I really need to get back in the water... soon.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/25th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Auto-smartfix, Brightness -15, Contrast +10 in Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (mouseover for original).

Why This Photo: I like porcelain crabs - they are cool little crabs... We only saw a few on the trip, and even though this isn't a perfect shot, I still like it.

What Works: While the original was a bit off with the crab up in the upper right corner facing out of the frame, the crop brings the face of the crab down to the bottom left corner and has it facing into the frame. The original exposure is a tiny bit bright, so I toned things down a little in PP.

What Doesn't Work: The focus is pretty good, but the shutter speed of 1/25th of a second produced a bit of blur because of the movement of the crab's feeding "claws". Also, unfortunately, the crab was resting on a drab anemone - which worked great for camouflage, but is kind of boring as a photo.

Like I said, I like porcelain crabs. This species - Neopetrolisthes maculatus - is a small crab (about 1.25" max) that lives in anemones. They feed with modified claws that they fan out to catch small particles out of the water. They do have larger claws that they mainly use for defending themselves and their host anemone.

I'd really like to reacquaint myself with one sometime soon... if I do, I'll bring you more photos, and hopefully improve on my mistakes made in this one.

- Bill