# Underwater Photography



## Incident

So this may end up being one of the most quiet photo threads on WUS, but who knows...anyone else love underwater photography? Plenty of fans of dive watches, so who knows 

Ocean, lake, pool, wildlife, people...anything underwater works.

Got shots? Let's see em...I'll start.


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## ExpiredWatchdog

Sure, first some shots from Niihau, the little island to the west of Kauai, a Galapagos Shark:








A Monk Seal (these guys are highly endangered but coming back due to Federal protections:








A site named Vertical Awareness. This shot was at about eighty feet, the bottom was at three-hundred feet and we could see it:








This is looking up from the same place:








A different dive, the spot was Niihau Arches, this particular feature is called TV Cave (for obvious reasons):








Now for some shots at Raja Ampat, an archipelago at the west tip of New Guinea. Here's our daughter (who, for her seventeenth lifetime dive, got to do some of the best diving in the world):








She did have some ear trouble that kept her out of the water for a couple days, but we had a physician and an otoscope onboard so she was cleared for the final three days. After the trip was over, she said "Yea know, I was going along on these dive trips just because I wanted the vacation and wanted to please you, but I really didn't care much for the actual diving. Now after this trip, I can see why you guys do this".

So now for some Raja pics. Keep in mind that this is the first trip we took with our new Olympus Tough Underwater rig so all the previous pictures have been GoPro Frame cuts. I set my GoPro on full res (4000x3000) at 30 FPS but it's still a chore to get a good still from it.
Now for Raja. Tons of Nudies, I looked this guy up in "Reef Creature Identification - Tropical Pacific, Humann, Deloch" a Swollen Phyllidia:








This one's called a "Racing Stripe Nudie" as anyone who's familiar with Gulf Racing or any of the matching Heuer offerings can attest to:








He's actually consuming whatever that is in front of him but maybe just the algae (most likely the whole thing). Here's an Anna's Chromodoris:








Another shot just a bit later:








Some kinda clam:








The colors are amazing. These pictures are of this quality because I'm using a flash on the Olympus rig. It's a single flash that attaches to the top of the housing and connects to the camera's flash through an optical cable. The flash is integrated enough that the camera's flash tells it when and how to flash.

Here's a Hawkfish in a bunch of green soft coral. The Hawkfish is the seahorse's worst enemy but the green soft coral is amazing at night. All the holes turn into polyps with their arms extending quite a ways:








A colorful lobster:








A school of Crevalle Jacks:








Some Christmas Tree Worms on a coral head:








A couple shots if a very timid Clown fish in an anemone:
















A Two Spotted Blenny:








Now for some seahorses. A pygmy:








He's just left of center about two thirds of the way up. Here's another one that's a little out of color for the coral he's sitting on:








This guy's called "Santa Claus:








Smack in the middle. Next up we have another type of Pygmy Seahorse, adapted for the coral fan their living on. There are two of them in the shot:








The tell is their tails wrapped around the fan. Nowhere else on the fan do you see a structure like that. Oh, the one on the right is the pregnant male. The females lay their eggs in the male's abdomen and he incubates them. You can tell from the fat belly.

OK, and finally-finally, Some Rays, first a Spotted Eagle Ray (along with my TAG WAN2110):








They are butt-ugly. And some Mantas:
















Along with the obligatory Manta video (I hope it is within keeping of a photo forum, or at least I'm forgiven because of all the stills I posted:


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## Incident

Nice collection there!! Keep em coming.


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## Incident

Here is a Whip Coral goby. It's about 2cm in length for perspective, and inflicted with a parasite along it's side. Shot this is N. Sulawesi, Indonesia.


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## Incident

Oceanic Manta Ray, San Benedicto, Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico


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## Incident

How about a beautiful humpback whale playfully engaging with a swimmer...Mo'orea, Fr. Polynesia


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## SolarPower

Beautiful pictures of the beautiful world! Thank you.


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## Incident

This is Periclimenes imperator, or the commonly named, Emperor Shrimp. Philippines 2018.


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## Incident

A turtle a day...


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## TheWalrus

Awesome! I'm going to start posting in here _a lot_ more. I dive almost exclusively off the west coast of Canada - Vancouver Island particularly. The vis is rarely stellar - and lots of particulate, usually in the summer. So it lends itself more to macros than sweeping vistas - but, fortunately, there's plenty of wildlife that can be shot up close. You can clearly see, in the photos below, the dives where I started using a dedicated strobe for my camera, instead of my dive light. Definitely a worthwhile purchase! Anyway, a few of my favorites, so far:

*A Red-Irish Lord*. I believe it's a type of sculpin that's found predominantly in PNW waters. Not particularly common, though - this was the first I've seen.










*Standard Sea Anemone* - incredibly common where I dive - this is a smaller version, some can get incredibly large. This was shot on the Victoria breakwater - hence, the clearly man angles on the stone it's attached to.










*Puget Sound King Crab - *the dark(er) waters of the PNW make these appear fairly colorless underwater - until you shine a light (or a flash) on them. Incredible variations of reds and oranges and purples. Amazing - and very large - creatures.










*Clown Nudibranch - *we get massive nudibranchs. This one is fairly medium sized, but I've seen them up to (or larger than) my forearm. This species doesn't get that big.










*Wolf Eel* - not actually an eel, rather a species of fish, these guys are incredibly friendly - coming to recognize some divers who visit regularly. Not incredibly common, but if you know where to look, you'll find them.










*Large, Fish-eating anemone - *you also get a sense of what it looks like on a 'clearer' day underwater, here.










*Scuba Diver* (_**** sapien_) - my dive buddy posing for a shot in fresh water. We have deep, freshwater pools along the west coast of our island - the Sooke pot holes. Not a common dive site, for some reason - it's incredible underwater, there. Amazing topography, and warm water (15 C even!)










*Ling Cod* - an accidental shot, but one that appears to tell a bit of a story. The Cod was actually focused on me - however, I still wouldn't want to be the fish in front of him.










*Grunt Sculpin - *pretty shy fish - they are amazing to watch. They typically 'walk' along the sea floor with their fins, feeding on algae and other detritus. One of my favorite fish in our area, and sadly, one that I don't typically see.


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## Chris Stark

I have a few. All shots taken with a Nikonos V and most with one or two strobes. Slide film converted to digital.


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## steelcityfishanddive

Some awesome shots there.


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## TheWalrus

A few more from tonight - A number of large schools of herring were swimming just off our breakwater, which meant for some challenging photos. It's incredibly tough to capture both the size of the schools - millions of fish - and the intricacies of each individual organism. I think a few of my shots came close - but nothing replicates the feeling of being there - maybe I need to try video...


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## TheWalrus

A clown nudibranch - somewhat common in the PNW / west coast of Canada, and one of my favorite. Although difficult to shoot without a strobe given the number of extremely fine appendages that get out of focus easily.


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## der Uhrsammler

Great thread - thanks, everyone


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## TheWalrus

I've never tried an anemone in black and white, I think it turned out - surprisingly, for an animal that is _so much _about color.










A 'Yellow Margin' Nudibranch. Pretty common around here, but super tough to photograph with their translucent bodies.


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## supersilent

Some nice shots here! 
I'm gonna have to go through my hard drive, my photo folders are a mess... Here's one of my fave, though.









Bait balls are always fun!


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## supersilent

From a few days diving the cenotes of Mexico.


































Absolutely magical places. I really hope I can go back.


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## ExpiredWatchdog

We spent the week before Christmas in Cozumel. I have never seen conditions better. Vis was at least 100 ft. on every dive and the reef was in the best shape I've seen, starting with our OWD checkout dives in 2013. So, on with some shots...
Our dive boat:









Yup, this was how calm the seas were (for the entire week):









We had a new diver among our family. Our daughter brought her boyfriend along. He had finished his class and pool work in Indiana prior to our trip and just needed his open water dives. He finished them in spectacular form, joining us for the rest of the dives. Here's the four of us (Wifey, Me, him and daughter):









Here's an adult Spotted Drum (oddly enough, we saw several adults but no juveniles where normally the juveniles are all you see):









A Splendid Toadfish, endemic to Cozumel:









A large Parrotfish (short side note, all that beautiful sand you see in the tropics has been through their GI tract):









A pretty Anemone (the blue-tipped ones often have a Squat Anemone Shrimp hiding among the tentacles):









They call this a King Crab (yes I know it's not what you see in the supermarket, unless you are down there):









Here's a scenic view from the end of a swim-through:









A Queen Angel nearby:









A Spotted Moray I saw right before...









...this beautiful swim-through on the famous Santa Rosa Wall:









...and here's my wife wondering where I got up to, hanging behind to take that shot:









But, she makes up for it by spotting this little Torpedo Ray right at the end of the wall:









On another dive, here's another Anemone:









A Spider Crab:









Somewhat rare, a Fire Worm:









And finally, a Flamingo Tongue Snail:


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## supersilent

Some random macro shots from Indonesia. I still haven't sorted my photo folders ?


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## TheWalrus

Pretty bad vis today - at least in the top 5 meters or so. After that it cleared up nicely - still only allowed for close-up shots though with the lack of any surface light getting down, it was almost like a night dive. Definitely jealous of you guys in the tropics and all that natural light / hundred foot vis....


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## supersilent

^ Shrimps are always a treat 

If it's any consolation, I am jealous of you being able to dive at all these days. My last dive was just a year ago, right before borders closed and flights started to get cancelled. Not sure when my next dive will be.


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## wspohn

Some absolutely brilliant images posted!

All of my underwater photography was film back when I was a Naui instructor, and most of it was done in Hawaii, though some was in the Pacific Northwest (often in cloudy water conditions!).

I still have my camera, the first 35 mm underwater camera made - and before you say 'Nikonos' it wasn't. It was the Calypso, made from 1960-63 at Jacques Cousteau's request, by the French form ATOMS (it used a Berthiot lens a very good lens maker).

Nikonos bought the rights, and redid the camera using a lot of plastic in place of metal and a Nikon lens (decent but not up to the standard of th Berthiot).

I should get around to selling it if any old underwater camera fans exist.


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## Watchout63

Awesome thread and thanks for the pictures. I find it very relaxing to look at underwater photography. Much appreciated and I will be keeping my eye on this thread. 👍


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## drmdwebb

Very rare Splendid Toadfish in Cozumel


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## drmdwebb

Spotted Eagle Ray in Cozumel


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## drmdwebb

Mermaid  in Xcalek (sorry poor visibility that day):


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## drmdwebb

Bull shark off the beach at Playa del Carmen:


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## drmdwebb

Divemaster with mirror and Pike Blenny scaring himself:


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## drmdwebb

Divemaster's photo of turtle in Coz:


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## mumblypeg

In Bora Bora (quite a few years ago).......






















































*And the obligatory pic of myself......jez kidding'.....I kid ?








*


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## mumblypeg

At Ginnie Springs & Crystal River, FL (mostly pics of wife).....


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## supersilent




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## mumblypeg

Incident said:


> How about a beautiful humpback whale playfully engaging with a swimmer...Mo'orea, Fr. Polynesia
> 
> View attachment 15388073


French Polynesia had some of the best diving ever. We came across more there (aside from whales), in less than 30ft depth than we've seen in up to 120ft. Second best was Aussies Great Barrier Reef and the giant clams.


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## supersilent

I was never a photographer but got hooked on the challenges of making decent photos underwater. It's like a completely different discipline. For the last 3-4 years my diving time has been more focused on UW photo, and I have progressively upgraded my rig: from GoPro to compact camera to mirrorless with prime lenses ; from 0 to 1 to 2 strobes, etc. I am however still very much a beginner, still struggling with the fundamentals yet occasionally managing a lucky shot. It's a journey.

