a bit heavy handed with this, but for the most part they came out well. if these were for publication I would have paid more attention to the detail in the shadows, that tends to get saturated once the contrast goes up. for this many photos I did not want to deal with all the masking that would be involved.
Also, if you go during a busy day make sure you have a paper towel to wipe away all the little hand prints, lol

 

[Hotwheels]

Great pics JH, I definitely need to make a trip there...
Thanks for sharing

 

[chuck]

Fantastic shots J.Hale. you take some very impressive shots.
chuck

 

[jhale]

thanks hotwheels, Chuck were you at nerac? I did not have the chance to meet everybody there.

 

[Spracklcat]

Jon--Chuck was the LIRA board member wearing a dress...

oh wait, that was last year .

Very nice pics--and true, you get much more amazing colors looking at the reef from above rather than through the glass. I'm glad you guys got to have the insider's tour. Did you go to the photography workshop?

 

[KathyC]

i plan to visit w/ a friend of mine from NJ. since i'm into reefing he thought it would be a cool idea to go. i hope the reef bug bites him soon

i doubt we'll get a glimpse @ behind the scenes :sad2:

Jon - yes you can! They offer the behind the scenes tour on a daily basis, and I guarantee you'd love it!!
Here is the info:
http://www.atlantismarineworld.com/visitor-behindscenes.html


Mr. Hale...seems you have this photography thing all figured out! lol Nice pics!! Felt like I was back at Atlantis again!!

 

[justjoe]

i plan to visit w/ a friend of mine from NJ. since i'm into reefing he thought it would be a cool idea to go. i hope the reef bug bites him soon

i doubt we'll get a glimpse @ behind the scenes :sad2:

If you ask nicely :lol: and give me some lead time, I'm sure we can get you a peek behind the scenes.
Joe

 

[crox99]

Beautiful shoots JH. I have to go there after tas season is over.

 

[masterswimmer]

Jon, amazing shots. I know first hand how difficult the picture taking can be. I won't be publishing any of mine :sad2: Fortunately I have your pix and Joe's DIY reef :biggrin: available to me.

Tristen took me on the behind the scenes tour. Damn it's impressive.

Guys and gals, don't allow this reef to be in our backyard and not get out there to see it first hand. Joe Y. is an incredible host. He'll make you feel like you're visiting his home.

Thanks Joe.

Russ

 

[heuerfan]

Awesome shots Jonathon, you have a real talent! Like you said, there are so many things to look at and its nice that you took great pictures so we can look at every detail! Look foward to seeing more pics.....

 

[jhale]

thanks crox, master, heuerfan, I missed the backstage tour with the lights on. next time I'll try to get the frag tanks with the MH on.
Joe invited me back, maybe I'll get to wade in the sting ray tank :lol: jk

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

J,

Thanks for showing the pics.

Do you have any idea why the fish like to gather in such a dense manner in the reef area? In the wild, I hardly see fish in this dense unless they are of the same school.