florida regal sea goddess nudibranch

Specs for the shot -

sony dsc-f717 (macro mode), ikelite housing, ambient light in approx 30 fsw

phot prep using photoshop 6.0

I was specifically wondering if anyone thinks I went a little too dark with the levels and color balance?

regards...

- MP

This might just be me, but I am almost never happy with nudi shots. The vast majority seem like "critter ID" shots -- including all the ones I have ever taken.

There must be some way to present these animals in a more interesting perspective?

Eric, get a shot of them having sex.

Or find a shot of them taking the little one out for a stroll.

"...ambient light in approx 30 fsw

  I was specifically wondering if anyone thinks I went a little too dark with the levels and color balance?"

Hi Matthew,

Maybe a touch on the dark side, but remarkable considering you used available lighting at that depth. ColoUr is not bad.

As Eric pointed out Nudi shots can be mmmm' so patience is often required to follow its movements until it ventures into the 3D by traversing a difficult object, standing erect to sniff the water or as that Canadian pointed out during the throws of passion...

It's always good to see a little of the critters environment, but your image could stand at least a 20% crop to give the subject a little more emphasis.

Cheers

There must be some way to present these animals in a more interesting perspective?

Try this...

Bandit chickenobranch stalking a stingray

It is great to see some photographers being honest about nudi shots.

So many UW photographers are happy to just to collect nudi species shots and never really take good strong images. Everyone is so busy patting each other on the back for snapping another species that they forget about the quality of their photography.

I think there are three important elements to a nudi shot: composition, composition and composition! As Bob says, dynamic poses are essential!

I also agree that squeezing in a bit of behaviour can be good too! Greek photographer Constantinos Petrinos is working on a nudi behaviour book and has some amazing shots of nudis doing just about everything.

A couple of behaviour stories I like to tell with nudis (in addition to mating + egg laying) are commensal shrimps (such as Periclimenes imperator) and defence. Nudis have so many defensive strategies there are lots of stories to tell.

Alex

Spanish Dancers are pretty good at defence squirting out evil chemicals at would be predators, such as divers throwing them up in the water to get a swimming shot!

So many UW photographers are happy to just to collect nudi species shots and never really take good strong images.

I never really though about it before, but - at least in my case - I think Alex is right. Next dive trip, I'm going to work on composition!

Jim