This one is from the Coral Triangle, back in 2019. Trying to get decent lighting in wide angle.


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## melikewatches

Back in the day, I used to shoot a lot of underwater video. No such thing as gopro. We shot on video tape. Really itching to get back to Indonesia, Maldives, Galapagos.


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## TheWalrus

Some bad vis on Thursday, but I got a couple shots of my buddies buzzing us kickers on some scooters.


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## TheWalrus

A couple shots turned out from a dive yesterday at our local breakwater. A couple of Painted Greelings were hanging out around some snail eggs. Probably considering starting a family of their own until a weirdo blowing bubbles with a big light showed up. A couple of other stand outs - including the rarely seen wolf eel, and a sea lion which never got close enough for a shot, unfortunately.


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## TheWalrus

A few more shots from today and yesterday. Low vis, again - it does tend to get worse with summer - but a few shots turned out. And yes - that's the same Wolf Eel from before.


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## TheWalrus

A few shots from a wreck dive on the San Pedro - a collier wrecked off Vancouver Island in the late 19th century.


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## Saswatch

Amazing photos guys.


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## TheWalrus

DP


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## supersilent

Some jaws!

A juvenile tiger passing by in the shallows (still from a Gopro)









Eye to eye with a large (_c._4.5m) female tiger passing right above my shoulder (another video still)









And a close view of a giant moray's mouth... I wish the 2nd set of jaws was visible!


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## Dingo2017

Wow so many nice pics. I’m jealous lol


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## studawg

what is your go pro diving / snorkeling setup? do you set it up to take photos at a certain time delay? do you use any filters?


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## supersilent

I only tried to make the GoPro work for me underwater when I was both a new diver and completely new at underwater image capture. These were also earlier models, so caveats should apply to the below&#8230; I would also expect that some forum members here have way more experience with GoPros underwater than I do. Until they chime in, here is my own experience:

The only GoPro accessory I ever experimented with were the filters to correct the white balance, and I found them too fiddly with depth changes: go up/down 5m and your white balance is messed up again&#8230; and I'd rather my videos be too blue than too red. Go too deep and the filters become useless: red filters remove some blue so that you get a better balance with the reds. But when all you have is blue light, removing some won't make any reds magically reappear. At this stage you need to bring your own lights with you, and use strobes. Then you become restricted to close subjects (less than 1.5-2m). These days you can find some apps/software that do a better job at colour correction than filters imho. For example Dive+ colour correction.

I never tried clip-on macro lenses with the GoPro. I did not even use a stick/handle! (less stable than hand-held)

I was also never happy with still shots from a GoPro: with no way to play with aperture and shutter speed, my uw photos were pretty much always blurry. Maybe for a still subject at snorkelling depths one could make it work, though&#8230; The shot of the juvenile tiger that I posted above was actually extracted from a video. This was a sunny day, in crystal clear waters, and looking up from a depth of 5-6m. Ambient light, no filters.

The final reason the GoPro was not ideal for me is it is a wide angle camera, which isn't great for smaller subjects. I like to keep a respectful distance with wildlife.

So while a GoPro was the first camera I ever used underwater, I hardly use it anymore. After a while I moved on to focussing on still shots, invested in a dedicated rig for that, and stopped trying to make the GoPro work for me.
These days I only dive with a GoPro if I am going to go after action videos of large subjects (sharks, mantas, dolphins, other divers&#8230. Ideally, this will also be in shallow conditions, or I will just have be at peace with the blue footage&#8230; or B&W. For any other use, I'd rather take my mirrorless camera with the appropriate lens, in its housing and with strobes. And then I'll use Lightroom to develop the photos.

The GoPro was designed as a point and shoot _action camera_ for videos. Wide angle, large subjects, with good lighting (natural or artificial) is where it excels. Stick to this and you'll get fantastic results. Move away from this, and you will probably get frustrated.


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## supersilent

Some scenery from South Halmahera / Misool 💙

Wide angle is hard


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## studawg

I sat next to a guy on the beach in maui when i was snorkeling who recommended to me a gopro on a stick set to 1 pic every 10 seconds with a red filter. He said that the stick lets the camera a little closer to the subjects without them swimming away. I was doing video at the time and in retrospect i should have done photos instead. All in all it was a very fun experience.

I'm going back soon and I'm probably going to at least try using a red filter this time.


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## ExpiredWatchdog

I use a GoPro along with a pair of 1200 lumen Sea Dragon lights and the matching frame. It's attached to a float made of a couple foam blocks glued together. On the bottom of the blocks, I have a BigBlue 1100 lumen extra wide light mounted on standard swivels. 

The GoPro itself is in a standard dive housing with a Backscatter Flip 9 with the 20-50 ft. (Dive) filter and a Macromate +15 macro lens. I find the Shallow filter is too light and the deep filter distorts the colors when shooting deep; it's better to take the filter off below 90 feet. With the filter on, the lights stay off or you get really orange video. I have been able to correct it in postprocessing, but I can always tell which clips. 

The macro is the BOMB for its purpose; shooting about four inches away. Since it's either filter or macro, the lights go on and I point them at the subject for a shadow-free shot. I find that I get the best exposure with the lights on the lowest setting; about 1/4 power. 

A few observations I've made on my journey: The filter is key to an unlit scene, without it you get so much blue that it's uncorrectable. Later versions of GoPro have made huge improvements in various things including resolution vs. speed and in stabilization. The stabilization in the Hero 9 it incredible, particularly in roll. They have a larger focal plane to sample from which allows a larger deviation without clipping and I'm guessing they use an accelerometer to determine down. 

But the biggest improvement of all was adding the lights and float (oh, and it no longer floats due to added items, but it doesn't sink very fast). The problem with a bare GoPro on a handle is the low moment of inertia and the ease of motion. Adding the lights (about a foot apart) made a world of difference in how steady my clips are. 

Another aside to steadiness is the manner of shooting. I do leave the GoPro running during the entire dive so I don't miss anything while waiting for it to start, but when I find something of interest, I purposely hold it as steady as I can and count off at least fifteen seconds before moving it off the subject. That way I likely have ten seconds of good clip to chose from.


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## studawg

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> I use a GoPro along with a pair of 1200 lumen Sea Dragon lights and the matching frame. It's attached to a float made of a couple foam blocks glued together. On the bottom of the blocks, I have a BigBlue 1100 lumen extra wide light mounted on standard swivels.
> 
> The GoPro itself is in a standard dive housing with a Backscatter Flip 9 with the 20-50 ft. (Dive) filter and a Macromate +15 macro lens. I find the Shallow filter is too light and the deep filter distorts the colors when shooting deep; it's better to take the filter off below 90 feet. With the filter on, the lights stay off or you get really orange video. I have been able to correct it in postprocessing, but I can always tell which clips.
> 
> The macro is the BOMB for its purpose; shooting about four inches away. Since it's either filter or macro, the lights go on and I point them at the subject for a shadow-free shot. I find that I get the best exposure with the lights on the lowest setting; about 1/4 power.
> 
> A few observations I've made on my journey: The filter is key to an unlit scene, without it you get so much blue that it's uncorrectable. Later versions of GoPro have made huge improvements in various things including resolution vs. speed and in stabilization. The stabilization in the Hero 9 it incredible, particularly in roll. They have a larger focal plane to sample from which allows a larger deviation without clipping and I'm guessing they use an accelerometer to determine down.
> 
> But the biggest improvement of all was adding the lights and float (oh, and it no longer floats due to added items, but it doesn't sink very fast). The problem with a bare GoPro on a handle is the low moment of inertia and the ease of motion. Adding the lights (about a foot apart) made a world of difference in how steady my clips are.
> 
> Another aside to steadiness is the manner of shooting. I do leave the GoPro running during the entire dive so I don't miss anything while waiting for it to start, but when I find something of interest, I purposely hold it as steady as I can and count off at least fifteen seconds before moving it off the subject. That way I likely have ten seconds of good clip to chose from.


this is all amazing information, thanks for sharing! i only snorkle so I'm not too worried about 90ft, i dont really need lights at all! i know what you mean about jerky video when handholding the gopro on the selfie stick too, for sure.


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## Incident

Haven't made a contribution to the thread I started for a long while....so here is one.

Hunter-gatherer. Deep in the heart of.....Indonesia.


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## timepiece401

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> Sure, first some shots from Niihau, the little island to the west of Kauai, a Galapagos Shark:
> View attachment 15381832
> 
> A Monk Seal (these guys are highly endangered but coming back due to Federal protections:
> View attachment 15381833
> 
> A site named Vertical Awareness. This shot was at about eighty feet, the bottom was at three-hundred feet and we could see it:
> View attachment 15381834
> 
> This is looking up from the same place:
> View attachment 15381836
> 
> A different dive, the spot was Niihau Arches, this particular feature is called TV Cave (for obvious reasons):
> View attachment 15381837
> 
> Now for some shots at Raja Ampat, an archipelago at the west tip of New Guinea. Here's our daughter (who, for her seventeenth lifetime dive, got to do some of the best diving in the world):
> View attachment 15381842
> 
> She did have some ear trouble that kept her out of the water for a couple days, but we had a physician and an otoscope onboard so she was cleared for the final three days. After the trip was over, she said "Yea know, I was going along on these dive trips just because I wanted the vacation and wanted to please you, but I really didn't care much for the actual diving. Now after this trip, I can see why you guys do this".
> 
> So now for some Raja pics. Keep in mind that this is the first trip we took with our new Olympus Tough Underwater rig so all the previous pictures have been GoPro Frame cuts. I set my GoPro on full res (4000x3000) at 30 FPS but it's still a chore to get a good still from it.
> Now for Raja. Tons of Nudies, I looked this guy up in "Reef Creature Identification - Tropical Pacific, Humann, Deloch" a Swollen Phyllidia:
> View attachment 15381856
> 
> This one's called a "Racing Stripe Nudie" as anyone who's familiar with Gulf Racing or any of the matching Heuer offerings can attest to:
> View attachment 15381858
> 
> He's actually consuming whatever that is in front of him but maybe just the algae (most likely the whole thing). Here's an Anna's Chromodoris:
> View attachment 15381860
> 
> Another shot just a bit later:
> View attachment 15381861
> 
> Some kinda clam:
> View attachment 15381863
> 
> The colors are amazing. These pictures are of this quality because I'm using a flash on the Olympus rig. It's a single flash that attaches to the top of the housing and connects to the camera's flash through an optical cable. The flash is integrated enough that the camera's flash tells it when and how to flash.
> 
> Here's a Hawkfish in a bunch of green soft coral. The Hawkfish is the seahorse's worst enemy but the green soft coral is amazing at night. All the holes turn into polyps with their arms extending quite a ways:
> View attachment 15381865
> 
> A colorful lobster:
> View attachment 15381866
> 
> A school of Crevalle Jacks:
> View attachment 15381868
> 
> Some Christmas Tree Worms on a coral head:
> View attachment 15381870
> 
> A couple shots if a very timid Clown fish in an anemone:
> View attachment 15381871
> 
> View attachment 15381872
> 
> A Two Spotted Blenny:
> View attachment 15381873
> 
> Now for some seahorses. A pygmy:
> View attachment 15381877
> 
> He's just left of center about two thirds of the way up. Here's another one that's a little out of color for the coral he's sitting on:
> View attachment 15381878
> 
> This guy's called "Santa Claus:
> View attachment 15381879
> 
> Smack in the middle. Next up we have another type of Pygmy Seahorse, adapted for the coral fan their living on. There are two of them in the shot:
> View attachment 15381882
> 
> The tell is their tails wrapped around the fan. Nowhere else on the fan do you see a structure like that. Oh, the one on the right is the pregnant male. The females lay their eggs in the male's abdomen and he incubates them. You can tell from the fat belly.
> 
> OK, and finally-finally, Some Rays, first a Spotted Eagle Ray (along with my TAG WAN2110):
> View attachment 15381884
> 
> They are butt-ugly. And some Mantas:
> View attachment 15381885
> 
> View attachment 15381886
> 
> Along with the obligatory Manta video (I hope it is within keeping of a photo forum, or at least I'm forgiven because of all the stills I posted:





