Nudibranch reflections

Hi everyone,

still quite new here, not really long in underwater photography (at least compared to Wetpixel forum standards ), and so I'm really looking forward to feedback on this picture.

The picture of Felimare Villafranca was taken in Étang de Thau in France in February (so a uncomfortable 8°C water temp), quite shallow (~4m) but under a pier so it wasn't to bright. Took about forever (which means ~25min) for the little nudibranch to creep onto the mirror which was placed in her path several times until she finally gave it a try. The mirror actually is a polished stainless steel plate, I don't want to risk broken glass.

Camera/Settings: Sony A6500, 90mm F2.8, 2x Inon Z330 (side lighting) in Nauticam housing. F10, 1/160s, ISO 250, AF-S. Couldn't get the camera to focus with a smaller apperture unfortunately.

Postprocessing: mainly darkened the background, contrast and saturation increase, removal of backscatter, slight dehaze. Didn't remove the debris around the nudibranch, found that to look to sterile.

Thanks for your input,
Fabian

Hi Fabian

Nice pic! The idea of getting the nudi to cross a mirror (is that 7 years of bad luck?) was a very cunning plan although I'm sure there are purists who would not approve  . The effect is lovely - well worth the cold wait.

A couple of very minor thoughts which are really counsels of perfection:

- I'd be tempted to lighten the body of the nudi very slightly. There are lovely colours there which I think could look a little brighter. Maybe a slight adjustment to the Vibrancy?

- Secondly I think I'd have a go at lightening up the shadow a bit behind the rinophores. Not easy but maybe doable with the Lightroom Shadows slider. 

But like I say, these are counsel of perfection. The composition is super and your patience was rewarded.

I often take a home built stage when diving for nudibranchs and often get a lot of people telling me I am evil for actually moving them. I do move them but put them back where they were after shooting them. At the scuba show in Long Beach I had a woman vehemently tell me how evil it was to put a slug on the stage. I asked her what she did with the garden slugs that eat her tomatoes and she said she put out slug bait. I told her the discussion was over. 

Bill

17 minutes ago, bvanant said:

put a slug on the stage

I must admit I don’t really like the idea of moving critters around but if one feels the urge to tread the boards…..

Bill, can you post a pic of the stage? (Best laugh I’ve had today)

2 hours ago, TimG said:

Bill, can you post a pic of the stage? (Best laugh I’ve had today)

Wow, Wow, wow. Do the curtains hang ok in the water??

And fancy getting a frog into the image too. Wow!

16 minutes ago, TimG said:

And fancy getting a frog into the image too. Wow

The slugs were over

I am not nearly brave enough to face the wrath of the masses by moving critters, let alone placing them on a foreign object. Among the younger members of my local underwater photography society, resting on the bottom, using muck sticks, moving critters, flipping rocks, and wearing split fins with ankle weights are universally panned as "boomer moves".

34 minutes ago, Sharkhottub said:

wearing split fins with ankle weights

That sounds more like a fashion/style issue...... bit like white tube socks in sneakers 

It is packed for Australia, but it is a 6x6 inch (150 x150 mm) delrin block (5 mm thick) with legs that fold up and one side has a piece of dichroic glass on it, the other side has a piece of black felt (telescope stray light catcher) for a completely black background. Here is a local nudi sitting on it 

Cheers BVA

If you remember the David Doubilet spread in Nat Geo. Even he got major grief for moving nudis. 
I know several people in the marine biology world that use nudibranchs for learning research, constant handling seems not to bother them much. In any case, I am unapologetic about moving slugs unless they are eating, mating or laying eggs. Here they mostly are sitting on the bottom minding their business so a few turns in the spotlight should be fine.

Bill

Thank you Tim for your feedback! Will play around with the edit again (and, if I like it, share the result here). I'm using CaptureOne and Photoshop, probably I'll add another layer in Capture One to only increase brightness of the little critter will work.

Regarding moving nudibranches: I didn't dare to as I only had dry gloves which give just about no feeling and hence there would be a risk of doing no good to the nudi. Overall, seeing how harsh life is underwater, I guess carefully moving a nudibranch won't make a difference. Just think of winter storms in the shallow Étang de Thau, they throw around just about everything, including rocks, boat wrecks and so probably also nudis that do not hide good enough.

