Islandbound

This guy is from the Bay at Maeda Musaka at about 60 feet.

The body seems to be similar in overall shape but other than the small dots the coloration is significantly more vivid in the one that I saw. Is this a "real" scorpion with the poisonous traits and all?

Diving off the southern tip of Okinawa yesterday at Yamashirokaigan next to the castle ruins was a beautiful but animal/critter poor experience. Sadly there were very few coral beds among the gorgeous underwater rock formations. This little fish is about 3 inches long and was found at about 30 feet in depth hidden among the coral branches.

Steve, you make a good point in discussing "how much" is perhaps "too much" when the crop manipulates the photo to produce an image which is fundamentally changed from the "entire" original photo. I crop to some extent all my photos as the image produced by the Nikon is too large for me to print on my home picture printer. When I crop to either portrait or horizontal though I generally use the outer boundary of the taken image and do not use the center subject and abnormally change the picture size. The irony to me of the crop issue is that for some who think this is a bad practice there is no reciprocal negative feeling of shooting in RAW. RAW is the ultimate form of post picture manipulation but for most is all right to do. In digital terms I guess that anything other than actual color manipulation has become part of the norm and commonplace on the way to actually printing a photo for viewing.

I have to thank you all for the nice comments. What is most interesting to me is that #3 is my favorite as it was the hardest to shoot. Waiting and moving around to get the face shot took awhile. I understand that cropping #2 to establish "thirds" will allow for a balanced and symmetrical photo. Is this the most common manner to make a pleasing photograph for the most people who will eventually view a photo? Do most UW photographers both professional and beginners end up cropping photos to generate a photo that follows this manner of symmetry?

Tarzana, Kitamura Camera on 58 near Mihama will have the Nikon camera and most likely the housing for it as well. Hirohito is the fellow I usually talk to there and is very helpful as well as a diver. Makeman also has the Inon flashes in stock as of today in their dive shop area too.

These are from today (Dec 2) and as I was taking shots of the critter it got me to thinking just what makes a shot interesting. Is composition more of a balanced photo and therefore more fun to look at or is the detail and mix of the primary subject in its environment what makes a photo look nice? I must admit that composition is a vague and foggy notion to me and the great unknown when taking photos. Any thoughts and suggestions for improvements of the following photos would be greatly appreciated! 1) 2) 3)

These are from the last two days and I cannot find them in the books that I have. 1) Nudibranch - 80 feet, Okinawa 2) Not very far off from the above nudibranch, it was growing out of the middle of a larger soft coral from what looked like a mass of tangled thick fibers.

Tarzana, I am in Okinawa too, PM me with your info sometime!

These are all from the last several days and all were found at about 40 to 50 feet off the coast of Okinawa. 1) I think this is Chromodoris elizabethina... 2) This is either Chromodoris lochi or Chromodoris willani...? 3) Probably Chromodoris reticulata but the yellow color is different than is what is in my handbook. 4) Unknown and not in my book 5) If I understand correctly this is Flabellina exoptata but my book does not list this as living in my local area... 6) Not sure 7) Not sure

Desmond, if you do already have a 60mm and go ahead with the 105VR/Port purchase you have another option available as well. The Kenko 1.4 TC with the 60mm fits with the 105VR port and combined with a Woodys diopter can provide for some great closeups.

Desmond, if your buying the 105VR to do generic Macro have you considered the 60mm instead? I have both and find that the 60 is an all around better performer in more situations.

I took this on an afternoon dive yesterday on a shore dive off of Okinawa at about 40 feet. Originally I was after the photo as the Nudi was lifted off the reef growth and I thought it was interesting. In no way did I expect the Nudi to look quite the way it turned out...

I have used both the DS51 and the Sea and Sea YS-110 with the G7 in an Ikelite for hundreds of photos. The obvious benefit of the DS strobe is the ability to shoot in TTL mode. This is great for quick photos when you dont have time to set up the strobe such as when a ray or shark swims past. The glaring problem to me with TTL is that the camera shoots in 1/80th shutter speed which can lead to blurred photos from surge or flotation issues. Recently I have been using the YS110 and solely shooting in Manual mode with the G7. This has allowed me to shoot almost all photos both WA and Macro in F8 at a shutter speed as high as 1/200 virtually eliminating blur and picking up a great deal of smaller detail from the enhanced DOF. If I was starting to buy strobes again and didnt have money already invested I would buy the DS125 in a heartbeat and have no regrets. Ikelite makes a product as good as anything on the market and their service is the best on the market. The DS125 will allow both TTL shooting as well as full Manual mode photos like I described. The DS51 is simply not powerful enough in many cases in WA shots to illuminate adequately.

This is from a recent night dive offshore at about 45 feet. The critter is about a half inch wide and apparently has no bottom end. The claws were constantly clutching the water and every so often would take something to the mouth but I could not see what it had caught. With those arms as large as they are it seems a little odd in its proportions. Anyone have a name for it?

Off the coast of Okinawa. Why are all these fish swimming and floating around upside down?

When we arrived at the water I was sure the dive was over when my partner forgot his BC. He had taken it out of his van to put my rig in and left it sitting near my house. Not to be fazed however he whipped out his trusty yellow bag and off we went!

I went back into a cave for some photos when through the viewfinder this blue fish swam by. I was only able to swing the camera enough to take this one photo before the fish vanished into the cave and never came back. What is it?

This nudi is also from last nights dive and while I really do want to know his name I am also interested in the little pink thing in his frills on his back.

I spend hours in the ocean just looking and looking for something to stump all the brainiacs here on Wetpixel and my What-is-it questions are answered before I can refresh my screen... :-P (Hi Leslie, the fellow I am talking to is vacationing, err, working at DEMA and wont be back for a day or so.)

During last nights dive I was watching some little crabs on a coral when I saw what at first appeared to be some detritus just inching its way down the coral. It appears to be segmented and fairly flexible and very very small. If the images posted here are not visible I can send the original images if necessary.

How do you shoot 1/50? I cannot seem to hold the camera still that slow to get such fine detail. Are you setting the camera down to take the picture? Is it weighted or anything to keep it still? Great detail by the way!

Peter, I tried to look at your photos but the guy with the pumpkin face on his butt made me gag, had to X out the page...

So... the next question (which I unfortunately need answered) is it possible to remove fine scratches from the inside of an acrylic Ikelite port put there by cleaning?

Troy, Like Chris said, I too have been following this thread loosely and appreciate your posting the photos for us to view. They are a fantastic window to your local area and I appreciate what you have done! Of all the group I am the most limited in my experience and equipment and take only pictures for my memory and not for commercial purposes like many others here. Having said that I can recognize what I like and the WA pictures you posted of the sharks are beautiful to look at. As a non-photographer I look at each and every picture I see here on Wetpixel to gain ideas on exposure, composition, subject matter etc so images posted by other people are what make this site so educational and entertaining, keep it up! JW