ExpiredWatchdog said:


> Sure, first some shots from Niihau, the little island to the west of Kauai, a Galapagos Shark:
> View attachment 15381832
> 
> A Monk Seal (these guys are highly endangered but coming back due to Federal protections:
> View attachment 15381833
> 
> A site named Vertical Awareness. This shot was at about eighty feet, the bottom was at three-hundred feet and we could see it:
> View attachment 15381834
> 
> This is looking up from the same place:
> View attachment 15381836
> 
> A different dive, the spot was Niihau Arches, this particular feature is called TV Cave (for obvious reasons):
> View attachment 15381837
> 
> Now for some shots at Raja Ampat, an archipelago at the west tip of New Guinea. Here's our daughter (who, for her seventeenth lifetime dive, got to do some of the best diving in the world):
> View attachment 15381842
> 
> She did have some ear trouble that kept her out of the water for a couple days, but we had a physician and an otoscope onboard so she was cleared for the final three days. After the trip was over, she said "Yea know, I was going along on these dive trips just because I wanted the vacation and wanted to please you, but I really didn't care much for the actual diving. Now after this trip, I can see why you guys do this".
> 
> So now for some Raja pics. Keep in mind that this is the first trip we took with our new Olympus Tough Underwater rig so all the previous pictures have been GoPro Frame cuts. I set my GoPro on full res (4000x3000) at 30 FPS but it's still a chore to get a good still from it.
> Now for Raja. Tons of Nudies, I looked this guy up in "Reef Creature Identification - Tropical Pacific, Humann, Deloch" a Swollen Phyllidia:
> View attachment 15381856
> 
> This one's called a "Racing Stripe Nudie" as anyone who's familiar with Gulf Racing or any of the matching Heuer offerings can attest to:
> View attachment 15381858
> 
> He's actually consuming whatever that is in front of him but maybe just the algae (most likely the whole thing). Here's an Anna's Chromodoris:
> View attachment 15381860
> 
> Another shot just a bit later:
> View attachment 15381861
> 
> Some kinda clam:
> View attachment 15381863
> 
> The colors are amazing. These pictures are of this quality because I'm using a flash on the Olympus rig. It's a single flash that attaches to the top of the housing and connects to the camera's flash through an optical cable. The flash is integrated enough that the camera's flash tells it when and how to flash.
> 
> Here's a Hawkfish in a bunch of green soft coral. The Hawkfish is the seahorse's worst enemy but the green soft coral is amazing at night. All the holes turn into polyps with their arms extending quite a ways:
> View attachment 15381865
> 
> A colorful lobster:
> View attachment 15381866
> 
> A school of Crevalle Jacks:
> View attachment 15381868
> 
> Some Christmas Tree Worms on a coral head:
> View attachment 15381870
> 
> A couple shots if a very timid Clown fish in an anemone:
> View attachment 15381871
> 
> View attachment 15381872
> 
> A Two Spotted Blenny:
> View attachment 15381873
> 
> Now for some seahorses. A pygmy:
> View attachment 15381877
> 
> He's just left of center about two thirds of the way up. Here's another one that's a little out of color for the coral he's sitting on:
> View attachment 15381878
> 
> This guy's called "Santa Claus:
> View attachment 15381879
> 
> Smack in the middle. Next up we have another type of Pygmy Seahorse, adapted for the coral fan their living on. There are two of them in the shot:
> View attachment 15381882
> 
> The tell is their tails wrapped around the fan. Nowhere else on the fan do you see a structure like that. Oh, the one on the right is the pregnant male. The females lay their eggs in the male's abdomen and he incubates them. You can tell from the fat belly.
> 
> OK, and finally-finally, Some Rays, first a Spotted Eagle Ray (along with my TAG WAN2110):
> View attachment 15381884
> 
> They are butt-ugly. And some Mantas:
> View attachment 15381885
> 
> View attachment 15381886
> 
> Along with the obligatory Manta video (I hope it is within keeping of a photo forum, or at least I'm forgiven because of all the stills I posted:


Awesome shots! Something about the omega underwater is just aesthetically pleasing!


----------



## supersilent

More fun with bait balls in the shallows of the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt.


----------



## ExpiredWatchdog

Well, I hate to say it all, but we just got back stateside after a week in Playa del Carmen and another week at a resort on Turneffe Reef called Blackbird Caye Resort.

Playa del Carmen was a choice that was driven by the need to fly from our first stop to our second. Our timeshare has resorts on both the mainland side and two in Cozumel but we picked the mainland side as the only way to get from the Yucatan Peninsula to Belize is from Cancun. If we stayed on Cozumel, we would have had to take the ferry to the mainland or fly back to the states and then to Goldson in Belize. As it was, we flew from CUN to BZE on a Tropic Air turboprop:










From Goldson, we loaded our stuff in the back of a Tropic Air Cessna 182:
























...and flew out to Blackbird Caye. They have a grass strip that's barely long enough to land the Cessna without extreme measures but they also land Cessna Grand Caravans on the same strip.

I gotta say, with the exception of the bugs, Blackbird Caye Resort is tropical heaven:

























Some live music at the bar (BTW, that's wifey with a TAG WAY1390 ceramic cased ladies quartz Aquaracer, which saw it's share of diving).









Now for some diving, the complimentary wristy:
The TAG WAK2180 on it's first trip in a few years.








Now for some bottom time!

A very annoying Remora:









Here's another Fireworm:









So, our DM found this little Banded Pipefish (cousin of the Seahorse) just laying on the bottom, looking like a piece of turtlegrass:









Here's a Tubeworm that I was able to sneak up on without him doing that whole "suck in the hole quicker than spit when anything gets within three feet" sorta thing:









Not sure what they are, but these guys are everywhere:









A face only a mother could love:









Here, we are looking at the start of a huge plate full of Lionfish fingers for our appetizer. For the uninitiated, have you ever tried a properly cooked Grouper fillet? Lionfish makes Grouper taste like shoe leather:









He shoots the Lionfish with the Hawaiian sling, then clips the spines off with a pair of scissors (shown here). The spines stick out the dorsal and ventral sides of the fish, and I believe there are two sets each (from watching him several dozen times). Once gone, they are completely harmless; he reached into the pile many times to hook another on his stringer; just a steel rod with a cord attached to the middle.

Here we have a Pederson's Shrimp on a Corkscrew Anemone:









Several on another:










A really nice macro (heck, they are all macros, the damn things are only a half-inch long):









A couple of Squat Anemone Shrimp:









Some Banded Coral Shrimp:

















A Green Moray with several Spider Crabs about:









Finally, a Lettuce Nudi that I found myself. This is the largest I've seen.


----------



## karenburton1305

Oh WOW some gorgeous images here!! The colours are insane - this may be a stupid question, but are these specialist underwater cameras?


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## ExpiredWatchdog

^^^ Sorta. The base camera is an Olympus Toughguard 6 that they sell as an action camera. They also make a dive housing for CHEAP which makes them very popular. I also have their underwater flash, which integrates with their RC technology. The entire package is in the ballpark of $1400, which is a steal for diving cameras. A typical Ikelite housing for a Nikon SLR is two grand.


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## supersilent

Apart from the GoPro, I've always used a standard camera, in a dedicated underwater housing.

At first I bought a housing for the Sony Coolpix that I already owned. I later upgraded to a Canon G7X (compact camera) rig with clip-on wet lenses on the housing, and finally to a Sony Alpha 6500 (mirrorless camera) with prime lenses and a Nauticam housing.
With time I have also upgraded from using a single Sea & Sea strobe to a pair of Inon strobes (after experiencing sync issues with the Sea & Sea).

Underwater photography (and scuba diving in general) can easily be turned into an expensive hobby.


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## supersilent

The unexpectedly stealthy Ornate Ghost Pipefish, a relative of the Seahorse:

Now you see me








Now you don't!


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## ExpiredWatchdog

^^^ Beautiful. I’ve seen them in Komodo but couldn’t get a good shot. They swim like a drifting piece of trash.


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## supersilent




----------



## ExpiredWatchdog

Damn, did it again, just got back from a week of diving at our timeshare in Cozumel:








The trip actually started out as an exploratory trip to Puerto Vallarta because of hurricane risk and because when we first booked, Jalisco was green so there wouldn't have been any restrictions on capacity, night club hours etc. We weren't going to do any diving as it's the middle of the rainy season on the west coast and the runoff makes it impossible to dive (at least if you need an open operation to dive with; they all close during rainy season).

We also considered Cabo as a second choice due to the fact that there is no rainy season in Baja Sur, but they were orange and likely to have limited access. Both west coast destinations are pretty hurricane free; Puerto Vallarta had a Cat 4 the week in question, but that was in '72; pretty good odds, I thought.

A couple things changed our minds. First, we have new Halcyon Backplate-Wings BCDs that we've only tried out in a pool, and were both itching to get some dives with:








BTW, once weighted and trimmed properly, they are the BOMB!

Second, a fellow diver couple just went a few weeks prior and had great weather and diving, so they got us thinking...

Third, I bought a Breitling Superocean Heritage B20 a couple months ago:








...and needed to see it in it's natural environment:








NO, not that one (that one was the Members' Premium Bar at our timeshare).








So, we got five nice days of diving in Cozumel including a night dive. If you have been in touch with Cozumel since COVID, they have implemented a partial closure policy to try to limit coral bleaching. On this trip, some of Palancar and all of Columbia was closed, but that sent us farther south including Punta Sur which is about the farthest south site (it's even beyond Devil's Throat), so we got to see some new-to-us reef. Now for some dive shots. The rig was our Olympus TG6 with their dive housing and Olympus flash. Here's a Scrawled Filefish:








A Graysby (a very small grouper):








...in a nice camo pattern.

An interesting sponge texture (the most unique thing about Cozumel is the abundance and types of sponges):








A swimthough directly behind the DM at Punta Sur; this one came out at 105 feet which was just short of the MOD of 111 feet on EAN32 Nitrox:








This is Poncho, the local lounge lizard:








An interesting texture on a sponge at the beginning of Santa Rosa Wall:








A face only a mother (or just as ugly female mate) could love:








It's a Spotted Triggerfish and the mate is different but just as ugly. They are always in pairs and I'm told they mate for life.

Here's a Goldentail Moray (or maybe a Spotted Moray as I couldn't see the tail [obviously]). He's about the size of your thumb:








A decent sized Green Moray:








We had one swimming in the open on another dive and although far from us, I'm sure it was a thrill to other divers who were closer and had never seen one out in the open; they are quite majestic. On a different dive, the DM showed us one that was easily as big around as my thigh, almost as big as a Giant Morey we saw in Komodo a few years back.

I'd have to say this is the picture of the trip:








He was only about two inches long. We saw very few on this trip and have never seen very many in Cozumel, despite the fact that you can't hunt them. Go south another 100 miles or so (and up the thread a few pages) and we were filling paint buckets with them for dinner. Very yummy.

