Alex_Mustard 0 Posted December 28, 2009 With the end of the year fast approaching it is that time again to revive this popular Wetpixel tradition. Click to see the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 editions. The rules are pretty simple. Please post your favourite (not necessarily your best) underwater photo taken during 2009. And you can only post one image (although I should add that rule breaking has become something of a tradition too!). Feel free to post why you like it and the kit you used, but it is not essential. And hopefully even Mike V will have something this year! Alex Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alex_Mustard 0 Posted December 28, 2009 This is far from my best image from 2009, but it goes down as my most memorable - because it took a few months, three dives to create and considerable help from my dive buddy Adam Hanlon! The difficulty makes it a favourite. The main problem was getting the remote strobes to fire reliably, when hidden from view of the on camera strobes. I chose to use a Heinrichs RSU - which is a neat solution for these types of shots, but first I learned it is not compatible with my Subtronic strobes, and then I found that it is incredibly sensitive to ambient light (even the ambient light levels at the bottom of an English quarry are too much). So after suitable modifications (using a YS30 as a trigger strobe and building a shade for the RSU) I was finally able to create the image I wanted of a ghostly beetle, lit from the inside, but not outside. The off camera strobes were also a great way to get around the poor viz on that day. D700 + 16mm FE. Subal housing. 2x Inon Z240 strobes on camera (on low power) and 2x Subtronic Alphas & 1x Sea & Sea YS30 in car, attached to Heinrichs RSU outside of car. Although this image was very difficult to take The good thing about going through a process like that - is that I could repeat the image now in a couple of minutes, having got the kit working reliably and understood how the technique works. Alex Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeVeitch 0 Posted December 28, 2009 Was wondering when you would start this thread always a crowd pleaser. Nice shot Alex, i love the fact it's a VW Bug And yes! I have taken photos in 2009... now i shall go check which is my fave.. i might even post two Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeVeitch 0 Posted December 28, 2009 ok here is mine.. nothing so technical such as Alex's but just a fun shot instead. We were messing around on the surface interval in Bunaken taking some over/unders as the crew was having fun jumping in the water. I got them to count to three and jump at me while i shot.. Got it in one take Shame about the ladder in the background though... and the damn Italian on the left who can't keep his head down! Aquatica D90, 10.5mm, f9, 1/400 ISO200 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Autopsea 7 Posted December 28, 2009 Mine is a simple shot from a very remote place, Fakahina, French Polynesia. I think no one ever dived here ever, and I only freedived, so still. I was here for a field part of a study on the blacktip reef shark. Here is a juvenile I captured, and took a few shot with my hand on before release. It have nothing particular exept the hand size compared to the shark (who was 54cm TL), but of it is special to me... 400D, Tokina 10-17: 10. 1/500, F/10. No strobe. damn sun, it still hurt when I think about it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeVeitch 0 Posted December 28, 2009 Mine is a simple shot from a very remote place, Fakahina, French Polynesia. Cute little fella Fakahina.. sounds like the Tuamotu area. Whereabouts compared to Fakarava? edit: finally found a decent Tuamotu map.. wow, quite far to the east.. bet there is some good shark diving there! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gassa 0 Posted December 28, 2009 I look forward to see the upcoming photos. This photo is one of many favorites taken this summer, in shallow and extremely clear canyon near my hometown! Happy new year gassa Click here! