Water Dropping - 110/365

Trying, half-assidly (that's a word) to capture a water drop as it fell, and just got the splash instead. But I'm pretty happy with it.

Water Dog - 86/365

A high shutter speed and frame rate is essential to taking pictures of this dog.

Lit Water - 33/365

by static416Fountain near the Distillery. I tried these shots a year ago with my previous camera and they didn't turn out, the ISO on the Canon XT just didn't go high enough to produce anything useful.

Some photographers will claim that your equipment shouldn't have a bearing on your photographic ability. They'll dismiss equipment-related questions with the incredibly arrogant "What paint brush did Michelangleo use?" hypothetical.

Firstly, you're not Michelangleo. Secondly, that's a idiotic argument. Clearly he didn't use a paint roller, or a brush for painting a house. The tools you use do make a difference in the product of your work. Especially if you are operating at the edges of the usability for that tool, as I was here.

Obviously the skill of the artist or creator is the main factor in the quality of work they produce. But the quality and nature of their tools is a significant factor as well, both in terms of the quality of their work and it's breadth. 

So just stop being an arrogant prick and tell me what lens and camera you used.

Muddy Toby - 25/365

by static416He got into the swamp. You can't see it from this angle, but his lip on the other side is sticking out slightly because his mouth is full of mud. Apparently it's not enough to wade through the mud, he had to eat it too.

Photo - Beautiful Mandarin Goby

While I had my reef tank going, this was probably my favorite of all saltwater aquarium fish, the Mandarin Goby, or Mandarinfish. The tragedy of this is that they rarely survive any length of time in home aquariums, usually starving to death a few weeks after purchase.


by Luc Viatour

These fish are cheap and plentiful in aquarium stores, but almost never feed off of prepared foods. Instead they typically feed off of "naturally" reproducing copepods and amphipods (or 'pods') which are essentially very small underwater insects. In order to survive off these pods, the tank needs to be sufficiently large to support a stable pod population. So despite the fish only being 3 inches long, it actually requires a pod-filled habitat of 120 gallons, or larger, just to ensure a steady food supply. Of course most people don't have a tank that large, and will typically overlook their care requirements in order to have one of these, even if it's only for a couple weeks before they starve.


by Luc Viatour