A juvenile Porcupine Puffer that let me get this close:








A school of French Grunts:








The "Wall" in Santa Rosa Wall:








A Santa Rosa Wall swim through:








And finally, a Green Sea Turtle that was quite friendly:








The camera was set to full wide so he was really just a couple feet away:








At the beginning, I mentioned hurricanes. I had been looking at the noaa site for a couple weeks; all was clear until a disorganized set of thunderstorms came off the north coast of South America about a week prior to our trip. For a while it looked as though it was going to hit the Yucatan Peninsula from Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon, although probably a tropical storm or just Cat 1. I was worried that we would make it to DEN and then be cancelled to have to find lodging overnight and seats on a flight Sunday. As you all know now, this little disorganized set of thunderstorms took a right turn, passing over Grand Cayman, Cuba, and hitting the US as hurricane Ida. Seems our little gain was very many peoples' loss.

Over on the other coast, hurricane Nora was a Cat 1 hurricane, passing Puerto Vallarta on Saturday. It eventually went up the Gulf of California but was still a Cat 1 hurricane when passing Cabo.

Also, I mentioned a night dive. We have been big fans of night dives because of the diversity of life that you see at night. The added difficulties regarding staying together, navigating, signaling, etc. are minimal vs. the additional things to see.

So we splash and go to the bottom. Ripping current. Everybody congregates up-current of us and I waste nearly half a tank catching them (wife in tow). Now we go up a ridge and when we clear it, a serious current takes both of us to the west, where the bottom drops off a bunch. I thought about diving to the bottom to get out of it, but the dive is supposed to be a max of 50 ft. and the bottom looks twice that. So we stay at 40 ft. and go flying away from the group. We can see someone's light trying to catch us but they aren't getting any closer. I call the dive and the boat picks us up within a minute or so. They go back to the group who all surface so the DM could verify we were safe. They drop and continue the dive.

The part that amazes me is that the DM follows us for several minutes and then turns around and catches the group. The other part that amazes me is that my wife was initially freaked that we got swept up so quickly, but afterward, realized that the surface was always only 40 ft. away and the boat got us within a minute. She's far more comfortable with another situation like this than before. In fact, she's getting to be a damn good diver.


----------



## drmdwebb

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> He was only about two inches long. We saw very few on this trip and have never seen very many in Cozumel, despite the fact that you can't hunt them.


I've dived many times in Cozumel. The DMs that work for the operator we dive with always carry a speargun and shoot the Lionfish. They then feed them to the other fish, trying to teach them to hunt them. Lionfish are the exception in the Cozumel reef--they are fair game.


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## supersilent

Diving with Blue Sharks right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in Azores. 
Such beautiful creatures, so many photos taken! Here is a few:


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## troye219

Incredible pictures guys! I'm going to cozumel in December, can't wait to share what I see


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## drmdwebb

troye219 said:


> Incredible pictures guys! I'm going to cozumel in December, can't wait to share what I see


When you get there, say "Hi" to the turtles, eagle rays, and toadfish for me! Tell them I'll see them in January!


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## troye219

drmdwebb said:


> When you get there, say "Hi" to the turtles, eagle rays, and toadfish for me! Tell them I'll see them in January!
> 
> View attachment 16156778
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 16156782
> 
> 
> View attachment 16156784


Amazing, making me even more exited haha


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## Incident

troye219 said:


> Incredible pictures guys! I'm going to cozumel in December, can't wait to share what I see


If you have not done the Cenotes, I would highly recommend them. Any of the dive operators in Cozumel are happy to arrange a day trip to Playa Del Carmen to do a couple of dives. They are well worth it, IMO.


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## drmdwebb

We did Dos Ojos cenote in January; it was worth the effort. In my opinion, it's a cave dive (for which I am not certified). There are large sections of the dive with no free overhead space. But the operator we used was experienced and made it safe for us. Very cool!


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## drmdwebb

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> A swimthough directly behind the DM at Punta Sur; this one came out at 105 feet which was just short of the MOD of 111 feet on OAN32 Nitrox:


@ExpiredWatchdog Is that Devil's Throat, perchance? Been to Coz multiple times but haven't done that dive yet.


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## supersilent

The cenotes were hands down my favourite dives during the short time I spent in Playa de Carmen. I loved them enough to cancel my plans to dive Cozumel! I’m hoping to visit again, hopefully sooner rather than later.

@Incident, fantastic photo, again! You obviously know what you are doing with a camera underwater 👏👏


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## Incident

supersilent said:


> @Incident, fantastic photo, again! You obviously know what you are doing with a camera underwater


Thanks so much....it's my profession, so I appreciate the kind words and feedback. 

I'd argue you know your way around the back of the housing too!!


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## supersilent

Incident said:


> Thanks so much....it's my profession, so I appreciate the kind words and feedback.
> 
> I'd argue you know your way around the back of the housing too!!


Thanks, I really appreciate the compliment, especially coming from a talented professional like you. I take it to mean that I am going _somewhere_. I finally looked up your website and IG galleries, and your work is awesome! 

I am still very much a beginner, with the added burden that I've never really been into photography when out of the water. In the water, photography has been my main focus for a few years now, and I've been learning from books and from friends... and by systematically making every mistake in the book! 😅 
I see some improvements year after year, but I'm still light years away from where I would want to be. I guess I just need to dive more (I'm just an underwater tourist). And to photograph more, in and out of the water.
It's a very enjoyable pursuit! 

I am currently "between jobs" as they say, and contemplating my next moves... Now yours is a profession I think I would really enjoy, but I also know how hard it is to make a living out of it. Kudos for succeeding, really.


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## Incident

supersilent said:


> I finally looked up your website and IG galleries, and your work is awesome!


Hahaha....both of which are unforgivably out of date, but thank you all the same.

In the spirit of WUS (sharing of knowledge)...I propose that this thread become one of more than just sharing photos of cool creatures. If you have any questions (this goes for anyone reading this thread), technical or otherwise...feel free to ask and I am happy to answer. I love helping other photographers to 'see the light'.

A very large part of my professional life is leading workshops all over the world in some crazy and amazing locations, so I am very much used to answering questions and none of them are bad questions.


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## supersilent

That is very kind of you.

I think I now have enough theoretical background that after a post-mortem of the photos taken during a dive I can identify what I did wrong or could have done better. This usually allows me to strategize for the next dive and do better. What I am still struggling with however is reviewing my shots and making adjustments on the spot, underwater. There are 2 main reasons for this, I think:

1. I do not dive / take UW pics nearly often enough to make any of this a second nature. Every trip feels like I am starting again from scratch.

2. Most of my dives are standard "exploratory" dives as performed by most operators, which aren't the best for photo ops: rarely knowing what to expect, not enough time with individual subjects, and a lot of time catching up with the group/guide and only seeing fins in front of me... not to mention the more challenging dives (current, swell... or surrounded by sharks) where just managing the dive does not leave enough available brain power to think about photography, and then it's just shoot from the hip and hope for the best. I also rarely end up diving the same site twice, so there's rarely a second chance to do better on a given subject/idea.

I've been on a few trips more focused on UW photo (like in Lembeh, Ambon, or on a "private workshop" with a friend in the Red Sea), and it makes things really different to be able to focus on the photography, to take the necessary time with each subject and to experiment. I whish I could do this more often.... But then again, I also love a great exploratory dive! This may be my weakness 😬 

*So here is my question to you: how did you do it? How did you dive in your formative years?* In other words, how did you manage to get the necessary time underwater to focus on photography and become fluent? Were you already an accomplished photographer out of the water? A dive professional? Both? Did you chose your diving locations/trips focusing on how well you would be able to work on your photography as opposed to just how great the diving is?

As I am "between jobs" now, I am considering to relocate at least for a while to a cheap place with good diving, where I could dive regularly and work on both my diving and photo skills. Maybe even get certified to become a divemaster/instructor so that I have this option to pay the bills. Border closures made this difficult in 20-21 but things are slowly opening up now... let's see.

Thanks for your input


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## Incident

Great questions...and observations.

So I came from a background in photography. I did photojournalism, and then fashion/editorial work...back in the film days. That certainly helped me with dealing with the challenges of shooting underwater, but the simple truth is that UW photography is not entirely a simple matter of using what works above water.

If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that any time you do an exploratory dive (as you call it), any good images come from creating your own luck....being in the right place at the right time, and being prepared. For me, shooting on dives like this is usually going to be about taking photos instead of making them. 

When I travel and dive for my own pleasure, as opposed to working, I always do so with images in mind. I will arrange my own guides who know what I am trying to achieve. Most good guides love to find clients who want to dive with a purpose as opposed to simply diving on holiday and getting the stamp in the log book (haha log book...haven't used one of those since forever ago). 

I teach my guests to always use "jump settings"...meaning a set of ISO, aperture, shutter speed, strobe settings on every single dive. Never deviate from those jump settings. (this does not mean to shoot all of your images with those settings...it simply means ALWAYS jump into the water with those settings). This way when you roll back into the water in Lembeh and there are mating Blue Rings directly below you, you use muscle memory to know that in 4 meters of water with late morning sun, you instinctively know to to close down by one stop, turn your strobes down two-clicks, etc. Having your camera set up for astrophotography when you jump into the water will obviously not work (ISO too high, shutter speeds way too long, aperture wide open, etc., etc.)...so you need to be prepared for what may happen when you are just out fun diving. Hope that makes sense. 

The other thing to get into the habit of doing is check the back of the camera and really understand how to read the histogram. There is not much you can do about composition except review it, but the histogram will give you valuable info on your exposure that you cannot always get from looking at the image. Your eyes and brain play tricks on you when viewing the image, but the histogram does not lie. 

I like to stop and really work my subjects (I love macro, so that is when I will spend a full 90-100 minute dive on one or two shots...sometime revisiting the same subject multiple times over several days. With pelagics that is not always possible...but knowing what you are likely to encounter helps. Best way to get that info is speak to other divers and even better...the guides you will be with. They know the sites and the subjects and can give you valuable insights.

The last thing I would offer is that when you are reviewing your images...be ruthless in your picks. If the image is not good, no amount of work on the laptop will make it great. I prefer to come home with 3 great shots instead of 30 good ones. 

I could go on and on and on...hopefully some of these insights are helpful. 

Perhaps at some point once travel is open again we should plan a WUS dive trip. Would be super fun to get a group of divers/photographers together someplace fun for a get-together.


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## ExpiredWatchdog

drmdwebb said:


> @ExpiredWatchdog Is that Devil's Throat, perchance? Been to Coz multiple times but haven't done that dive yet.


No, it's past the Devil's Throat. I only know that because our DM pointed out the Devil's Throat while we were on the way to it. The site was called Punta Sur, the next site south from Columbia Deep. From this map:








we see they must have been pretty close. They let us off on the right of the map as the current was to the north (as shown). I suspect it was the "Caverns" at the right of the map.


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## drmdwebb

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> No, it's past the Devil's Throat. I only know that because our DM pointed out the Devil's Throat while we were on the way to it. The site was called Punta Sur, the next site south from Columbia Deep. From this map:
> View attachment 16173709
> 
> we see they must have been pretty close. They let us off on the right of the map as the current was to the north (as shown). I suspect it was the "Caverns" at the right of the map.


Awesome thanks. I need to do Devil's Throat some day. It's deep, like your dive, and cramped, from what I hear. I'm a little nervous about a deep, cramped dive. I've done many swimthroughs and a Cenote dive with little to no overhead space, but DT still gives me a bit of pause.


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## ExpiredWatchdog

^^^ I asked about the possibility during the last visit. They said they were fine so long as they had enough interest. 

