Your Favourite Photo Of 2023

[Jef Driesen]

On 12/25/2023 at 4:48 PM, TimG said:

Home made snoot? We need a picture, Jef!

Sure, no problem. My strobe adapter is made from some pvc pipe that happened to fit my YS-110 perfectly. I keep it attached to the strobe with a simple rubber band. The two main loc-line arms contain a solid 8 mm fiber, and the third smaller arm contains multiple small fibers. The loc-line arms are secured to the base with a gardena hose connector. At each tip I attached a short piece of aluminium tube with some tape to keep the light bundle a bit smaller. The YS-110 has 3 small flash tubes, and each fiber is positioned directly in front of a flash tube. The system works very well, but aiming is difficult because the focus light is positioned in the middle and does not pass through the fibers.

[RickMo]

Four stand out to me.  First, this image of batfish gliding by above a disorganized scrum of divers following a negative descent off a tender in PNG.  It reminds me of how foreign we are to the undersea world.  It's not a technically-great image--in fact, a full-on grab shot--but I find it evocative.

Second, this picture, from last February, of healthy, vibrant purple tube sponges in a rich reef scene on Klein Bonaire.  I had no idea that within months, SCTLD and serious bleaching would overtake Bonaire's reefs.  While I don't know what this scene looks like now, I fear the worst.

Third, this soft coral crab in the Tulamben muck.  It reminds me that no matter our size, our survival depends on our environment, even if it's a few square inches of soft coral.

And fourth, this marbled Saron shrimp found in the Banda Sea, in hopes that someone can tell me why it has a pompom on its beak.

Great 2024 to all of you!

Edited December 29, 2023 by RickMo

[Erik H]

Not as much photography this year as I would have liked but a couple of shots that I enjoyed, and I added a local guy aswell.

[Ashok Menon]

Hi, for some reason I like this little guy, from Lembeh. I the angle and his eyes. 

[johnvila]

Hi and wishing all a happy New Year. I do not do a lot of wide angle photography but was recently asked to do a photoshoot of some dive sites at Whitegrass Ocean Resort and Spa on Tanna Island, Vanuatu. There is a spot there called the blue caves which is accessed through a semi submergerd arch and opens into a spactacular cavern.

 

On entering the cavern there was a school of goat fish inside. Shooting back out towards the entrance I was able to capture the impact of the cave entrance and the school of fish in frame. Whilst not technically the best shot for the year it is certainly a favourite for the mood it creates. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm (at 10mm) plus Kenko 1.4 Teleconverter and 4.33 inch dome, F5, 1/250,ISO 160, Dual Inon Z330

[Gudge]

I can't decide which is my favourite from these two taken during my trip to Lembeh in July.  Both taken with the Nauticam EMWL with 160º objective lens.

[Ajay]

Two of my favorites were from a trip to Lambeh, both are birthing events. The first one is a coconut octopus in a jam jar, squeezing loads of baby octopuses (octopii?) into the night sea. The second, baby cuttlefish getting ready to face the world..

Kind regards,

Ajay

 

[Pooley]

4 hours ago, Gudge said:

I can't decide which is my favourite from these two taken during my trip to Lembeh in July.  Both taken with the Nauticam EMWL with 160º objective lens.

Love these Ross - what was your listing for them please

 

Mike

[Pooley]

A couple from me.

Fist is little Shaun the Sheep for no other reason than I was lucky enough to get what I think is an adult and a juvenile together on the same focus plane

 

Then next I treated myself to an EMWL after a long time telling myself it was a ridiculous purchase!. This is my favourite with it so far

 

Happy new year everyone

 

Mike

[Gudge]

15 hours ago, Pooley said:

Love these Ross - what was your listing for them please

By listing I'm assuming you mean camera settings, lens etc.

 

Camera setup used was Sony A7RIV with Sony 90 macro in Nauticam housing, Nauticam EMWL with 160º objective lens and 2 x Retra Pro strobes.

 

Settings used were:

Shrimp on Nudibranch - f20, 1/60 and ISO 400

Coconut octopus - f16, 1/640 and ISO 400.  I used high speed sync and backwards lighting to create the black background.

[Dave_Hicks]

Here are a few of my favorites of the year:

 

[Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker - Puget Sound]

 

[Wolf eel - Puget Sound]

 

[Scalyhead Sculpin - Puget Sound]

 

[Strawberry Soft Coral / Sculpin / Lemon Nudibranch]

 

 

[Leafy Sea Dragon - Adelaide, NSW]

 

Edited January 1 by Dave_Hicks

[Chris Ross]

1 hour ago, Dave_Hicks said:

[Leafy Sea Dragon - Adelaide, NSW]

 

Really nice, when did you get to Adelaide?  I'm planning on driving across maybe April for a few dives.

