Wide angle photography underwater is much more difficult than on dry land. I learned this lesson the hard way for sure on this trip. I took plenty of shots that I just didn't like at all. This one isn't perfect, but I kept it just the same.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 11mm, 1/160 sec at f/11. ISO 640. Ikelite Housing and Port with dual Ikelite DS 161 Strobes in eTTL mode. Raw conversion Adobe Camera Raw.

The first problem that jumps out of me is the strobe placement - I should have had one pointed at Anya so that both she and the anchor were equally illuminated and therefore avoiding the bluish color cast.

Next, ideally we should have waited a bit longer to let the backscatter particles to settle down after the other divers had moved on to get a clearer shot.

However, the proximity to the anchor lets it be a nice large foreground feature and gets plenty of light from the strobes to reproduce the vibrant colors of the sponges and corals.

It is definitely a challenge... one I definitely need more practice at to improve upon.

- Bill

This past Saturday, Anya and I made a visit to the National Aviary. Because it was gloomy and overcast outside, it was dim and very difficult shooting conditions inside. After wandering around for a few hours, we were set to go - I packed up my gear and we were about to leave. On our way, we stopped by the burrowing owl exhibit one more time. The first time we looked at it, there was only one owl visible sitting on top of a fake cactus. This time a second owl was peeking its head out of the burrow. Well, since it was close to closing time, there were caterers setting up tables for some event that was happening after regular hours. I had to fight the urge to leave all my gear in my bag and just leave... instead, I pulled everything back out, waited for a break in the caterers' activities and moved in to take a couple more shots.

I'm glad I did - this is hands down the best shot I came back with from the day.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/80 sec at f/5. Image Stabilization on. ISO 640. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in eTTL mode and bounced through an ExpoImaging Rogue Flashbender. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

Ok - a quick break from the dive photos to share an abstract taken on a recent trip to Phipps Conservatory.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/100 sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in eTTL mode and bounced through an ExpoImaging Rogue Flashbender. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

We didn't get to see many nudibranchs on this trip, but here are a couple shots of the two species we did see...

There's a trip to Wakatobi planned for Feb 2014, so I'm looking forward to that for my nudibranch fix.

- Bill

So if you've been following along, you'll know that I love finding the little stuff. On land, it is one thing... and I'm constantly looking for bugs and spiders. On the reef, it takes on an entirely new challenge. Like the search for the Gaudy Clown Crab, finding interesting and beautiful tiny little creatures while on a dive is something I take great pride in doing.

Normally I would post cropped photos with their originals available with a mouse-over action. Instead, for these, I'm going to post the original and let you see if you can spot the tiny little critter. If you're having a hard time, simply mouse-over the image for a cropped view that should help...

We'll start off with something easy...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/200th sec at f/16. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

Too easy? Ok - well, think about it this way. That shot was taken at 1:1.5 magnification. That means the frame is 1.3 inches x 0.9 inches. Looking at how much of the frame that Roughhead Triplefin (Enneanectes boehlkei) takes up, I'd estimate that it was only a mere 0.75 inches long. Sure - he stands out while sitting on top of that sponge, but still... that is a translucent bodied fish with some white markings (that mimic the white detritus stuck to the sponge) in a vast ocean.

Ok - this next one should be fairly easy too...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/200th sec at f/16. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

That shot is also at 1:1.5 magnification, which makes that little guy about 0.15 inches high if my math is right. It is either a Roughhead (note the fringes above its eyes in the zoomed version) Blenny (Acanthemblemaria aspera) or a Secretary Blenny (Acanthemblemaria maria) - I can't tell which without more visibility to the markings on the side of the fish. I posted another blenny from last year's trip as well for more examples of these tiny little fish.

Alright, that's enough of the easy ones. Now we'll take a look at where camouflage and tiny size come together to make for an truly difficult find...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/160th sec at f/11. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

That little guy is some sort of crab. I'm not able to find it in any of the identification books I have (not really surprising). Who knows - it could be a baby of some larger species of crab, or it could be that small all the time. Perhaps I found something no one else has ever seen before. All I know it is was tiny - probably in the range of 1/5th of an inch - and blended in perfectly with the sand.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/200th sec at f/11. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

That ridiculously tiny and cryptic thing appears to be some sort of shrimp or maybe even a lobster larvae. Once you see it, that dark stripe really stands out, but considering this was spotted just out on the sand, it really wasn't easy to spot.