Next spring we are going down with a total of seven divers so we are going to see if we can do it.


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## supersilent

I am not going to quote it here, but thanks for your thoughtful reply, @Incident 

I also apologise for my late reply, but your message actually made me go back to my camera and to re-read Martin Edge‘s “_The Underwater Photographer_” as well as Alex Mustard’s “_Underwater Photography Masterclass_”. I did so at the light of my own growing experience and with your comments in mind. In particular I revisited histograms and light metering options, brushed up on why/when to prioritise aperture vs. shutter speed, iso and exposure compensation settings, finally figured out how to use focus locking on my camera and housing (!), and came up with new preparation routines (before the dive / at the beginning of the dive) to hopefully minimise the need for too many real time corrections underwater. I think my mind is now much clearer on these topics, and I now have specific strategies for specific types of dives/shots. I have also come to my senses and realised that I should not refrain from using Aperture or Shutter Speed priority modes more, if the dives call for it. In my enthusiasm to learn how to shoot manual, I have sometimes made my life unnecessarily difficult. Like on those shark dives, for example, where shutter speed priority would have made a lot of sense!

Your note about being ruthless about your shots also rings with me and is something I have been evolving towards. Not only when going through my photos on the computer, but also in the water. Too much time wasted on subjects that will NEVER lead to a good shot, no matter how “cool” they might be. Focus, focus, focus,

So… now what I need to do is put these ideas into practice, so dive more and dive better! 90-100 minutes on 1-2 shots seems like real luxury when you are used to making do with a few minutes per subject at best!

Thanks again 🙂


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## ExpiredWatchdog

^^^ Stumbling across "Focus Locking" made all the difference with the macro shots on my TG6.

The camera takes incredible macros. 

Deviating slightly from the thread subject, I was playing around with it and some watches under a hood.

I discovered a capability called "Focus Stacking". It takes something like nine shots in succession at slightly different focus and digitally stitches them together to make an in-focus composite.

This is a C. H. Meylan Brassus pocketwatch movement. With focus stacking:








Here's the same shot without:








Unfortunately, the subject must be stationary and it doesn't work with flash.

Here's a shot of the rig that took those pictures:


----------



## supersilent

I actually learned to use focus locking techniques a few years ago when I was shooting macro with my compact G7X. 
But somehow, as I got more serious about UW photography, started to read books, upgraded my kit to a mirrorless camera with prime lenses, started to learn how to use Manual mode, etc I forgot some of the very practical fundamentals I had learned on the compact camera. And boy the autofocus on my 90mm macro lens can sometimes be frustrating! Focus locking will make me a happy macro shooter again!
It’s a journey 

Looking forward to seeing the pics of your upcoming trip to Cozumel… just a few more months to go!

I went to Playa once and initially planned to dive in Cozumel for a couple of days. But after a day of ocean dives in Playa and a day in Cenotes, I cancelled all ocean dives and put all my money into the Cenotes!😅 Hopefully I will get to visit again…


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> And boy the autofocus on my 90mm macro lens can sometimes be frustrating! Focus locking will make me a happy macro shooter again!


Based on the lens you reference, I presume you are using the Sony mirrorless system? If so, and depending on which model, you might look into using "back button focus"...which is essentially a form of focus lock, but better. In essence this decouples the action of focusing from the shutter release. Typically you would use your right thumb on a dedicated button on the rear of the camera (and housing, depending on the model) to focus your camera, and then use the shutter release button to create the photo. 

If there is one thing I teach my students after teaching them about shooting in manual mode, it is switching to back button focus. For macro, it is a must...where depth of field is measured in millimeters, this is an essential tool to ensure you can keep the focus locked on the subject, and release the shutter independently of one another. 

Adds as much value for wide angle and pelagic subjects as well. Imagine a fast moving subject such as a shark. If you use the traditional AF/shutter release method, and the subject moves away from the focus spot, your camera will hunt for focus, often in clear blue water, where it will never get focus lock. By using the method described above, you will be able to hit that shutter release over and over and over again without the camera thinking that you want it to refocus. 

Hope this helps!!


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## supersilent

Yes, it is possible to customise the Sony A6500 controls for back button focus, thanks for reminding me about it! I set it up last night and will start playing with it. For macro, I will also try to use it in conjunction with the focus magnifier.


----------



## Chrispy1

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> Sure, first some shots from Niihau, the little island to the west of Kauai, a Galapagos Shark:
> View attachment 15381832
> 
> A Monk Seal (these guys are highly endangered but coming back due to Federal protections:
> View attachment 15381833
> 
> A site named Vertical Awareness. This shot was at about eighty feet, the bottom was at three-hundred feet and we could see it:
> View attachment 15381834
> 
> This is looking up from the same place:
> View attachment 15381836
> 
> A different dive, the spot was Niihau Arches, this particular feature is called TV Cave (for obvious reasons):
> View attachment 15381837
> 
> Now for some shots at Raja Ampat, an archipelago at the west tip of New Guinea. Here's our daughter (who, for her seventeenth lifetime dive, got to do some of the best diving in the world):
> View attachment 15381842
> 
> She did have some ear trouble that kept her out of the water for a couple days, but we had a physician and an otoscope onboard so she was cleared for the final three days. After the trip was over, she said "Yea know, I was going along on these dive trips just because I wanted the vacation and wanted to please you, but I really didn't care much for the actual diving. Now after this trip, I can see why you guys do this".
> 
> So now for some Raja pics. Keep in mind that this is the first trip we took with our new Olympus Tough Underwater rig so all the previous pictures have been GoPro Frame cuts. I set my GoPro on full res (4000x3000) at 30 FPS but it's still a chore to get a good still from it.
> Now for Raja. Tons of Nudies, I looked this guy up in "Reef Creature Identification - Tropical Pacific, Humann, Deloch" a Swollen Phyllidia:
> View attachment 15381856
> 
> This one's called a "Racing Stripe Nudie" as anyone who's familiar with Gulf Racing or any of the matching Heuer offerings can attest to:
> View attachment 15381858
> 
> He's actually consuming whatever that is in front of him but maybe just the algae (most likely the whole thing). Here's an Anna's Chromodoris:
> View attachment 15381860
> 
> Another shot just a bit later:
> View attachment 15381861
> 
> Some kinda clam:
> View attachment 15381863
> 
> The colors are amazing. These pictures are of this quality because I'm using a flash on the Olympus rig. It's a single flash that attaches to the top of the housing and connects to the camera's flash through an optical cable. The flash is integrated enough that the camera's flash tells it when and how to flash.
> 
> Here's a Hawkfish in a bunch of green soft coral. The Hawkfish is the seahorse's worst enemy but the green soft coral is amazing at night. All the holes turn into polyps with their arms extending quite a ways:
> View attachment 15381865
> 
> A colorful lobster:
> View attachment 15381866
> 
> A school of Crevalle Jacks:
> View attachment 15381868
> 
> Some Christmas Tree Worms on a coral head:
> View attachment 15381870
> 
> A couple shots if a very timid Clown fish in an anemone:
> View attachment 15381871
> 
> View attachment 15381872
> 
> A Two Spotted Blenny:
> View attachment 15381873
> 
> Now for some seahorses. A pygmy:
> View attachment 15381877
> 
> He's just left of center about two thirds of the way up. Here's another one that's a little out of color for the coral he's sitting on:
> View attachment 15381878
> 
> This guy's called "Santa Claus:
> View attachment 15381879
> 
> Smack in the middle. Next up we have another type of Pygmy Seahorse, adapted for the coral fan their living on. There are two of them in the shot:
> View attachment 15381882
> 
> The tell is their tails wrapped around the fan. Nowhere else on the fan do you see a structure like that. Oh, the one on the right is the pregnant male. The females lay their eggs in the male's abdomen and he incubates them. You can tell from the fat belly.
> 
> OK, and finally-finally, Some Rays, first a Spotted Eagle Ray (along with my TAG WAN2110):
> View attachment 15381884
> 
> They are butt-ugly. And some Mantas:
> View attachment 15381885
> 
> View attachment 15381886
> 
> Along with the obligatory Manta video (I hope it is within keeping of a photo forum, or at least I'm forgiven because of all the stills I posted:


Amazing pics! Nice work


----------



## TheWalrus

A few more shots from todays dive - mostly close-up shots, we don't have the tens of meters of visibility that you guys get in the the Caribbean, but there is a lot of life if you look closely.... and can maintain position in the current.


----------



## Incident

Lovely nudibranch @TheWalrus. Looks like a Cadlina luteomarginata.


----------



## TheWalrus

Incident said:


> Lovely nudibranch @TheWalrus. Looks like a Cadlina luteomarginata.


Yep! That's it. We have tons of those up here. We have lots of nudibranchs, generally - but those, along with the clown nudbranchs (_Triopha catalinae_) are by far the most common.


----------



## supersilent

Another blue shark from Azores to bump this thread. Gotta love those curves!


----------



## drmdwebb

Some nudibranch pix from a trip to Loreto, MX in August. Not my photos (my luggage was delayed and some of my photo gear never made it :-( )


----------



## TheWalrus

We're in the rougher winter months up north on Vancouver Island, but that hasn't kept us out of the water. Despite some very chilly conditions (0 C on the surface, 8 C underwater), my buddy and I took to the local breakwater for a quick dive. Despite choppy surface conditions, unusually bad winter vis, and a fair bit of surge underwater, a few shots of one of the local clown nudibranchs came out:


----------



## drmdwebb

Some recent pix of the Sub on some dives in Cozumel:


----------



## Incident

Been a while since I posted anything...just returned from the Philippines this past Monday night.

Here is a photo of a post-larval Mantis Shrimp photographed on a Blackwater dive over about 750 feet of water (I was at a depth of approx. 75 -85 feet when I took this). This little critter is about 1cm in size and is in what is now understood to be the "settling phase" of it's life cycle.


----------



## Incident

How about a Nembrotha kubaryana nudibranch for today. This one is happily munching away on a colony of ascidian sea squirts. Photographed in Anilao, Philippines, March 2022.


----------



## Incident

A fairly common White-Eyed Morey Eel sometimes called a Greyface Morey (Gymnothorax thyrsoideus)


----------



## supersilent

^
Love this!


----------



## supersilent

Incident said:


> Been a while since I posted anything...just returned from the Philippines this past Monday night.
> 
> Here is a photo of a post-larval Mantis Shrimp photographed on a Blackwater dive over about 750 feet of water (I was at a depth of approx. 75 -85 feet when I took this). This little critter is about 1cm in size and is in what is now understood to be the "settling phase" of it's life cycle.
> 
> View attachment 16487740


I’ve only done a single blackwater dive in my life (in Alor).
While I enjoyed the dive immensely, I found blackwater photography incredibly challenging… at least with my skill level, gear (a compact camera at the time), and aging eyes. Subjects kept flying past, and I kept shooting, shooting, shooting… but I hardly managed a single shot that was roughly in focus! 😅

I need to do it again, with my updated gear… and updated me 

Edit: In the meantime, here’s a pic of an anemone fish. Because why not?


----------



## welldressed

FANTASTIC PHOTOS!!


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> While I enjoyed the dive immensely, I found blackwater photography incredibly challenging…


Haha...my first blackwater dive was pretty much the same. All I kept thinking to myself was "WTF!!!"...but I was hooked. By the second dive I was able to get some images that I liked. It really is something that takes a few dives to start working.

Brilliant anemone image!! Love the colors.

Alor is still one of my favorite places in Indonesia. Did you get to dive the site called "Anemone City" when in Alor?


