Found an absolutely gorgeous Mosshead Warbonnet (Chirolophis nugator) on Sunrise Reef in Gig Harbor. (About 1 hour south of Seattle in Puget Sound.) This is one of the most amazing fish of the Pacific Northwest. With it's ornate and detailed camouflage mossy head dress, bright red color, and patterned body it's got a lot going on. This one was quite large at about 20cm and more colorful than most of its kind. So of course I had to shoot it!

I was carrying a wide-angle lens setup, hoping for big GPOs and Wolfeels. Nikon Z8, 24-50mm, WWL-C port, so really not ideal for this small subject. The WWL-C optics closed the gap however! I zoomed to 50mm and flipped the sensor in the DX 1.5x crop mode to achieve a near-macro framing. My big, high-power HF-1 strobes were powered down to 1/8, angled in, and didn't blow out the scene. I'm happy with the result! Even though I forgot to roll the ISO down toward 100 for a macro subject I can't see anything negative at ISO500.

Nikon Z8 w/24-50mm, @50MM, WWL-C, f13@1/200s iso500, Pair of Backscatter HF-1 strobes:

I found a Giant Pacific Octopus too, snuggled in a den:

Nikon Z8 w/24-50mm, WWL-C, f11@1/160s iso500, Pair of Backscatter HF-1 strobes:

That warbonnet is so cool looking - glad you made the rig you had at the time work. I'm a huge fan of being able to shoot a big range of sizes each dive :)

Any wolfeels? I've never dived with one and I am kinda in love with them!

12 minutes ago, Kristin said:

That warbonnet is so cool looking - glad you made the rig you had at the time work. I'm a huge fan of being able to shoot a big range of sizes each dive :)

Any wolfeels? I've never dived with one and I am kinda in love with them!

Oh yeah. Love Wolfeels too! This one was right next to the warbonnet.

And a Jellyfish:

Edited September 17Sep 17 by Dave_Hicks

Red Irish Lord:

All from the same dive.

Great take @Dave_Hicks ! That warbonnet is something!

Amazing colour on that mossy. Lovely!

Those are great shots Dave. I really struggle to get light into octo dens and you nailed it.

57 minutes ago, Grantmac said:

Those are great shots Dave. I really struggle to get light into octo dens and you nailed it.

Thanks! They don't make it easy tucked back into those holes!

Here are a couple of more shots of the Mosshead Warbonnet.

Great images Dave! I love the two portraits of the warbonnet.

Oh poor baby - are those urchin spines?? Love her face 🥰

46 minutes ago, Kristin said:

Oh poor baby - are those urchin spines?? Love her face 🥰

No, that's lunch! Wolfeels love urchins and the reefs are overrun with them since the Sunflower Star near-extinction even a dozen years ago. Wolfeels help to keep the urchins in check.

Nice work on all of them, those wolf eels look great, the SE Australian reefs are suffering from urchin overun as well, they eat all the kelp. The warm current coming down from up north has gotten stronger and allows them to spread south. They are starting an industry to harvest them which promise to keep them in check.

22 minutes ago, Chris Ross said:

Nice work on all of them, those wolf eels look great, the SE Australian reefs are suffering from urchin overun as well, they eat all the kelp. The warm current coming down from up north has gotten stronger and allows them to spread south. They are starting an industry to harvest them which promise to keep them in check.

Maybe we can send you some Wolfeels!

Love these! The colours on the Warbonnet is unreal!

Awesome shots! Love the Pacific Northwest.

Thanks for posting Dave :)

Maria