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I will confess right off the bat that I am an amateur photographer. Through trial and error, I have learned some pretty useful techniques in getting good mesoscope pictures. I have intended to do this write up for a long time and since so many people seem to be getting mesoscopes, now is the perfect time to do it. I want to see more mesoscope images and I hope that by writing this article I can encourage all mesoscope owner to try taking mesoscope pictures even without the forthcoming mesoscope adapter.
The first major consideration in taking mesopics is that the meso not only magnifies your subjects but it also magnifies the flaws in how the subject is viewed and photographed. The amount of effort it takes to set up and focus on a subject is substantial so I have not even considered photographing moving subjects and so, all my advice will be for picturing still targets. With that in mind, I recoment turning off the water flow to your tank to keep your subject as still as possible.
Guess what? Clean glass and clear water makes for better pictures! OK so thats not rocket science but it is important. You want to make sure that both sides of the glass are clean and that the water has a clear color and that it is low in floating particles. Consider a fresh bump of carbon and a 24 hr polish with a micron or diatomaceous filter. A hot magnum works wonders for this because you can load it with carbon fir a few days and then pop a micron cartridge right before the photoshoot and you're good to go. The HOT magnum is probably good for up to a 100 gallons of water so if your tank is larger you likely will have to scale up these preparatory steps.
You want to make sure that the mesoscope is well and properly attached. Although the piston driven suction cup is pretty self-explanatory, getting a tight and level attachment takes a little practice. Having the exterior of your glass nice and clean will also ensure a good connection. Salt residue is just about the worst thing for attachment to the glass and it will build up on the ring of your suction cup. A wipe of alcohol on the glass and a very brief wipe of alcohol on the cup will make for the cleanest surface and the attachment process will be much easier. With the piston underneath the meso, press and hold entire unit firmly and evenly against the glass. Keep the meso firm against the glass as you press and release the piston. If you have a really good connection the piston should rise back up slowly and you should have a tiny bit of room to pull on the piston. Even with a proper seal the weight of the mesoscope can cause the suction cup to hold at a slight angle, leading to image distortion, and it can eventually lose suction and fall off. This is more of an issue when the meso is fully extended and it is why I recommend positioning the piston under the mesoscope. Never leave your mesoscope attached and unattended. I am not embarrassed to say that I usually keep a pillow, chair, or both under the meso to catch it if it falls.
By using or removing the macro lens, there are two possibilities for focusing with the mesoscope. Using the macro lens you can focus on objects that are 7 to 30 cm away and without it, you can focus in on objects that are farther than 23 cm away. Notice that between 23 and 30 cm you can either use or not use the macro lens so you will have options when you decide to focus on objects in this range. In using the macro lens you have greater magnification but a smaller depth of field. Without the macro lens you will get a wider field of view with more depth of field. So experiment with and without the macro lens, make sure you replace the aperture each time and see what works best for your tank arcitecture and the subjects you are trying t photograph.
So ideally you would put your your camera up to the mesoscope and click away, right? Well it doesn't work quite like that. With or without an adapter, you will need a tripod to hold and position your camera with the mesoscope. If the distance from the side of the tank to the camera exceed the radius of the (triangular) footprint of the tripod, it gets messy. You may have to extend the legs of your tripod at different lengths to “lean” the tripod's camera mount closer to the mesoscope. Then you will need to pivot and rotate your camera so that the lens is flush, level and centered with the mesoscope eyepiece. This adjustment is the most critical and so far I have found it to be easiest with smaller lens cameras like A and S series canon powershots. Chances are, the nicer your camera the bigger the lens and the less useful it will be for taking pictures with a mesoscope. Once your camera is properly aligned, you will likely see a circular frame or a point of light. You will need to zoom in on your subject until it fills your camera's frame as much as you would like. If you have difficulty focusing with your camera you can always refocus the mesoscope afterwards.
The optics of the mesoscope are best suited to high light applications. Even with the most intense of reef aquarium lighting, I have found it helpful to use additional sources of illumination. Since the mounting of the mesoscope is more or less perpendicular to the direction of the lights being used on the tank, without some complimentary lighting pointing in the same direction as the mesoscope, you may have some exposure issues. When you are focusing in on a subject which is being illuminated from an overhead point source of lighting, you may be photographing areas that are really bright adjacent areas of strong shadows and it is impractical to adjust your camera settings to compensate for this. Placing some form of light or external flash on the front pane of the glass will help you minimize the effects of overhead and point source lighting and it will increase quality of your images.
The final consideration is the subject itself. Whether or not you are using the macro lens, your depth of field will be very narrow and if your subject is angular (like nearly every coral) then your field of focus will be greatly reduced as well. In some cases this may equate to being focused on the edge of a single corallite without being focused in on the oral disc of that particular corallite or the edge of any neighboring surfaces. To make up for this try to photograph areas of subjects that are relatively flat and parallel to the front glass so that you can get as much detail to fall within your depth of field and produce an image with the widest field of focus as possible.