----------



## supersilent

Incident said:


> Brilliant anemone image!! Love the colors.
> 
> Alor is still one of my favorite places in Indonesia. Did you get to dive the site called "Anemone City" when in Alor?


Thanks!

Anemone City? Yes I did, and absolutely remember it! This said, I probably visited a dive site called “Anemone City” in every location I have been! 😅 

I absolutely loved Alor. I was there in 2017 before embarking on a Banda Sea trip (Alor to Ambon). While there were already more and more dive resorts and liveaboards, it was still very much off the beaten path, which is how I like it. More remote, more peaceful more pristine… I loved how varied the diving was between some of the most beautiful and coral gardens I have ever seen, fantastic macro/muck (nudis, rhinopias…), great underwater scenery, and even big fish and sharks if you’re lucky. I would go again in a heartbeat. But then again, I rarely was disappointed in off-the beaten path Indonesia.

You said you just came back from Anilao, how would you compare it to the main places in Indonesia? I have yet to explore the Philippines… so many islands between the Philippines and Indonesia, it can get overwhelming.


----------



## supersilent

I have now been landlocked for 6 months :-/
My passport is up for renewal now, but I’ll hopefully be able to get out of here and get wet again when the new one is ready…


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> You said you just came back from Anilao, how would you compare it to the main places in Indonesia?


Hmmm....how to compare the two...well Anilao is really, IMO, a macro location. Not to say there are not some amazing wide angle sites, as there are, but for me I think macro when I think Anilao. How it compares to Indo...I think if you compare it to places such as Ambon or Lembeh or the north of Bali (Tulamben) and any other macro-centric part of Indo, then they are very comparable. There is quite a lot of overlap with respect to the critters one will find. Each area does have certain endemic species, and there is also a ton of overlap in what can be found in both locations. 

I have spent a lot of time in both countries and I cannot put one above the other for the diving/photography, as they are both incredible. I love the people and the food in both places. I suppose it's like picking your favorite child (or wristwatch)...some days you enjoy one more than another, but in the end you are happy to have them all.


----------



## aehaas

Studying tech diving:










ali


----------



## supersilent

Incident said:


> Hmmm....how to compare the two...well Anilao is really, IMO, a macro location. Not to say there are not some amazing wide angle sites, as there are, but for me I think macro when I think Anilao. How it compares to Indo...I think if you compare it to places such as Ambon or Lembeh or the north of Bali (Tulamben) and any other macro-centric part of Indo, then they are very comparable. There is quite a lot of overlap with respect to the critters one will find. Each area does have certain endemic species, and there is also a ton of overlap in what can be found in both locations.
> 
> I have spent a lot of time in both countries and I cannot put one above the other for the diving/photography, as they are both incredible. I love the people and the food in both places. I suppose it's like picking your favorite child (or wristwatch)...some days you enjoy one more than another, but in the end you are happy to have them all.


That’s cool, thanks!

I knew that the macro photo opportunities were great, but I was wondering if it could be significantly more crowded or more dirty than Lembeh, for example (more dirty than Ambon, I doubt it!). Since you did not spontaneously mention crowds or pollution, I will assume it is not.
Phils might be next on my list, potentially for an extended stay, as I understand that tourist visas can be easily renewed/extended. I’ll start doing my homework.


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> That’s cool, thanks!
> 
> I knew that the macro photo opportunities were great, but I was wondering if it could be significantly more crowded or more dirty than Lembeh, for example (more dirty than Ambon, I doubt it!). Since you did not spontaneously mention crowds or pollution, I will assume it is not.
> Phils might be next on my list, potentially for an extended stay, as I understand that tourist visas can be easily renewed/extended. I’ll start doing my homework.


So I am sure there may be some areas of the Philippines that may be more dirty that Indonesia, but for the most part it is nothing like Lembeh and certainly nothing like Ambon. Popular areas can be a bit crowded...at least it was prior to Covid, but when I was there last month it was empty. I presume it is only a matter of time before the tourism levels are back to pre-pandemic levels. 

From the list of places mentioned in this dialog, I would say Ambon is by far the most polluted, followed by Lembeh, and then Anilao/Dumaguete/Cebu/etc in the Philippines is a distant third. 

Regarding tourism visas, at the moment I believe they are limiting it to 30 days, and I am unsure how simple it will be to get an on-the-fly extension. That may change, but I think this has to do with the re-opening since Covid.

I head back to Anilao in 2 weeks to run a couple of additional workshops...I'll report back afterwards. Cannot wait!!


----------



## supersilent

I only stopped for 3 days of diving in Ambon before flying back home. 
I had the worst fever I’ve ever had during my subsequent overnight transit in Jakarta, and a couple of days later I was in the hospital: I had a minor surgery and spent 2 days under IV for a runaway _S. aureus _infection.
Coincidence? Maybe 😅

Looking forward to seeing your photos from your upcoming trip!


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> I only stopped for 3 days of diving in Ambon before flying back home.
> I had the worst fever I’ve ever had during my subsequent overnight transit in Jakarta, and a couple of days later I was in the hospital: I had a minor surgery and spent 2 days under IV for a runaway _S. aureus _infection.
> Coincidence? Maybe 😅
> 
> Looking forward to seeing your photos from your upcoming trip!


Yes. Ambon is amazing, but the water can be a slimy mess. How about a backlit Ambon Scorpionfish (_Pteroidichthys amboinensis)_ image for today?


----------



## hubertsoravilla

I've seen many photos of couples or friends in the desert or the jungle, but very few photos underwater. I want this Orlando engagement photographer to develop some ideas for an underwater photoshoot. I imagine my girlfriend in a beautiful white dress with a long hem that would develop beautifully in the water and wrap around our legs. I also want to clarify that she and I are great swimmers. We were both captains of swim teams when we were students. She was captain of the women's team, and I was captain of the men's team. Also, underwater photos always create a blurred effect, a three-dimensional picture. It's hard for me to explain what it is, so you'd better look at examples of underwater photoshoots of couples.


----------



## ExpiredWatchdog

It's been a couple months but we did Playa for a week (one day's lousy diving) and the second at Cozumel; our usual timeshare. This time we met our future in-laws for the week at Playa (first time meeting, we either sink or swim for a whole week, but swim we did) and for the second week, we met with a couple we have dove with before on LDS organized trips.

So, without further ado, here's some stills I took while at Cozumel:









First off, the place was packed. The hotels were allowed to fill at 80% and they were full. This grand schooner is called the "Yucab" and the DM said, maybe 100 yds off the dock, "This is the slowest boat on the island". And slow it was. Serves us for not booking months in advance.

But enough complaints. Here's our friends:









Find the stingray:









His forehead is about in the middle of the shot and his tail at the top-right. Buried in sand, obviously.

The obligatory Queen Angelfish:









A few Porkfish:









A couple Flamingo Tongues:









They seemed odd this season as the spots don't cover the entire shell. I've never been in April but usually the spots cover the entire shell. Keep in mind that they are a type of cowrie and the color is actually part of the guts that wraps around to grow the shell.

These guys were all over the place and quite stunning; the photo doesn't do justice:









It's a juvenile Longfin Damselfish and similar to the Garibaldi we have in SoCal, the juvenile is brightly colored to signify that they aren't a territorial threat (or the adults would kill them, EXTREMELY territorial).

Speaking of which, I was looking into a nice, big anemone for any shrimps, and this bastard bit me in the back of the hand:









That's the adult version. He's still only about four inches long but what a bite!

This is a Scrawled Filefish and I think the best shot I've seen (certainly taken):









This is more typical:









Here's a typical Lobster surrounded by typical Cozumel sponges:









Cozumel is the only place were the sponges are quite like this. Even across the channel they are far fewer and not the same.

The smallest Lobster I've ever seen:









That space is only about one inch tall.

I was just minding my own business, looking for macros and suddenly:









A free-swimming Moray, maybe a foot away. Totally nonplused.

One afternoon, the amazingly slow Yucab took us all the way down to Punta Delila, on of my favorite spots in Cozumel. There are so many swim-throughs that you can spend the entire dive in one:









A Spotted Moray:









The obligatory Green Sea Turtle:









A crappy shot of a Spotted Eagle Ray:









It was fairly off in the mud. And the camera does lousy color correction on wide shots.

Here's a surface shot back at Punta Delila:









Something to get every diver's juices flowing.

And finally, a shot from the beach restaurant, looking out over the dock to the Cozumel channel:









Enjoy!


----------



## ExpiredWatchdog

Oh, Oh, Oh, I left out the wristies:









My new Omega SMPO Deep Black GMT at depth.

Another view (without the flash):









And a diver that hasn't been wet in a few years. I took it along just to get wrist shots:









My TAG CAJ2180 Aquaracer Chrono. Another view that shows off the lume:









Both are a bit dark as my flash ran out of batteries prior.

Unfortunately, it did leak slightly on the dive; upon our surface interval, it had a fine mist in the inside of the crystal. More later as I resolve the issue. For now, it's safed but out of commission.

In case you've ever wondered what the Shearwater looks like (the dive computer next to the watches):









It does have a nasty scratch in the screen protector that I need to resolve before the next trip. The readings are typical except for the "Air" part. Seems the missing part for the Nuvair was stuck in Cancun to be delivered the day after we left (how many times have you heard that?) and we were stuck diving on air. My friend says "Air is for tires" and he's right.


----------



## Incident

Thought I would share a recent image of a Percula Clownfish (Amphiprion percula), or the "True Percula" tending to a brood of eggs by forcing oxygen rich water over them with her mouth.

Each of these tiny dots are a near fully developed eyeball of the next generation of these clownfish. I was able to spend many consecutive days revisiting this specific patch of eggs and the small school of anemone fish responsible for tending to their every need. This image was taken approximately 16-18 hours before these eggs hatched and the young fish started their own fight for survival. Philippines, May 2022.


----------



## TheWalrus

A few updates from my recent dives here off the west coast of Canada.


----------



## Incident

Let's share a nudi today. This is the Halgerda reticulata nudibranch photographed in the Philippines. This species can vary in looks as much as it varies in the locations it can be found.


----------



## Incident

Mo'orea, FP


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## supersilent

Oh wow!


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## Incident

This is Costasiella kuroshimae...a tiny (very tiny) sap sucking sea slug. The common name it has come to be known by is Shaun the Sheep. This little wonder is able to photosynthesize due to its ability to eat algae and use it to create energy from within its body. Nature is so amazing!

The small white 'rock' it is pushing with its nose is a grain of sand.


----------



## Beardedmark84

Incident said:


> Mo'orea, FP
> 
> View attachment 16719402



This is magical!


----------



## Incident

Mark6948 said:


> This is magical!


Thanks so much...it's far better in person though, I swear.


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## supersilent

Incident said:


> This is Costasiella kuroshimae...a tiny (very tiny) sap sucking sea slug. The common name it has come to be known by is Shaun the Sheep. This little wonder is able to photosynthesize due to its ability to eat algae and use it to create energy from within its body. Nature is so amazing!
> 
> The small white 'rock' it is pushing with its nose is a grain of sand.
> 
> View attachment 16727604


I love these guys! Here are a few of my own crappy pics from my compact camera days.


















Now how tiny is that little one on the left?!









Different species, I guess?

This was in South Lombok. Not many big fish where I was and a rather dull underwater scenery, but very good macro if you have a good guide and good eyes: Hairy octopus, pigmy shrimp, bumblebee shrimp, harlequin shrimp, skeleton shrimp etc.

I will also always remember it as the trip where I finally realised that my eyes were aging: I really struggled to see the tiny creatures that my guide was trying to show me, and had an even harder time focusing on them looking at the screen of my camera (no viewfinder). I could move forwards and backwards for ages, I would just never get a good focus on the screen.