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maxtom 0 Posted December 28, 2009 It's all started with the late evening visit (the exact reason is still unknown) to Mike and Simon office in May ;-) And was materialized half a globe away in November (was it an obsessive idea?). It is clownfish eggs. And I can bet I have seen heart beat one or two times per second (or it is the rare case of shallow water nitrogen narcosis) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeVeitch 0 Posted December 28, 2009 It's all started with the late evening visit (the exact reason is still unknown) to Mike and Simon office in May ;-) Damnit Maxim! you have taken it further than we ever have... great shot! gassa, love that clear water Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alex_Mustard 0 Posted December 28, 2009 I look forward to see the upcoming photos. This photo is one of many favorites taken this summer, in shallow and extremely clear canyon near my hometown! Really nice, Gassa. I have seen so many fisheye shots from Silfra, but I think it looks better shot rectilinear. Really cool. I have to come to shoot Silfra before my next book, maybe I'll leave the fisheye behind! It is clownfish eggs. And I can bet I have seen heart beat one or two times per second (or it is the rare case of shallow water nitrogen narcosis) Wow, some detail! In Peter Scoones sequence of clownfish eggs in the BBC Life series you can see the heartbeats. So I am sure that is what you saw too! Alex Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maxtom 0 Posted December 28, 2009 (edited) Wow, some detail! In Peter Scoones sequence of clownfish eggs in the BBC Life series you can see the heartbeats. So I am sure that is what you saw too! Thank you! I will have to find this episode. Edited December 28, 2009 by maxtom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ilanbt 7 Posted December 28, 2009 This is my favourite and my best photo for 2009. It won the amatoures category in the Epson Red Sea 2009 Competition. It was shot in Eilat, Usrael Coral reserve using Nikon D300, Sigma 50mm macro lens, Sea&Sea housing and Dual Ikelite DS125 strobes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seagrant 4 Posted December 28, 2009 Wow, it is cool to reflect on fav photos! Hmmm, '09 firsts for me = humpback calves, spawning striated frogfish...., yes. they are tempting, but I still come back home to my manatee favs: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeremypayne 0 Posted December 28, 2009 Only went on one trip this year ... but met some nice people and fish ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeremypayne 0 Posted December 28, 2009 ... ghostly beetle ... I'm so glad you picked this one ... I just love it ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom_Kline 141 Posted December 28, 2009 (edited) It is always a challenge to pick a yearly favorite photo! I have picked a favorite shot from my favorite or at least most memorable day of shooting salmonids in 2009. I managed to do a list of firsts on this day. Here we have a Dolly Varden pair just commencing to spawn. The female is squatting in her just-excavated redd. The male is still doing his courtship display but was in moments beside the female. The next shot I took has him gaping next to the female in a similar posture to her. I like this shot because it shows more of both fish compared to actual spawning. The set up used is shown in post #29 of this thread: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=33133 Edited December 28, 2009 by Tom_Kline Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loftus 42 Posted December 28, 2009 (edited) Not my best shot, but certainly my most memorable. My first view of Scar barreling down on me like a nuclear submarine. I knew about Scar, but had no idea what he looked like or if this was him at the point this picture was taken. I was separated from the group, essentially by myself. I had no idea of his intentions -friend or foe? Two seconds later he had barreled into me and was rolling around under me, opening his mouth, certainly getting all my intention. 2009 was a great diving year - Manatees and Blue Heron, Cuba Silkies, Bahamas Whitetips, Cocos - Alcyone, and then of course the Sperm Whale experience. Also lots of pool work. 2010 is shaping up as well. To hell with the economy and airport security, Carpe Diem! This image will stay in my mind forever! Edited December 28, 2009 by loftus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidG 1 Posted December 28, 2009 This is image is not the best for quality but for me was a very special moment, this was the first time I saw a great white. I took this image on Gansbaai South Africa. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bruce0850 0 Posted December 28, 2009 Here's mine from Lembeh Straits in Nov. Nikon D200 60mm with single YS-60 strobe f/8 1/100 Manual ISO 100 WB is cloudy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
