Capturing the Moment

Camouflaging orange sea star   Scuba Diving Cape Town: Macro Photography Diving in the cold waters around Cape Town mean reduced visibility and low light, but a lot of life. Macro photography, a kind of specialized close up photography, is wonderful for these conditions. Most point and shoot cameras can do this, it is the little flower symbol on the round dial, but to get professional quality shots some more specialized equipment is needed. I use a canon 5d mark ii, with Ikelite Housing, and a canon 100mm macro lens with the corresponding underwater lens port. I also use an Ikelite DS161 underwater strobe to bring light down into these dark places. Janolus nakaza n udibranch on the reef Tambja capensis   Working very close to your subject means that you don't have to worry about your flash hitting all the suspended sediment and bouncing back at backscatter. Plus your light reveals the hidden colors where normally these colors can't be seen this deep. Imagine l...

Scuba Diving in Reunion Island: Underwater Photography   Still a secret to most Americans, the hidden gem of Reunion Island lies off the east coast of Africa in the warm Indian Ocean. Tropical coral reefs surround the island, attaching to the old and recent lava flows from the shield volcanoes that make up this island. The island is also known for surf, so keeping an eyes on the size of the swell is a must if you are planning a dive vacation there. Stingray and Lion fish under a ledge in Reunion     Reunion Island stays a bit under the radar while the Seychelles claim much of the diving fame in this part of the world, but uncrowded reefs followed by delicious French pastries can be a real treat for those adventurous enough to make the long journey. We chose Reunion after looking into different diving options leaving from South Africa including Mozambique, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar. It turns out the 4hr plane ticket to Reunion was cheaper tha...

Melibe leonida   I never know what to expect when I put on my snorkel gear here in Alaska and look underwater. Often the intertidal life is exposed on the rocky shoreline on the lower end of our 25ft tides. However the marine creatures just below the intertidal are still a mystery until snorkel or dive gear is donned. Beautiful hooded nudibranch Alaska snorkel scene    Today's snorkel provided a wonderful surprise. Every blade of kelp contained several melibe leonida nudibranchs. The common name is hooded nudibranch, or lion's mane nudibranch. They are clear and translucent. In some of the close up pictures you can even see the capillery structures in their grills, helping them breath in under the sea. The unusual number of melibes indicated a mating bloom which I had only seen one other time off the frigid coast of San Miguel Island, the northernmost Channel Island in California. Fittingly, the same waters that runs through Alaska heads right down to ...