Having said all that, don't ask how I spot these things - the answer is "I just do". I can't explain it, I can't tell you what specifically I look for - I just scan constantly and things jump out at me. A line that breaks a pattern (eyes are usually a dead giveaway), or a pattern itself in some camouflage, or a tiny bit of movement - regardless of what it is, my eyes are constantly searching when I'm on a dive. Searching for the next awesome little critter to zoom in on and reveal a view on something most people don't get to see.

When's my next dive trip scheduled???

- Bill

Ok - a few posts ago, I mentioned that I would share a photo of an arrow crab that caught a blood worm just as I was taking photos of it.

The blood worms are harmless worms that swim in the water. Usually they are less than an inch long, though we did see some that were several feet long. During night dives, they are attracted to the lights, and honestly can get downright annoying. When you get too many in front of your dive lights, there are a couple things you can do. First, you can just turn off your dive light and they'll disperse - if a friend is nearby, they'll all swarm to their light while you swim away laughing. Second, you can feed them to brain corals... simply move your light close to a brain coral and the blood worms haplessly swim into the coral and are trapped and eaten. Or, if you're really lucky, you can feed other reef critters...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/120th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 640. Ikelite Housing and Port with dual Ikelite 161 Strobes in TTL Mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Photoshop CS5. (mouseover for original uncropped version).

I seem to have taken a break from processing photos. I have seven dives left to process, so hopefully with the added time off from the holiday, I can possible get through the rest of them and get on a more regular posting schedule.

Stay tuned.

- Bill

Sorry - been a little lax with posting, so I'll try and get back to sharing photos from the trip more regularly. I still have about seven more dives to process the photos from.

Last year, I shared a shot of a Pederson's Cleaner Shrimp on a Spotted Moray Eel. Well, this year, I caught one on a Coney.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/200th sec at f/11. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Photoshop CS5.

- Bill

Ok just a quick post today to share what has become my new wallpaper on one of my work monitors...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 18mm. 1/120 sec at f/22. ISO 320. Ikelite Housing and Port with dual Ikelite 161 Strobes in eTTL mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw (mouseover for original).

Thanks for stopping by.

- Bill

PS: If you haven't voted on the other nurse shark photo or seen the videos, keep scrolling!

I absolutely love this photo - and the best part about it... it works in so many different ways.

Check out the different crops below and then vote on which one you like best.

2x3 Horizontal Original	2x3 Vertical Crop	4x5 Vertical Crop

Technical Data: Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 18mm. 1/120 sec at f/22. ISO 320. Ikelite Housing and Port with dual Ikelite 161 Strobes in eTTL mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

In the original framing, I love how you can see one of our dive friends - Jim - in the background also taking photos of the sharks. In particular, I love how wide Jim's eyes look through his mask. With the 2x3 vertical crop, I felt that since the shark's face is so close to the front of the frame, I would crop in tight and let it almost fill the frame - the one downside to that is that its pectoral fin gets cropped out in the process. Which is why I changed ratios and went with the 4x5 crop.

In the end, I really love every version of this photo... Vote below and let me know which one you like best.

- Bill

OK - this stuff is too cool, so here's another blast of fluorescing coral photos (today we're doing all vertically oriented photos).

One extra cool thing to note in this batch... the top photos on either side show a closed coral and the same coral with its feeding polyp tentacles opened. Pretty awesome, no?

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM with Yellow 12 Filter, 1/120th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 640. Ikelite Housing and Port with dual Ikelite 161 Strobes in TTL Mode both with NightSea BE3 Excitation Filters. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

The second photo on both sides appear to be two different types of brain coral. One of the fun things we like to do during night dives is feed blood worms to the brain corals - I don't have any photos of that, but I do have a shot of an arrow crab catching a blood worm that I will share soon!

Stay tuned!

- Bill