newmanl 15 Posted December 28, 2009 It seems I'm going to be the first to break the "only one photo" rule. Sorry Alex. I tried to only pick one, but I have two favs for two very different reasons. The first is of a hind that was hunting damselfish. We were diving on the house reef (Calabas) very near the end of our three week trip to Bonaire and had been captivated by all the animal behaviour we were seeing. I was watching this hind slink over and around the corals and rocks trying to sneak up on a damsel. I immediately thought it would make a good subject, if I could get the behaviour and if I could get a good background. Well, the hind slinked over the coral in the photo and paused as it looked at a damsel just out of the frame. That was the moment I caught. Very cool fish. I used a Canon 30D in an Ikelite housing, a 100/2.8 macro and a single DS-160.. and a little patience. The other image, I shot yesterday at Whytecliff Marine Park, West Vancouver, BC (its about a 45-50 minute drive from my house). At the end of the dive, on one of those very rare sunny winter days here, I looked up at the surface. The vis and the sun were in agreement - finally! The image for me says something about why I dive, why I try to shoot and dive. I used the 30D, with a Sigma 15 fish and had a single DS-160 mounted, but turned off. Sorry about breaking the one photo rule - I know I don't have any clout around here to be doing that. Thanks. Lee Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christian K 0 Posted December 28, 2009 (edited) This is my favourite image from 2009. It's my oldest girl Engla, seven years old, snorkeling with Lotta on a reef in the Egyptian Red Sea. We did a story about adventures in the Red Sea with children for a Scandinavian family magazine and this made it to the cover. I shot it with my old, trustworthy, D200 and a Nikon 10,5/2.8 fisheye. Forground lit with two diffused Inon Z240:s; ISO 100, f13, 1/90. cheers Edited December 28, 2009 by Christian K Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Morrison 1 Posted December 28, 2009 This is not my best but it's a favorite from my favorite dive of the year for several reasons. I shoot Great Lakes shipwrecks almost exclusively. I'd never shot anything other than wide angle underwater. This year when I got my new housing I also purchased a flat port so I could play around with my 60mm. I never realized how challenging it would be in the mental sense. Shooting close-up or macro is a completely different way of seeing underwater than shooting wide. The first 10 minutes of the dive I felt helpless, swimming around not knowing what to shoot. My dive buddy finally pointed out a flamingo tongue snail for me and it was one of those "aha" moments. Now I knew where to look and for what. It gave me a start. This one I found near the end of my dive almost directly under the dive boat. But the problem with shooting two strobes dead on was it looked so flat. After a few minutes it dawned on me to remove the left strobe and position it behind and to the side to give the whole image some dimension. Like I said, it's not great or anything that hasn't been done before but it was a wake up for me to look and think differently underwater. And I had a blast doing an 86 minute dive in 80 degree water shooting my 60mm instead what I'm used to - a 15 minute bottom time in 40 degree water shooting wide in 25 feet of viz. Sorry this is long winded but hey, that's why I like this image. Canon 40D, Canon 60mm, Subal housing and flat port, dual Ike DS-125's Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scubamarli 5 Posted December 28, 2009 I'm still slogging through hundreds of photos from 2009, but this is one I like, as others have said before me, because it is different from what I usually shoot, being larger than a pea, with a lens I don't often use (60mm), and at night at TK2 in Lembeh when I was being barraged by a massive school of shrimpfish, probably attracted by my mask light! It was all I could do to swat them away...it was like a swarm of locusts...very creepy. So, I am pretty happy that it turned out after all; I like the pattern and colour. Cheers, Marli Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torchuck 7 Posted December 28, 2009 it was pretty hard to choose. Diving this year was very different. First time I dived in fresh water... but... my favourite photo is squid couple dancing in the night. I tried to do it for two years. Indonesia, Lembeh. Canon 5D. Canon 100mm macro, Nexus, Inon 240x2. Different type of lighting(diode/lamp) affected the color of squid. sorry for my english Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Williams 0 Posted December 28, 2009 What a great set of images so far. This was my first year shooting a DSLR when I began to feel like I had a clue what I was doing. The first got the most views on Flickr, My first with over a 1000. Thanks Alex! and this one was my first ever competition entry, and it won a prize in the Visions in the Sea show to benefit the Shark trust. "Can't catch me" taken on my first trip with Jim Abernethy and the crew. Thanks for all the help guys and gals! Cheers, Steve Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
