Shedd Aquarium - The Not!Fish post. Or, how I started to get annoyed with my favorite place in the world - 12.28.11

It's not really the Shedd's fault, but the pickier I get about what makes a Good Photograph, the harder it is to actually take a good picture at the Shedd.

Glass Scratch

 There are the obvious problem with what I call "Canned Wildlife" is that it's behind some kind of enclosure.  The upside to glass is that under the right circumstances you can get a good, unobstructed shot, unlike when there are bars or a fence and the bars can get in the way.  The downside to glass is that it's often anything but completely transparent.  This is a shot of a random glass enclosure at the Shedd.  You can see how scratched up it is.  You can also see what appears to be saltwater droplets dried on the inside.  Which means that no matter how apparent your subject is, it's going to be nigh on impossible to get a really brilliant shot.

Redefining 'Like a Lump on a Log Leaf'

 I really wanted to get a good shot of this frog, but that shot above is a piece of his enclosure.  Not very clear.  The other problem I have is that the frog was roughly six feet off the ground up on a leaf.  I am 4 foot 10.  This means I was holding the camera up over my head and hoping a lot.  Not great for composition and lighting adjustments. :(  Anyway, if you're saying 'what frog?', you 're not alone.  Most of the people around me at the aquarium were saying the same thing.  He's that slightly irregular lump in the lower right-ish corner of the photo.  Both his shape and his coloring are an awesome example of camouflage.

Flat Froggy.

 So here's a slightly better shot.  This was an 'overhead and hope' shot, and it's not *too* awful.  Nothing I'd enter into a contest or anything, but you can clearly see the frog now.  I would have loved for his eye/face to have been the focal point instead of that back leg/side.

Close to Coral of the Unidentified Kind

This is an incredibly cool coral down in the Wild Reef section.  Unfortunately the little touch pad info-thingy was broken and I couldn't find the name of the particular type of coral and half an hour of Googling didn't show me anything even remotely like it.  I don't think it's leather coral, and it's clearly not anything easy to identify like a brain coral or a staghorn or something.  I wish this had been under brighter lights.  The tricky thing about shooting this thing was that even though it doesn't move, the fish it lives with do and they would end up swimming into the frame as I was doing some (reasonably) long shutter work.  1/8 of a second doesn't seem like a lot, but when you're talking about fish that just amble in and back out of your frame, it can put a big blue/yellow/orange blur in your shot.  Anyway, I really love the opalescent look inside this coral.  The layers weren't waving like an anemone or anything, so I'm not sure if they were the rigid coral that we expect or if they were some kind of softer tissue.  They certainly looked like they should be soft tissue, but it's coral, so... I'm not really sure.

A Picket Post for Two Seahorses

 Seahorses?  Also incredibly difficult to shoot.  While they often anchor themselves to a branch or piece of coral, or another seahorse, they still sway in the currents.  And again, not overly-well lit exhibits, so getting a good shot is tough because you need a long shutter and long shutters at the Shedd... they just don't work very well, very often.  And apparently the Shedd knows people want awesome shots of these things, because there are huge NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY signs posted all around the seahorse and seadragon exhibits.  Bummer.

Seahorse Stroll

So given how hard seahorses are to shoot, I'm pretty proud of this shot.  He was floating through the most well-lit (and also uncluttered) area of his exhibit and I managed to get off a shot at 1/25th of a second (at f4.5) which meant I got him pretty clearly.  It was extremely convenient of him to be floating by in perfect profile. :)

Rockhopper Hopping Mad?

 Even the penguin glass was bad this time.  I'm used to the glass at Lincoln Park being horrendous.  I don't even try to shoot in there.  Usually at the Shedd the glass is in good shape and I can get some good shots.  I know there's always going to be an issue with condensation on the glass when you need to keep penguins chilly and guests comfortable, but there's a difference between clean glass with water droplets on it and just plain dirty glass.  It makes finding a good spot to shoot through a challenge.  I did get this awesome shot of a rockhopper penguin giving me a look.  Those yellow feathers on their 'eyebrows' always make it look like they're giving people the stink eye.

Monkey Frog - Not Made of Plastic

This is a real frog.  No, really, it is.  Most of us watching him were pretty sure he was a very cheap, badly manufactured plastic frog.  But then he'd twitch or take a deep breath.  But look at those eyes!  They look like a seven-year-old painted them on!  Very freaky!

I really do love the iguana enclosure.  They keep the heated rocks right in the front of their space, it's very well lit and the glass is clean.  About as good a set up as you could ask for when you're a photographer.  I was able to get this shot where you can really see the texture in his skin (check that back leg out) and some nice details of his spikes on his back.


Okay, tomorrow will be the fish and then I'll be done with this trip.  Weirdly the glass issues are less pronounced on the fish... mostly because there's water throughout so the glass can't get dirty.  But that's for tomorrow.

Chicago Done Naturally (Post 7 of 10) - The Shedd Aquarium

The Shedd Aquarium

This is probably my favorite place in the entire world, but it’s a tough shoot.

The whole Shedd is a no-flash zone, which makes shooting moving targets – and most marine animals are constantly moving targets - really hard.

Technically, they’re also a no-tripod zone, but I’ve discovered that if you aren’t obnoxious and don’t try to set up in front of a really popular display or during a really busy time, the staff won’t bother you too much. The exception to that seems to be down at “Fanta-sea” – the dolphin/whale/penguin/etc… show. One time I went and set my tripod up so that I could use it while seated (so it wasn’t sticking up in front of people, and I wasn’t standing in the way) and they were fine with it, another time I was asked to take it down. So *shrug*. No one’s ever been nasty or threatened to bounce me out or anything, so I’d say, give it a try, the worst that’ll happen is they’ll ask you to take it down.

The Shedd has some wonderful opportunities to get in while there’s not a lot of other people. Check for events like “Jazzin’ at the Shedd” where you can be one of only a hundred or so people in the entire aquarium for a few hours. Events like this are not ridiculously expensive and can give you much better shooting opportunities.

Are you an educator? Show your ID and get in to everything for free!

To hit:
The penguin exhibit is lit fabulously. You’re shooting through glass, but it’s pretty clean and clear. You can usually get your tripod set up on one of the two observation levels.

Some animals are amazingly still for aquatic life and you can run a long shutter without getting noticeable blur. Look for the map turtle, the lobsters, sea stars and blue iguanas. (Though I think they’re still working on breeding the iguanas, so they’re on and off exhibit somewhat randomly.)

There’s a tank of eels in the Wild Reef that’s tons of fun. If the eels are being still, they’re easy shooting – decent amount of light - but sometimes they’re just too active.

This is a tough shoot, but look to see if they still have the live shark eggs up on the wall. These things are AMAZING. They have three shark cases with living embryonic sharks in them being backlit on one wall. You can see the sharks moving in their cases. It’s awesome. They’re pretty well hidden, though. You’ll almost be out of the Wild Reef exhibit and they’re basically on a wall behind you. Ask a docent if you can’t find them. They’re worth looking for.

To miss:
No matter how much I know the lighting conditions are awful, I always try to shoot in the Ocenarium. This whole area is backlit with Lake Michigan behind the large tanks, so there’s light bouncing everywhere. There’s a ton of light coming in, even on a cloudy day, and it’s really hard to shoot anything like that. Give it a shot, but don’t be surprised if it’s tough. Because, seriously, wouldn't this have been a great shot if it were properly lit?

The shark tank in the Wild Reef is great to watch, but we’re talking sharks – animals that never stop moving – EVER – and are in a huge dark tank. Go watch the animals, they’re fabulous, but shooting is nearly impossible.