For Carol Clarke, Hippocampus bargibanti

Posted by scubastu on Thu Apr 07, 2016 11:17 am

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or to lay folk, the Pygmy Seahorse. Long considered the ultimate for underwater photographers, the pygmy is a hard critter to shoot. Not only are they tiny, about ¼" from nose to tail, they like to hide in thick bushy sea fans that they share the identical coloration to! I usually have to rely on the guide to point at the critter first with a chop stick before I can see it.

Canon 5dsr, EF 100mm f2.8 l Macro, Aquatica A5dmk3 Housing, External +5 diopter, Single YS-D2 firing through my prototype Fiber Optic Ring light. ISO 200, f22, 1/100th.

Stewart L. Sy

SLS Photography, When Your Underwater Images Matter...
www.stewartsy.com

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by Carol Clarke on Thu Apr 07, 2016 12:36 pm

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This has made my day!

A priceless image of this tiny sugar candy species, exquisite detail and superbly captured Stu.

Thank you for sharing your tiny treasures with us and this is a delight.

Carol Clarke
Chief Forum Administrator.

"When the power of love is greater than the love of power,
the world will know peace"....Jimi Hendrix.

NSN0067

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by Mark Boranyak on Thu Apr 07, 2016 5:54 pm

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Stu,

Outstanding my friend. You are so right. Photographing these creatures is extremely difficult. Probably the most difficult animal I ever photographed. It is a test for the best underwater photographer.

Well done. Now print the image

Mark

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by Pralay Lahiry on Fri Apr 08, 2016 8:45 am

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Mindboggling colours..... Delightful frame.

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by pleverington on Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:03 am

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What a beautiful little creature of life...at only 1/4 inch you say....wow! I know exactly how hard to get a shot like this off with currents constantly moving you and the very short DOF available even at f22. Do you have from adjacent frames any images that have those elements that are OOF on the coral directly in front of the little fellow? Those really are hurting the overall perfection of the shot. Surely you took a lot of frames and there must be one that you could use to graft into this one..

The amount of BG blur looks just about perfect..enough to know what we are looking at and yet not be distracting with detail.

Paul Leverington
"A great image is one that is created, not one that is made"

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by scubastu on Sat Apr 09, 2016 11:27 am

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Hi Paul,

Interestingly enough, none of my other shots have the forward coral in focus, all fell to the back of the animal as I had the focus point on the eye.

Thanks all!

S

Stewart L. Sy

SLS Photography, When Your Underwater Images Matter...
www.stewartsy.com

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by Des on Sat Apr 09, 2016 5:04 pm

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Looks adorable, like it.

Regards,

Des
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captivatingnature.co.uk

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by Nate Chappell on Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:56 pm

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Congrats on the pick, great image!

Nate Chappell
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by Cindy Marple on Mon Apr 11, 2016 3:47 pm

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Love, love, love this!

Cindy Marple
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by SMB on Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:56 am

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A classic!
For those that may not know, a Seahorse when approached will almost always turn away from the camera. The soft coral is moving in the current, the diver is moving in the current and with each breath so a tack sharp image even with a strobe(s) is not at all that easy. And that is after you find one of these cryptic little buggers.

Another nice shot Stu.

Stan

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by Robert Sabin on Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:34 pm

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Carol Clarke wrote:This has made my day!

A priceless image of this tiny sugar candy species, exquisite detail and superbly captured Stu.

Thank you for sharing your tiny treasures with us and this is a delight.

ABSOLUTE KILLER FANTASTIC

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by dissent on Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:59 am