Your Favourite Photo of 2008

With the end of the year fast approaching it seems the appropriate time to revive this Wetpixel tradition. Click to see the 2005, 2006 and 2007 editions.

The rules are pretty simple. Please post your favourite (not necessarily your best) underwater photo taken during 2008. And you can only post one image (although I should add that rule breaking has become something of a tradition too!).

Feel free to post why you like it and the kit you used, but it is not essential.

Alex

i took photos on 4 dives in 2008... sad eh?

so i don't have one

Its not the end of the end of the year yet, Mike, and you are rather well placed to redress the balance.

Alex

umm.. technical difficulties

but enough of me hijacking the thread

I want to see some pics!

where is yours Mr Mustard?

This is mine. Taken in the grounds of my old school for a charity calendar.

I hadn't been back for 10 years or so, so the whole experience was a lot of fun, and the result is so different from everything else I shot this year, it stands out as a quirky favourite from a very diverse year of photography.

It actually took two visits to shoot, because of the lack of sun in England. Taken with the D2x and 12-24mm. I actually built floats for my housing - so that I would not have to hold it up half out of the water. The lake is mainly inhabited by geese and my drysuit was not the sweetest smelling afterwards.

Alex

This is mine. There's nothing particularly great about this shot, other then seeing a Mola was my whole reason for going to Bali this Sept. Then considering the fact that when I got out to Lembongan I was told that they hadn't been seeing them regularly lately, and that the best part of season this year was much earlier then usual.

On top of that, during this dive, the rest of my dive group had either gotten separated or run low on air, and it was down to just me and one of the guides. After 50 minutes, down to 60bar, and pretty much done our safety stop, we came over a ridge and the guide turns around, points down and signals mola. There one sits getting cleaned, and I was lucky enough to snap off a few shots, and this was the best one.

I love cuttlefish and this flamboyant fellow didn't mind the "exposure" Not the best photo just loved the encounter and it reminds me of the Philippines where I took the photo.

Another "not the most artistic shot" but we had never seen Giant Frog Fish in 25yrs of diving then had two in one spot. Love Lembeh!

Here's mine ...

Hi all,

Great idea Alex, 2008 saw me finally get the new digital rig in the water. This image sums up the new opportunity with the new equipment. After chasing these guys around the reef for 30+ years with a framer it was emmensely satisfying. My first shot with the 100mm and dual strobes. Taken in June at the Bonaire Shootout.

and while were at it the first shot with the Tokina 10-17 and the new rig

Thanks for all the help this year folks!

Cheers,

Steve

Raja Ampat 2008

Cool shot, Alex.

This one is my favorite, in part, because it is one of my best. I'm still at the stage where, when I get a good shot, it is mostly by accident. I couldn't believe that it was

1. Actually in focus
   
2. I didn't blow out the whites
   
3. The composition worked
   

I noticed that in this image linked from my web page, you can't see some detail, but on the original, you can see detail of the bubble coral through the transparent part of the shrimp's legs. It won the highest score possible in a Nature competition at my camera club from a land lubber judge, a miracle in and of itself.

Taken with a point & shoot Oly 560. Either ambient light or internal flash. I forget. I know I didn't use my strobe because I have trouble aiming it for macro shots. It was taken in Wakatobi.

Hard to boil it down to one, but wideangle always holds a special place in my heart.

Best wishes and prayers during the holiday season!

Imasleeper

Medio Reef- spend a whole card on this guy (seems strange saying that since my roll-film to digital conversion this last year!) D2x with a 105mm macro and a pair of strobes.

Don't know if this is my best, but it's my favorite. Taken at Santa Cruz island in the CA Channels, it was frigging cold on this dive, about 50 degrees - did a 3-day liveaboard on a weekend when all other boats were cancelled b/c of a storm - huge swells. We had to give up some dives looking for places we COULD dive, then we gave up some more dives rescuing a sailboat in distress. Plus, someone brought an 11-year-old kid on board without forewarning the rest of us, so we wound up limited to shallower spots which translated to tons of surge. I had given up getting a keeper from the weekend, and I saw my dive buddy looking at the inside of this shell - I thought I'd take some shots of the swirly pattern inside...and then I saw legs coming at me!!

EDIT - reading these posts, I just wanted to say - beautiful images, all. Also want to add - this is the nicest bunch of potentially scary (in terms of talent) people one could hope to find. Several of you have helped me with critiques, tips, and encouragement this year, and I know that I've produced better images as a result. THANK YOU.

As others have said, this one isn't my best photo of the year, but (at least right now) it's my favorite, probably because it's different from things I've done in the past:

Since this is a spur of the moment decision, I reserve the right to change my mind!

[Edited to add kit details] Shot with D300 in Seatool housing with Subal FE dome, Tokina 10-17mm lens, dual Inon Z240 strobes on manual.

Linda

Alex great topic and what a fantastic shot. it certainly wasnt what the kind of image I was expecting, but it sure oozes class.

I would like to echo what Steve has said and that thank everyone who posts within these forums and are always happy to give advice. I am looking forward to another great year of banter, discussion, topical debate, ( no politics though Mr Bantin ) humour and more excellent shots from everyone.

I have only just entered the world of photography and most of my knowledge has come from you guys. When I see this forum topic I looked through a few hundred shots from a good years diving and could not decide which was my favourite. I had to pick one so I decided to go with this one. I have just had it published as a cover image and for me to achieve this, for myself it is amazing.

This was shot with a Canon 350D, Sea and Sea housed with twin YS90's Tokina 10-17mm fisheye

This is one of my favorites of 2008 because it was a challenge to shoot. Ambient light reflected from clouds into deep valley (no direct light) in late October (even topside shooting would have been a challenge needing high ISO and large apertures). I shot in auto ISO mode with Aperture priority on a D2X. Aperture at 6.3 (slightly larger than the standard f/8 to let in a bit more light) with 18mm 2.8 AFD Nikkor lens. Resulting exposure was ISO 800 and 1/20 sec. The end product reminds me of Kodachrome 200.

The fish are Dolly Varden and coho salmon. They are in a plunge pool below a waterfall - source of the bubbles. I have shot at this location several times so had some idea of what to expect before leaving home (~ 10km away via a narrow dirt and gravel road that winds around a lake; pavement in this direction ends about 1 km from home) - so set up housing with 18mm. Fish here are too far away to use flash effectively. Camera was placed on the bottom where the depth was about 1m, fired by remote control, used AF.

Tom

My favorites are the mandarin fish, caught in the act and a candy crab. Both taken in Indonesia, and I am planning my next trip back there

Maybe not my prettiest photo of the year. I took a few photos of black froggies on the previous trip and didn't like any of them which got me thinking a little about what to on my next opportunity to shoot this subject. I came up with a couple of ideas and I think they actually worked fairly well.