Took my AGA contest photos today...glad to be done

[Gwad]

I completed my first AGA contest photos for the Dutch category today!

What a PITA!!! It took me a lot longer than I thought it would. Removing the tank equipment, cleaning the resulting mess, figuring out how to use a bunch of random cardboard to keep the light bleed off the camera...it was like a 4.5 hour affair for me in my cramped, sweaty office.



The other challenge was keeping the water clear with the filters off. Every time I thought I was ready to shoot I'd find one more leaf or stray piece of root hanging out somewhere on the surface or stuck in the moss or something. It's a lot more noticeable when the water is stagnant.

I'm glad to be done. I'm about 75% happy with how my tank turned out. Had a couple issues with plant selections but I think I made it work OK for my first entry. I'm really excited to see everyone else's tanks (and to finally start seeing them discussed on the forums). Good luck everyone!

 

[Sergey_PAT]

I completed my first AGA contest photos for the Dutch category today!

I saw your stunning aquarium on Reddit today. Awesome!

Could you please tell me what’s in the cardboard box above the tank? Are those camera flashes? How many are there? Or is it an LED light? What are its specifications?

 

[Gwad]

I saw your stunning aquarium on Reddit today. Awesome!

Could you please tell me what’s in the cardboard box above the tank? Are those camera flashes? How many are there? Or is it an LED light? What are its specifications?

Thank you! It is just cardboard I used to block the light coming from my LED fixture, which is a Week Aqua P1200. It has a shade, but there was light bleeding out into the room and making a glare on my phone camera.

 

[Koan]

I saw your stunning aquarium on Reddit today

Can you post the link?

 

[Sergey_PAT]

Can you post the link?

https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/s/ZvNASDFpOD
As is often the case, the comments under a post are no less interesting than the post itself.

 

[Sergey_PAT]

It is just cardboard I used to block the light coming from my LED fixture

They say "genius lies in simplicity" for a reason! I had assumed the light source would be hidden away somewhere.

It’s actually quite surprising. I used to think you needed to move the light away from the back wall—or even shade that area—to keep the background in shadow and make it darker. Yet, you’ve done the exact opposite by shifting the light toward the back wall. And the result in the video is excellent.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Art]

Stunning tank. Congrats!

 

[Rob23]

Gorgeous tank Gwad.

 

[Gwad]

They say "genius lies in simplicity" for a reason! I had assumed the light source would be hidden away somewhere.

It’s actually quite surprising. I used to think you needed to move the light away from the back wall—or even shade that area—to keep the background in shadow and make it darker. Yet, you’ve done the exact opposite by shifting the light toward the back wall. And the result in the video is excellent.

Thanks for sharing.

I read an article by Josh Sim in the AGA magazine about black backgrounds and followed his guidance. Basically, if you want an actually shadowy black background, do not paint the back glass black. That just ends up reflecting light and looks gray at best.

Instead, make sure your tank is at least about 6 inches from the wall behind it, and paint or add black paper/fabric/etc on the wall itself. Then you'll see in the picture above that I laid pieces of black foamboard along the top rim of the tank as well to shadow the area behind the tank. This worked really well. The background is inky black even when viewing it in person.

 

[JacksonL]

The amount of thought you have put into the small details is impressive!
Beautiful tank!