Dutch scaping articles

Tom Barr

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Well, that's the inherent problem with not judging for the aquarist, rather the art of photography.
While the subject is still aquariums/plants etc......they are not the same thing.

The Dutch rules have their own issues as Dutchy points out, water quality where less = is assumed to be best.

This is a club however, ADA is in fact a business and are allowed to do whatever they chose and make whatever rule they chose to do!
A club is more a democracy, the AGA contest has been around a long time, and has some of the same issues, but.......it is a non profit club on which I've been a member for many years/know everyone on the BOD's etc.

I think what is needed is a more aggressive marketing approach to aquarium local contest.
Then having the regional winners produce a decent video based on the judging criteria.
These are sent into a national or international group for judging.
Such "Home shows" are far more educational and interesting, they teach people much more about the hobby and there is no vested financial interest.

Our club in SF has such a show/contest. You need to learn more about the Art of photography and post processing imaging. Good lighting, flashes etc, are very helpful. These will do nothing for a home show however or the Dutch contest.
I often do not wish to spend so much time doing the set up on aquariums, I'd much rather climb to a mountain and then get my shot.
 

Mithun Karmakar

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Jul 23, 2011
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Tom Barr;72600 said:
Well, that's the inherent problem with not judging for the aquarist, rather the art of photography.

Cant agree more! Planted Aquarium hobby is turning into show business where awards are given for display and adulterated photography.. Not to mention it has added to the revenues of the camera manufacturers :p

Until now I didn't have any confusion about whether to buy a good SLR or the new protein skimmer/other expensive equipments for the tanks with my yearly bonus.. Not only that, now It has become mandatory that you gotta be a good in photography for your tanks to be appreciated :( I am too old for this shit..
 

Tom Barr

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Mithun Karmakar;90627 said:
Cant agree more! Planted Aquarium hobby is turning into show business where awards are given for display and adulterated photography.. Not to mention it has added to the revenues of the camera manufacturers :p

Until now I didn't have any confusion about whether to buy a good SLR or the new protein skimmer/other expensive equipments for the tanks with my yearly bonus.. Not only that, now It has become mandatory that you gotta be a good in photography for your tanks to be appreciated :( I am too old for this shit..

I've seen some excellent pictures with cheaper point and shoot cameras, the set up is important and getting the lighting right, remove any reflection sources, so the cost to make those pics have come way down, certainly well under 1000$ USD, but that is still a loit of money and often more than the cost of the aquarium itself.

A good option is tracking down someone you know who owns a decent camera, then borrowing them, the camera etc for a 1 hour photo shoot, serve them some good food often times is all that is needed in "payment".
They have an entire forum dedicated to aquatic photography, but this is not so much about aquarium hobby, and more about the photography.

Still, you need some level of skill to pull off the top scapes, regardless of how well your photo skills might be, but most of them.........do have very good photo skills.

So this is an area that people can improve upon if they are interested in competitions.

http://www.aquatic-photography.com/

You can learn a great deal from this area of our hobby.