Mr. Parker, Parkerus robisonii

Photo taken on my recent trip to the Tennessee Aquarium.

Spending the day with Parker was the best part of the aquarium experience.

Pic of the Day

Lookdown Fish, Selene vomer: Tennessee Aquarium; Chattanooga, Tennessee

     The Lookdown fish was first described in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his book Systema Naturae. The Lookdown is a thin fish that is silvery on both sides, although young fish have several faint vertical bars on each side that fade as the fish matures.  The Lookdown fish of the western Atlantic are found from Canada and Maine, south to Uruguay, including Bermuda and the Gulf of Mexico.  I took this photo at the Tennessee Aquariums, Ocean Journey exhibit.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 35mm 2.8, 1/50th second @ f3.5

Pic of the Day

Sand Tiger Shark, Carcharias taurus: Tennessee Aquarium; Chattanooga, TN

     I had a great time at the Tennessee Aquarium today with the family.  Both the Ocean and River aquariums are fantastic.  I have only been to a few aquariums around the country, but I have to say that the Tennessee Aquarium is the best I've seen!  Shooting was not easy, low light required high ISO settings (3200), which increases noise, but the Nikon D800 handles noise extremely well.  I found the aquarium to be a photographers dream.  Where else can you shoot fish without getting wet! 

     

A few Facts:  Adult Sand Tiger Sharks can reach 6.5 to 10.5 feet in length, and can weigh 200 to 350 pounds.  The Sand Tiger is a coastal shark and can be found in U.S. waters on both the Atlantic and Gulf coast.  For more facts on the Sand Tiger Shark, click here.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 35mm f2, 1/80 second @ f3.5, Handheld  

Pic of the Day II

Another Spotted Jellyfish from Tennessee Aquarium

Pic of the Day

     Spotted Jellyfish -- Tennessee Aquarium; Chattanooga, Tennessee:  This is another jellyfish I photographed at the Tennessee Aquarium over the weekend.  Spotted Jellies were very popular among the visitors, and there were a ton of visitors.  The Spotted Jellies were in a round (360 degree) tank in the middle of the room, and there was a constant flow of people mesmerized by the little jellyfish.  The Spotted  Jellies were small, some the size of quarter and others a little large than a silver dollar.

     The round tank made shooting difficult, but I found if a jelly was close to the glass, and I shot perpendicular to the glass I could get a sharp image.  As you can probably tell, I loved shooting the jellyfish.

     The next jellyfish I will post is even smaller than the Spotted Jelly, and it flashes lights!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 24-85 zoom set to 85mm, Handheld, 1/250 sec. @ f5.6, ISO 5000

Pic of the Day

     Sea Nettle Jellyfish – Tennessee Aquarium; Chattanooga, TN:  My son has been living in Chattanooga for at least 5 years now and on every visit one of us would say.  Next time we’re (your) here, we’ll go to the aquarium.  Well, today we did.  The Tennessee Aquarium is excellent, and we had a great time!  I did take a few photos while there, mostly of the jellyfish. 

     All the jellyfish were mesmerizing, and fascinating to watch, especially this Sea Nettle Jellyfish.  To take the image I had to crank-up the ISO to 5000, then set the exposure compensation to –1 1/3 stop to compensate for the dark background.    I took dozens of images but this one had a nice flow with the tentacles and shape of the body.  Of course, the complementary colors of blue and yellow set against each other did not hurt either.  
     Had I used the technique of upping the ISO earlier in the day, I would have had some nice images of fish as well.  I will post some different jellyfish species over the next few days.


Nikon D7000, Nikkor 24-85mm zoom set to 24mm, handheld, ISO 5000, 1/160 sec. @ f 3.5, full frame image with no cropping