Well, I'm back! I have a bunch of photos still to process (not nearly as many as the Wakatobi trip because I decided going in that I was going to not use burst mode). Turns out, I came home with 821 photos, and the first round of culling brought me down to 602, so a much higher rate of keepers than before. I can't really spend much time on this post, so I'll just get to the photo...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/120th sec at f/16. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

Today's subject is a Yellow-Lined Arrow Crab (Stenorhynchus seticornis). They are a fairly common resident of the reef, but I really love the patterns and colors they possess - those beautiful lines, and the strange red eyes, and even those odd bluish claws.

Stay tuned as I have some really awesome photos coming!

- Bill

It is getting late, and I'm fairly tired, so just a quick shot to share tonight...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/32th sec at f/11.3. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite DS161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Removed color cast in Photoshop Elements 8 (mouseover for original).

Dive trip is coming soon! Can't wait to get a bunch of new shots to share.

- Bill

Just stopping by to share another shot of some more tunicates.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/170th sec at f/11.3. Image Stabilization on. ISO 2000 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite DS161 Strobe in TTL Mode. No post production.

- Bill

I really can't wait till my upcoming dive trip, so I've been going back through some of my old shots trying to figure out what I could have done better. In particular, the one major problem with both of these images is the perspective. The top down view is not simply not very appealing. In this case, it was necessitated by the subjects' positions within the coral.

Oddly enough, these shots were taken on different dives, but they appear to be on the same species of coral. Further, the hermit crabs may even be the same species (notice the white legs with orange tips). However, the top down view makes identification almost impossible.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/60th & 1/25th sec respectively at f/11.3. Image Stabilization on. ISO 3200 & 400 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite DS161 Strobe in TTL Mode. No post production.

I'm sure I'll still use this technique when absolutely necessary, but will also try to make sure I get different angles of subjects when possible.

- Bill

Well, it is official! I have my next dive trip scheduled! This time around, we'll be trying out some live-aboard diving with Caribbean Explorer going to Saba, St Kitts, and St Maarten.

To celebrate, here's a quick shot of another nudibranch from Wakatobi in Indonesia.

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 DS161 Strobe in TTL Mode. No post production.

The nudibranch is an Elisabeth's Chromodoris (Chromdoris elisabethina) and it is crawling on a tunicate.

I can't wait to go diving again!

- Bill

Another dive photo today...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/170th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 2500 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. No post production.

Getting a little stir crazy here if you can't tell.

- Bill

I've looked for this fish in my identification book dozens of times. As it turns out, there appear to be local variants, and the one in the ID book just doesn't look much like this.

These little fish are called Indian or Cloudy Dascyllus (Dascyllus carneus). They are a small damselfish up to about 2.5 inches, but often as you can see a group of them range from every size. In Wakatobi, they were on pretty much every table coral like this, and would dart back into the coral as you approached. I managed to get this shot by slowly approaching the coral from below and coming up so I was eye level with the fish.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/40th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Auto-smartfix in Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (mouseover for original).

Have I mentioned that I really want to get back in the water sometime soon?

- Bill

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

Just a quick shot to share today. This cryptically camouflaged critter is a Leaf Scorpionfish (Taenianotus triacanthus). They are sometimes so hard to spot that one member of our group was actually looking past the one we were pointing to, trying to figure out what was hiding behind it that we could have been pointing to! These little guys even sway in the water to mimic a dead leaf or seaweed.

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 and Removed Color Cast in Photoshop Elements 8.0 (mouseover for original)

I really wish I could go diving soon. Like, really soon.

- Bill

Most people know what an anemone fish does when it is scared... it goes and hides in the protective tentacles of its host anemone.

But what about when the anemone gets scared?

It just closes up shop, and that usually means the anemone fish need to push and shove to get some protection.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/25th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 3200 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Removed Color Cast, Auto Smart Fix in Photoshop Elements 8.0 (mouseover for original).

As you can see when you mouseover the image, the original shot had a pretty bad blue color cast - likely because the flash did not fire (I often would rapid fire shots, and by the end of the series the flash would be recycling). Luckily, Photoshop does a decent job of cleaning up that color cast.

I don't know why I keep skipping my usual critiques, but I guess I just feel like sharing photos recently - perhaps I'll get back to the regular routine soon.

This one obviously isn't the best focus I've ever achieved, but I still think the shot works well. I also looked at trying to find a different crop for it (mainly to eliminate the partial fish in the top right corner, but couldn't find one I liked. Despite its flaws, I still really like the shot.

If you haven't seen them before, you might want to check these older posts with other anemone fish: False Clownfish and the early Sneak Peak (part 2).

- Bill