Turns out the problem was not with the gear or my skills 😢

The following trip, I had corrective lenses on my mask. Then my Sony a6500 with diopter correction on the viewfinder fully solved the issue. Time to work on those skills now.


----------



## Porky4774

Taken from my aquarium


----------



## supersilent

BTW, @Incident , how did you take that gorgeous split-screen of the blacktip reef shark? Standing on the sand, swimming, or from a boat, looking down? Do you also have one of these huge fisheye lenses that surf photographers often use? 
I have not tried many split shots, but every time I struggled with my balance and the waves, got water on the lens, etc…


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> I love these guys! Here are a few of my own crappy pics from my compact camera days.
> 
> This was in South Lombok. Not many big fish where I was and a rather dull underwater scenery, but very good macro if you have a good guide and good eyes: Hairy octopus, pigmy shrimp, bumblebee shrimp, harlequin shrimp, skeleton shrimp etc.
> 
> I will also always remember it as the trip where I finally realised that my eyes were aging: I really struggled to see the tiny creatures that my guide was trying to show me, and had an even harder time focusing on them looking at the screen of my camera (no viewfinder). I could move forwards and backwards for ages, I would just never get a good focus on the screen.
> 
> Turns out the problem was not with the gear or my skills 😢
> 
> The following trip, I had corrective lenses on my mask. Then my Sony a6500 with diopter correction on the viewfinder fully solved the issue. Time to work on those skills now.


Excellent collection of Sheep nudi's you have here!! Three different types. Interestingly, the scientific community has not named all of these yet, so in most of the literature they are all listed as Costasiella kuroshimae, when perhaps more correctly they should be listed as Costasiella sp. No. 1, No. 2, etc., etc.

The very small one you have is great. I call them Longhorns...with those big long black horns.

Your post made me laugh...I literally just cam back from getting a new contact lens perscription...specifically so I can see these types of little things. 

Great images @supersilent!! Keep them coming!


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> BTW, @Incident , how did you take that gorgeous split-screen of the blacktip reef shark? Standing on the sand, swimming, or from a boat, looking down? Do you also have one of these huge fisheye lenses that surf photographers often use?
> I have not tried many split shots, but every time I struggled with my balance and the waves, got water on the lens, etc…


That image was taken standing in about chest deep water on a sandbar. I had a 230mm dome port on my housing. The larger the dome, the better for split shots. 

And of course the calmer the water the better. It is tough to shoot these in any sort of choppy water. 

As far as water on the lens, just part of the game. You have to dip the entire lens under water, lift it and shoot just before the water runs off the dome, then repeat it...a lot.

Here is another fun split from that same location.


----------



## supersilent

I absolutely LOVE these shots! And needless to say, French Polynesia is an absolute dream destination for me… but so far, and so expensive. Seems out of reach for now.

Thanks for the tips, will try them whenever I manage to get wet again  I also still have to learn patience, though


----------



## supersilent

More macro: a Porcelain Crab casting its nets.


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> I absolutely LOVE these shots! And needless to say, French Polynesia is an absolute dream destination for me… but so far, and so expensive. Seems out of reach for now.
> 
> Thanks for the tips, will try them whenever I manage to get wet again  I also still have to learn patience, though


Thanks so much!

For me, French Polynesia is actually one of the closest and easiest places to go. It's an overnight flight or 8 hours from California. Compared to 20-30 hours of flights for many other places I go, this is easy. I leave for Mo'orea and Rangiroa next week, and then again to Mo'orea the following month for the humpback whales. 

The rest of this year is packed with some great destinations for me for work...I have a nice long trip to Indo after these back-to-back French Pol. trips.


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> More macro: a Porcelain Crab casting its nets.


Beautiful image...filled the frame and captured the behavior.


----------



## supersilent

Talking about split shots… How many people do you know who take their underwater photo rig when going on a multiday off-road trip to the middle of the largest contiguous sand desert in the world? Well, I know of one!

Rub’ al Khali desert, Saudi Arabia









I desperately tried to find something to put in the frame under the surface, but could not. Shame.


----------



## supersilent

Something different again...

One of my earliest UW photos. My first short trip with a camera in a housing and with a single strobe. I had no idea of what I was doing, so it is technically crap. And yet there Is something about it… movement, life, I don’t know what. I cannot help liking it.









(Indian mackerels feeding in the Egyptian Red Sea)


----------



## olske59

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> The colors are amazing. These pictures are of this quality because I'm using a flash on the Olympus rig. It's a single flash that attaches to the top of the housing and connects to the camera's flash through an optical cable. The flash is integrated enough that the camera's flash tells it when and how to flash.


Please comment in more detail about your gear...I'm an Olympus guy (DSLR, PEN, lots of lenses, ring flash, etc.) but have never tried underwater with anything but a super cheap point-and-shoot. In particular, what housing are you using? It seems like Olympus-compatible housings/flash units are hard to source, even from the company, and aren't produced for very long.


----------



## supersilent

One last slightly unconventional shot for today: the mantle of the smooth giant clam (_Tridacna derasa_), photographed in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> One last slightly unconventional shot for today: the mantle of the smooth giant clam (_Tridacna derasa_), photographed in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.


This is a beauty. 

If you're interested in getting back to Raja (who isn't...lol), I have a workshop there in late November, 2023 on one of the nicest boats anywhere in the world.


----------



## supersilent

Incident said:


> This is a beauty.
> 
> If you're interested in getting back to Raja (who isn't...lol), I have a workshop there in late November, 2023 on one of the nicest boats anywhere in the world.


Going back to Raja? AGAIN? And for an UW photo workshop, no less?… come on, who would want to do that?

My future is still uncertain, but sure, I’d be happy to get further info, so feel free to PM me, thanks 😊 
You already make it sound expensive, though… got anything planned in one of the crappiest boats in the world? 😉

Raja Ampat…


----------



## supersilent

Actually, I think I found the workshop you’re talking about… yeah, definitely too rich for my blood now that I am unemployed… but it IS a nice boat! Sept. 2022 Lembeh workshop prices would be closer to my budget.

Right now I’m trying to get out of mainland Europe to settle down in Azores for a few years. Relatively cheap place to live, and easy to become a resident for a EU citizen… and I could dive locally at least a few months a year! Depending on how this goes I’m hoping to start diving again in the autumn (if Azores works out) or late autumn/winter with a trip to SE Asia or Egypt (if Azores doesn’t work out). I’ll be keeping an eye on the BWT website


----------



## Incident

Just returned from Rangiroa in French Polynesia. One of a very few places on Earth where wild dolphins will actively engage with scuba divers (not to be confused with places such as Bimini in the Bahamas, for example, where they will readily approach snorkelers). It is a truly special experience to hear the high pitched squeal, and then see a pod of 8-10 dolphins come in for a close look. Amazingly, if they are not touched by at least one diver, they head off looking for another group of divers. 

Heading back in just a few short weeks for the Humpback whale season. Cannot wait.


----------



## supersilent

Amazing shot! What a unique photo opportunity!

I’ve seen similar interactions in Revillagigedo, at Roca Partida.
The dolphins did not choose me though. They played with that other guy


----------



## Incident

supersilent said:


> Amazing shot! What a unique photo opportunity!
> 
> I’ve seen similar interactions in Revillagigedo, at Roca Partida.
> The dolphins did not choose me though. They played with that other guy


I've played with the dolphins at Roca Partida as well. They are a bit crazy...they will begin diving deep as soon as someone plays with them...very easy to blow past a safe depth chasing them if one doesn't pay attention.


----------



## supersilent

Yes, it’s exactly what happened with _that guy_. They were also quite sneaky, did not make it obvious. Just slowly attracted him deeper and deeper, interaction after interaction. Good that the guides are aware of the dolphins’ shenanigans and keep an eye out.

In other news, I now have my one way ticket to Azores and a first rental for several months, so I should hopefully get wet again soon. Now looking at how to get my UW photo gear there, maybe also my dive kit. Baggage is pretty restricted on the Portuguese/Azorean airlines and I’m already taking a guitar. I might just get them shipped.
Azores certainly aren’t Raja Ampat or Rangiroa when it comes to fish abundance or coral exuberance, but there’s some interesting underwater scenery in those volcanic islands.

Everyone has probably seen similar structures in mountain rivers: a round hole is dug by the pebble inside it, which slowly grinds the rock around it as it is pushed and shaken by the current. This is just a much bigger pebble, and the mid-Atlantic storms.


----------



## ExpiredWatchdog

olske59 said:


> Please comment in more detail about your gear...I'm an Olympus guy (DSLR, PEN, lots of lenses, ring flash, etc.) but have never tried underwater with anything but a super cheap point-and-shoot. In particular, what housing are you using? It seems like Olympus-compatible housings/flash units are hard to source, even from the company, and aren't produced for very long.


I have an Olympus Tough Guard 6 camera with their PT-59 housing and their UFL-3 flash unit. Several years ago, we were diving at a resort on Turneffe Reef in Belize and another diver had the setup. My wife was so impressed by her pictures that she asked me to get the same rig for her. I have yet to get her to actually use the rig, but I've had great fun with it as I will show below. I chose the Olympus flash because it uses their RC technology, a protocol that communicates with the remote via the camera's main flash through a cable. It's certainly not the brightest flash I've seen, but as a single unit mounted on a post just above the housing, if you are within a few feet of your quarry, it takes great pictures. The other feature I was really attracted to was the price; the entire rig was about $1500, less than most housings go for. 

I once only videoed dives with various GoPro Hero cameras, but more and more, I'm finding the TG6 in my hands on every dive. And it's so much easier to cull bad shots than go through hours of video for the few seconds that will gain an audience. 

I did have a problem with the first UFL-3 unit I bought, it went to the flashing orange light within about 200 flashes. Fortunately, it was within the return period so it cost me nothing other than return postage, no, take that back, I think Adorama even provided a shipper to return it.


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## ExpiredWatchdog

Just got back from a trip to Indonesia that we had originally booked for 2020. Obviously, it got cancelled and rebooked, twice. Late August, we flew into Bali and relaxed for a day, then took a puddle jumper to Wakatobi, a resort at the southeast end of Sulawesi Island, the large island to the east of Borneo. The resort was on an island chain at the end of the southern-most peninsula on the east side of Sulawesi. Flying in, there were countless barrier reefs that had formed on submerged coastline:









As we came in close, this scene kept repeating itself, over and over. Think of the thousands of absolutely virgin dive sites...

We flew in to Tomia on this little guy:









...half loaded with guests and half with perishables for the resort. It makes the trip twice a week so if you leave something behind...

The resort as we are boating up to it...









The resort had only been open for a couple months after being closed for over two years because Indonesia was very strict about COVID rules and quarantining. Even though you could get into Indonesia for most of the COVID downtime, so few people had the spare week to quarantine that it made no sense for any operations to remain open. This resort gets my top marks, perhaps one of the nicest I've ever been to. It was priced accordingly, maybe twice what a Caribbean resort would cost, but our price included the puddlejumper, another $800/pax.

Now for some dive shots. I worked really hard to cull the shots down to what I'm posting; we spent a week at this resort and another on the Mermaid II going from Bali to Komodo so I took hundreds of shots.

A nudie (the first of many):









Some soft coral:









Are you looking at me looking at you looking at me?









Another nudie:









A pink Waspfish, they were plentiful here but not in Komodo:









A juvenile frogfish. This guy is about the size of a pencil eraser and the DM took a minute or so to sift through the plant life to find him, almost like he knew where to look:









This is a Denise's pygmy seahorse, named after it's discoverers wife. They have only been known about for maybe the last 25 years. He (pregnant male) is about the size of the frogfish above:









I feel his pain.