The majority of my mesoscope photography subjects have been within 12” using a combination of metal halide and T5 lighting. I have found the above techniques to be useful for taking pictures in my setups and depending on your photography style, you may have to experiment with and tweak some elements of this tutorial to suit your particular setup. Just as in regular photography, make sure to take many pictures and experiment with different camera settings, especially white balance and lighting exposure.
The first major consideration in taking mesopics is that the meso not only magnifies your subjects but it also magnifies the flaws in how the subject is viewed and photographed. The amount of effort it takes to set up and focus on a subject is substantial so I have not even considered photographing moving subjects and so, all my advice will be for picturing still targets. With that in mind, I recoment turning off the water flow to your tank to keep your subject as still as possible.
Guess what? Clean glass and clear water makes for better pictures! OK so thats not rocket science but it is important. You want to make sure that both sides of the glass are clean and that the water has a clear color and that it is low in floating particles. Consider a fresh bump of carbon and a 24 hr polish with a micron or diatomaceous filter. A hot magnum works wonders for this because you can load it with carbon fir a few days and then pop a micron cartridge right before the photoshoot and you're good to go. The HOT magnum is probably good for up to a 100 gallons of water so if your tank is larger you likely will have to scale up these preparatory steps.
You want to make sure that the mesoscope is well and properly attached. Although the piston driven suction cup is pretty self-explanatory, getting a tight and level attachment takes a little practice. Having the exterior of your glass nice and clean will also ensure a good connection. Salt residue is just about the worst thing for attachment to the glass and it will build up on the ring of your suction cup. A wipe of alcohol on the glass and a very brief wipe of alcohol on the cup will make for the cleanest surface and the attachment process will be much easier. With the piston underneath the meso, press and hold entire unit firmly and evenly against the glass. Keep the meso firm against the glass as you press and release the piston. If you have a really good connection the piston should rise back up slowly and you should have a tiny bit of room to pull on the piston. Even with a proper seal the weight of the mesoscope can cause the suction cup to hold at a slight angle, leading to image distortion, and it can eventually lose suction and fall off. This is more of an issue when the meso is fully extended and it is why I recommend positioning the piston under the mesoscope. Never leave your mesoscope attached and unattended. I am not embarrassed to say that I usually keep a pillow, chair, or both under the meso to catch it if it falls.
By using or removing the macro lens, there are two possibilities for focusing with the mesoscope. Using the macro lens you can focus on objects that are 7 to 30 cm away and without it, you can focus in on objects that are farther than 23 cm away. Notice that between 23 and 30 cm you can either use or not use the macro lens so you will have options when you decide to focus on objects in this range. In using the macro lens you have greater magnification but a smaller depth of field. Without the macro lens you will get a wider field of view with more depth of field. So experiment with and without the macro lens, make sure you replace the aperture each time and see what works best for your tank arcitecture and the subjects you are trying t photograph.
So ideally you would put your your camera up to the mesoscope and click away, right? Well it doesn't work quite like that. With or without an adapter, you will need a tripod to hold and position your camera with the mesoscope. If the distance from the side of the tank to the camera exceed the radius of the (triangular) footprint of the tripod, it gets messy. You may have to extend the legs of your tripod at different lengths to “lean” the tripod's camera mount closer to the mesoscope. Then you will need to pivot and rotate your camera so that the lens is flush, level and centered with the mesoscope eyepiece. This adjustment is the most critical and so far I have found it to be easiest with smaller lens cameras like A and S series canon powershots. Chances are, the nicer your camera the bigger the lens and the less useful it will be for taking pictures with a mesoscope. Once your camera is properly aligned, you will likely see a circular frame or a point of light. You will need to zoom in on your subject until it fills your camera's frame as much as you would like. If you have difficulty focusing with your camera you can always refocus the mesoscope afterwards.
The optics of the mesoscope are best suited to high light applications. Even with the most intense of reef aquarium lighting, I have found it helpful to use additional sources of illumination. Since the mounting of the mesoscope is more or less perpendicular to the direction of the lights being used on the tank, without some complimentary lighting pointing in the same direction as the mesoscope, you may have some exposure issues. When you are focusing in on a subject which is being illuminated from an overhead point source of lighting, you may be photographing areas that are really bright adjacent areas of strong shadows and it is impractical to adjust your camera settings to compensate for this. Placing some form of light or external flash on the front pane of the glass will help you minimize the effects of overhead and point source lighting and it will increase quality of your images.
The final consideration is the subject itself. Whether or not you are using the macro lens, your depth of field will be very narrow and if your subject is angular (like nearly every coral) then your field of focus will be greatly reduced as well. In some cases this may equate to being focused on the edge of a single corallite without being focused in on the oral disc of that particular corallite or the edge of any neighboring surfaces. To make up for this try to photograph areas of subjects that are relatively flat and parallel to the front glass so that you can get as much detail to fall within your depth of field and produce an image with the widest field of focus as possible.
The majority of my mesoscope photography subjects have been within 12” using a combination of metal halide and T5 lighting. I have found the above techniques to be useful for taking pictures in my setups and depending on your photography style, you may have to experiment with and tweak some elements of this tutorial to suit your particular setup. Just as in regular photography, make sure to take many pictures and experiment with different camera settings, especially white balance and lighting exposure.
Bob
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