I like the idea of making it a stage. Having the mirror on the ground gets quite some debris on it and a black background is not too easy with bright sand behind the mirror. Guess I'll have to steal the steel mirror again (from my wife’s toilet bag) and make a few changes to that one. Maybe I can build something that allows to put the mirror in front of the nudi, then I can move the mirror onto a stage, take a few pictures, then move the mirror back onto the ground for the nudi to crawl of? This I guess would be the least possible impact on the nudibranch.

10 hours ago, bvanant said:

It is packed for Australia, but it is a 6x6 inch (150 x150 mm) delrin block (5 mm thick) with legs that fold up and one side has a piece of dichroic glass on it, the other side has a piece of black felt (telescope stray light catcher) for a completely black background. Here is a local nudi sitting on it 

 

Cheers BVA

Fabulous image, Bill

Late to the party but I also think that you managed a great shot. The problem now is that you got a great shot. Now your proof of concept is confirmed and you will be spending many more hours sitting stationary on the cold ocean floor - pity your dive buddy! Leaving the small amount of debris was a good choice imho as it helps to reference gravity. Similar to Tim's undulating reflective surface. There was a pic somewhere here (i think) of a wee aggressive fellow trying to cower his own reflection in a mirror - the photographer must of set up the mirror in the sand outside his den. Beautiful, funny but somehow I felt a bit sad for the little fish.

I think any photo that causes a non-diver to pause and think about the wonders below the water must serve a common good.

A photo or drawing of Bill's nudi table wiil be welcome to give us a clearer idea of how to make one. Why dichroic glass and where does one buy it?

On 3/8/2023 at 11:25 PM, polyroly said:

Late to the party but I also think that you managed a great shot. The problem now is that you got a great shot. Now your proof of concept is confirmed and you will be spending many more hours sitting stationary on the cold ocean floor - pity your dive buddy! Leaving the small amount of debris was a good choice imho as it helps to reference gravity. Similar to Tim's undulating reflective surface. There was a pic somewhere here (i think) of a wee aggressive fellow trying to cower his own reflection in a mirror - the photographer must of set up the mirror in the sand outside his den. Beautiful, funny but somehow I felt a bit sad for the little fish.

I think any photo that causes a non-diver to pause and think about the wonders below the water must serve a common good.

Well, as I dive solo most of the time, no one except me will have to suffer

I've edited the pic a little bit to light up the nudibranch, and I really do like it. Thanks @TimG!

Nice. May I ask, how large is your polished plate?  Also you mentioned focus issues - I thought Nauticam housings allow you to manual focus, am I mistaken?

On 3/8/2023 at 7:55 PM, Kraken de Mabini said:

Why dichroic glass and where does one buy it?

Surprise, surprise the glass is available from Amazon! As is the Delrin.

I'm assuming Bill made an L-shaped stage. The base has the glass and the upright has the blackout material.

With CupofCoffee's idea, you could use a mirror rather than the glass. Or, hey, have both! Interchangeable.

This would make a great surface and save @CupOfCoffee having to use madame's mirroir.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coghlans-Camping-Mirror-Unbreakable-Stainless/dp/B000ECQ80U/ref=sr_1_3_mod_primary_new?crid=12QQSIQTJV0EX&keywords=camping+mirror+unbreakable&qid=1678565589&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=camping+mirro%2Caps%2C261&sr=8-3

20 hours ago, polyroly said:

Nice. May I ask, how large is your polished plate?  Also you mentioned focus issues - I thought Nauticam housings allow you to manual focus, am I mistaken?

About 10 by 15cm, I'll need to buy my own one, that'll be 15 by 15cm.

The housing does, but I don't have the zoom gear. Might indeed have been easier.

The stage is attached. The other side has the black felt instead of the glass. There are a multitude of dichroic glasses to choose from. I mount the glass to a thin piece of PVC that screws to the delrin base, you can change background colors to complement whatever you want to shoot between dives,

Bill