[Dave_Hicks]

1 hour ago, Chris Ross said:

 

Really nice, when did you get to Adelaide?  I'm planning on driving across maybe April for a few dives.

Back in March. Did a ten day Rodney Fox cruise in the area. It was great.

[Craine]

Two photos stand out for me for 2023. The first photo is my first ever seahorse, which I found on an early morning dive at the Blue Heron Bridge, in Riviera Beach, FL. 

 

The second photo was on a drift dive on Breakers Reef. While not the most technically great shot, I use it as the background for my phone, so I must like it well enough. 

 

Sony a6400 with Sony 28-70mm in a SeaFrogs Salted Line A6XXX housing with a flat port, 2x Inon D200 strobes. 

1/160 sec, f/5.6, 28mm FL

 

Sony a6400 with Samyang 12mm in a SeaFrogs Salted Line A6XXX housing and 8 in acrylic dome, 2x Inon D200 strobes. 

1/160 sec, f/8.0

Edited January 2 by Craine

[TimG]

7 hours ago, Craine said:

 

 

Really like this! Nice job 😁

 

 

[Mathieu Cornillon]

A whole lot of great pics already shared, congrats, all those pics are really inspiring 🙂

 

Here is my contribution for my 2023's favorites, taken during a 1 week workshop near Marseille, France, with a lot of very competent trainers (hello @FrancoisC 😉) who pushed me well beyond my confort zone ! Was very proud to achieve some successes in these assignments. Main objective was to master the "mixed light", notably in macro shoots. Here below are my favorites (even if the seahorse is not really a mixed-light one…).

 

All pictures taken with Nikon D7000 / Ikelite / 105mm Nikor / 2x SB-105 strobes

 

 

 

[Davide DB]

1 hour ago, Mathieu Cornillon said:

 

 

All pictures taken with Nikon D7000 / Ikelite / 105mm Nikor / 2x SB-105 strobes

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like the blenny. He is a nightmare to shoot on video

 

[Pooley]

On 12/31/2023 at 10:55 PM, Gudge said:

By listing I'm assuming you mean camera settings, lens etc.

 

Camera setup used was Sony A7RIV with Sony 90 macro in Nauticam housing, Nauticam EMWL with 160º objective lens and 2 x Retra Pro strobes.

 

Settings used were:

Shrimp on Nudibranch - f20, 1/60 and ISO 400

Coconut octopus - f16, 1/640 and ISO 400.  I used high speed sync and backwards lighting to create the black background.

Cheers for that Ross - I really need to turn off my autocorrect 🤣

[CaolIla]

No easy to chose the "best" perhaps this one

I also like this

 

And a lot of other 😞

[Whiskeyjack]

Not sure if it's my absolute of the year, but here's a nudi shot from a day trip to Anilao I am rather pleased with.

[Suzan M]

Well, just joining, so a little late, but here are some of my faves in the last 2 years, since diving has been minimal for me.

[Pooley]

Great stuff there Suzan, I love the blackwater stuff - not a hot spot but hoping to get a couple of dives in later this year in Bali. 

 

If not I may have to suggest a little trip to Florida!

 

Mike

[Troporobo]

Suzan, those images are spectacular!  I love the first one (moray?) as it’s not a composition I’ve seen before.  I’m thinking seriously about getting into blackwater. Where were you diving?  

[Suzan M]

Troporobo, I've done Blackwater primarily in West Palm Beach Florida, and Anilao, Philippines- and a few other locations as it gains popularity around the globe. Started in 2005

[ColdDarkDiver]

This was an image I captured with natural light at the end of dive as I was heading to the exit and saw the other buddy pair in the water doing their safety stop.  I think it captures the expansiveness and the feeling of clear-water, ice-diving of floating under expansive clouds. Plus, I like the grain as it gives it a bit of a classic feel like I was shooting hi-iso slide.  The story of the image was I forgot my flash sync cables (doh) on this dive so was forced to shoot everything with ambient and very little light.  This dive was pretty much pitch black so I pushed the camera to its limit throughout the dive and ended up taking pretty different pictures than I frequently do and this ended up being one of my favorite images I took during the year.  This is from Dayton's Wall, Ross Sea, Antarctica.