A Racing Stripe nudie (for obvious reasons):









Next up, a Desirable Flabellina (Flabellina exoptata), yup, I actually found him on page 370 of Humann and DeLoach's Reef Creature Identification - Tropical Pacific (as well as our DM doing a nice job of pointing him out):









An Electric Clam (also known as a Disco Clam). When viewed with the eye, there's a blue reflection in the middle that looks like a bolt of lightning that dances back and forth. It never shows up on camera tho (at least in my exeperience):









I asked our guide what the sign was and he made some John Travolta moves. Pretty funny.

Our DM freaked when I showed him the next picture. He said these guys are really hard to photograph, one, because they always jump to the backside of the coral, and two, because they are so hard to find in the first place. I give him credit for the finding and my dumb luck for getting the shot. I actually got two shots of them.

The Dragon Shrimp (there's two of them):









Two nudies about to do the nasty:









Another Denise's pygmy:









Nudie:









This is a Giant Morey. He is sitting in the middle of a barrel sponge, so I suppose there's a hole at the bottom where the rest of him goes. They are as big around as your thigh:









Oh, the little fish is a Cleaner Wrasse, hopeful to get a chunk of tarter buildup from the moray's teeth.

This is an Orangutan Crab sitting in a Bubble Coral. Bubble Coral is a rather large coral; this is a single polyp and the bubble is a membrane around each part of the head that allows it to catch more sunlight and do more photosynthesis in it's symbiotic algae:









Another type of Bubble Coral. I thought the texture made it interesting and I'd love to get this shot done up in a Cibachrome print:









A Goby hanging out:









A type of Anemone Clown. The picture doesn't do his color justice; they were the brightest things on the reef:









A Coral Shrimp on Bubble Coral:









Now we move over to the Komodo side of the trip. We flew back to Bali on a Friday and the Komodo trip started on Saturday, just enough time to refill the larder (mostly booze) and rest up.

Unfortunately, the Mermaid II suffered an engine failure on the previous week so we did the trip on a single engine. It did keep us from some of the farther sites and cost us a couple dives, but the second engine lasted the entire trip and apparently they changed the bad engine during the following Saturday so they could do the next weeks trip. The most amazing thing was that the new engine went in through a small hatch on the back of the boat; there was no vertical access at all. I imagine a pickle fork hanging from a crane and probably some hoisting ability inside the engine compartment. They said that the engine crew was going along for the week to finish the installation and to get it through its teething period.

On one hand, I was concerned about doing a week's trip on only one engine, but on the other hand, cancelling the trip would have been a disaster for us. Later I though "If anything did go wrong with the remaining engine on our trip, they have an entire engine full of spare parts to fix the other with (the bad engine had a liner failure that cracked the block, so other than a block....).

On with the pictures. The islands around Komodo were quite similar in Sealife to that in Wakatobi with some small differences. The reefs were quite different, being attached to large volcanic islands as opposed to barrier reefs like the picture at the top.

This is a Hairy Squat Lobster, not a Lobster at all but it looks like one (I guess) so it got that name. It's sitting in the folds on the outside of a Barrel Sponge (one of the reasons to look closely at those sponges with a light):









Another nudie:









He's actually siting on his back end and the front is moving about, looking for something good.

A small Cuttlefish:









I couldn't believe how docile he was, just sitting there and letting us take picture after picture. Later in the dive at about 20 feet, we came across a school of squid but as they were nearly transparent, none of the shots came out.

This is a Fire Urchin, named because of the toxins in it's spines. If you look closely, you will see some shrimp claws. @Incident had posted a fantastic picture much earlier in this thread and I had wondered what sort of animal or plant looked like that. Now I know:









We saw a ton of juvenile Ribbon Eels in Komodo but never an adult. In this particular picture, I was lining up to shoot another but this assh0le woman in our group steamrolled over it and me with her lights blazing and it disappeared down it's hole. I was super-pissed and looked at our DM for some help/frustration when the DM pointed out this guy, farther out than the last and miss assh0le had been and gone (I could go on and on about that couple, the worst divers I've ever shared a dive with):









A juvenile Frogfish, not sure what kind. He was about as big as your thumbnail (you can tell from the size of the grains of sand):









A crab in a soft coral:









I included this shot because of the great job the TG-6 did in autofocusing on the crab and not the surrounding coral. I didn't have as much luck in trying to shoot Whip Coral Gobies as the camera wouldn't focus on the thin whip coral and I haven't mastered manual focus.

A particularly nice nudie:









Oh, we did stop at Komodo Island and take a land tour of the dragons:









I found this amusing:









We got much closer than five meters:









And finally, what I like to call "The Money Shot":









I found this guy digging a ditch in the sand (BTW. it's a Peacock Mantis Shrimp). Not like the typical holes you see them in where just the head is sticking out (though maybe a big ditch is how they start). I carefully worked him for maybe two minutes, getting closer and closer until I got this shot. Miss assh0le was nowhere to be found as by now, I developed a strategy were we stayed as far away as possible and I did absolutely nothing to show her/them any attractions or make their dive any better. I realize we all have different skills and experience (and theirs was very lacking in the experience department) but I pray to $DEITY that I never dive with such rude people again.

Enjoy!


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## supersilent

Thanks for sharing your pics and stories, @ExpiredWatchdog ! 👍 👍

At this stage Indonesia remains my favourite place for reef diving. I miss it! Such an abundance and variety of life, and so many islands to explore…

The fire urchin pic that you mention was actually probably mine (bottom of page 1). But I am very flattered that someone could mistake my vacay snaps for the work of an experienced professional UW photographer like @Incident, so… thanks! 😅
Here are a couple more of the same pair of Coleman shrimps on their fire urchin, but focusing more on the shrimps themselves.


















I initially thought the fire urchin simply got its name from its fiery colours. Then I experienced their sting and immediately knew it was more than just the colours! It burns quite intensely indeed, but thankfully not for long. As these urchins tend to be in groups, it is hard to take a pic like the above without some part of your body brushing against a nearby urchin at some point... Still totally worth it 🙃


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## Incident

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> Just got back from a trip to Indonesia that we had originally booked for 2020.


Great collection of images and an impressive list of critters. 

We were in Indo at the same time, but in different parts. I just returned from a full month there and miss it already.


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## Incident

Juvenile Seagrass filefish, just shy of 1cm in length hiding among blades of well, seagrass. These fish will attach themselves to the blades by puckering up their lips as seen here, which helps them to conserve energy and blend in to their surroundings for safety. Photographed September, 2022 in the Lembeh Strait, N. Sulawesi, Indonesia.


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## Incident

One more from Lembeh...a Hypselodoris bullockii nudibranch.


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## supersilent

Beautiful use of bokeh and light! Are you using a snoot? Lighting from above, almost towards the camera?

I’ve caught quite a few nudis in similar “standing” posture in my last couple of trips to Indonesia, do you know what they’re up to? “Smelling” the water for food? Or more likely for a mate? I seem to remember it was on night dives, where pretty much every one I would see was standing like this… but it’s been a few years, I may be mistaken.
Examples:









(_Nembrotha chamberlaini_?)









(_Tambja gabrielae_?)

I always struggle to find nice / contrasting / not distracting backgrounds with these guys. Maybe a smarter use of my strobes would have helped 💡


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## supersilent

@ExpiredWatchdog posted a pic of an orang-utan crab on bubble coral earlier, here is a closer view… Orang-utan or King Kong, you be the judge!









_Achaeus japonicus_ on _Plerogyra sinuosa _


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## ExpiredWatchdog

^^^ Boy, now I see where the name came from. I got maybe a dozen shots of various ones; they were pretty easy to spot. None were as hairy as this though. 

Second thought: Damn, now I have to get out Humann and DeLoach and figure out the names of each nudie I posted. That's not an easy task at over 400 pages with six to eight panes on each page! BTW, I'm amazed at how many examples are "undescribed"; a signifier that the example is likely an unknown species. Apparently, you need three samples and do a genetic comparison between them to establish a species.


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## Incident

Here are the names for some of your nudi shots.



ExpiredWatchdog said:


> Chromodoris willani
> A nudie (the first of many):
> View attachment 16935444
> 
> 
> 
> Chromodoris willani
> Another nudie:
> View attachment 16935447
> 
> 
> 
> Pseudoceros liparusis - this is actually a flatworm and not a nudibranch
> A Racing Stripe nudie (for obvious reasons):
> View attachment 16935453
> 
> 
> 
> Chromodoris magnifica
> Two nudies about to do the nasty:
> View attachment 16935466
> 
> 
> 
> Chromodoris elisabethina
> Nudie:
> View attachment 16935468
> 
> 
> 
> Chromodoris magnifica
> Another nudie:
> View attachment 16935492
> 
> 
> 
> Glossodoris atromarginata
> A particularly nice nudie:
> View attachment 16935517


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## Incident

supersilent said:


> Beautiful use of bokeh and light! Are you using a snoot? Lighting from above, almost towards the camera?
> 
> I’ve caught quite a few nudis in similar “standing” posture in my last couple of trips to Indonesia, do you know what they’re up to? “Smelling” the water for food? Or more likely for a mate? I seem to remember it was on night dives, where pretty much every one I would see was standing like this… but it’s been a few years, I may be mistaken.
> Examples:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (_Nembrotha chamberlaini_?)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (_Tambja gabrielae_?)
> 
> I always struggle to find nice / contrasting / not distracting backgrounds with these guys. Maybe a smarter use of my strobes would have helped 💡


So I do use a snoot, but not in the way a snoot is typically used. I prefer to have a very soft/feathered falloff of the light, where most snoots produce a very hard edge around the subject. I actually really don't consider it a snoot as much as I think of it as a modified strobe...just one in which I have a very high degree of control over.

The lighting on the image I posted is above the subject, but actually pointing away from the camera...towards the subject. 

As far as that posture...certain species of nudibranchs will periodically lift their head and then move it side to side as a way to determine the location of a mate, food or a predator.


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## ExpiredWatchdog

Incident said:


> Here are the names for some of your nudi shots.


You are sick.


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## Incident

ExpiredWatchdog said:


> You are sick.


It's an addiction. 🤪


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## Incident

Something a bit different...larval Peacock Flounder (Bothus mancus) from a recent blackwater dive. Why is this considered larval and not juvenile? The right eye, not seen, needs to migrate to the left side of the fishes head before it is considered juvenile. 

Photographed over approx. 100-150m of water in Indonesia.


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## drmdwebb

Love it! Black water stuff is very interesting to me. I need to try it sometime.


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## Incident

Been a month since any new photos posted here...so how about a Peacock Mantis shrimp today. This is otherwise known as Odontodactylus scyllarus in certain circles.

This female was kind enough to pose for me with a huge ribbon of eggs. 

Lembeh, N. Sulawesi, Indonesia. Sept. 2022


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## Incident

El Boiler
Isla San Benedicto, Archipiélago Revillagigedo, México


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## Jonathan T

Incident said:


> Been a month since any new photos posted here...so how about a Peacock Mantis shrimp today. This is otherwise known as Odontodactylus scyllarus in certain circles.
> 
> This female was kind enough to pose for me with a huge ribbon of eggs.
> 
> Lembeh, N. Sulawesi, Indonesia. Sept. 2022
> 
> View attachment 17052050


Wow!


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## Incident

One more to close out 2022...a Pleurosicya boldinghi, commonly known as a Ghost Goby, perched on a Sea Pen...disco lighting for the win.


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