Best/Favorite image of 2011

[JackConnick 73]

I tried, but I couldn't get it down to 1, so I posted 3

Upper left: Fairly Basslet, Grand Cayman. Leave it to me to get my best macro of the year at Alex's wide angle workshop. 105VR with my departed D300s.

Upper Right: Hawksbill Turtle - what you do with a large animal when you have a 60mm on. He was totally tame, fun interaction.

Lower; Big Ass Ugly Ling Cod. These are pretty common around here and I think I finally got a portrait I like. Shot with a XZ-1 P&S, single strobe, sometimes simple is better.

Cheers, Jack

Edited December 21, 2011 by JackConnick

[newmanl 15]

I'd very much agree, great images everyone!

 

While maybe not my best, it is my favorite of 2011... so far! It was a sunny October day at a local dive site and I wanted to practice balancing ambient and strobe (fill) light. I looked up, saw the sun-ball and then found a clump of plumose anemones, then asked my wife to swim circles above me until we were able to combine all the elements! She was patient beyond what I deserve and while the plumose aren't the most striking foreground element, I like the photo. Thanks for looking.

 

Lee

 

[howeikwok 27]

A truly funny moment.

 

 

[Aquapaul 26]

I spent one week this year shooting nothing but my Tokina 10-17 and another shooting just my 105mm macro. Learned a lot this year, here is a image from each.

[junior5 0]

three of my favorites from 2011. it was hard to pick just one. i just picked from underwater pics. no land based ones. this is my first attempt at posting a pic on here.

[adamhanlon 0]

As always, a fantastic and inspiring group of pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

I'm pretty sure it isn't my best image for 2011, but it is without doubt my favorite!

 

 

A morning spent at Crystal River was the perfect antidote to a hectic DEMA show. People had mentioned that the interaction you get with manatees is very special and they were absolutely right. When any large mammal choses to interact with me I feel immensely privileged, and boy did these guys interact with me!

 

I love manatees!

 

Wishing everyone safe diving and great shooting for 2012.

 

Adam

[acuevas 4]

As everyone is breaking the one shot rule, I'm going to do it too.

 

This was my last dive with my P&S and the longest dive I've done so far (120 min), half the dive with day light and half the dive in the darkness of the night.

My wife is in the shot and that makes it more special for me (the only active woman tech diver in Chile).

 

This was my first dive, and only dive so far, with my new dSLR equipment. The dive was really fun and marks a new era for my photography.

[Xanderwater 24]

Hi everyone, this is one of my favourites.

Taken on a stormy day in an estuary in Perth, West Australia on snorkel in 1 meter of water, visibility 1 meter.

I liked the symmetry and thought the seahorses expression in combination with the shallow milky water and dark overcast sky made for a weird atmosphere.

 

 

Rainy day by xanderwater, on Flickr

[davephdv 0]

This is the one I printed for Christmas photos. Cropped for printing.

 

Rocha Partida, May 2011

 

[andy_deitsch 17]

 

This is my favorite from the year. It was taken on one of the last dives of Alex Mustard's Red Sea workshop. That week was the first time I was shooting wide angle so for me, this was the culmination of a weeks worth of lessons and I have a very distinct memory of where I was when I took the shot, how I set it up and what I was thinking as I was trying out various camera and strobe configurations.

[DerekB 2]

Amazing photos on here!

 

I just spent the last 8 months on Oahu. I spent more then half of that time trying to get sunset wave photos using dive strobes, then cheep speedlights, and then hotlights. Mostly ending in frustration, but a few good shots came out.

 

 

And underwater I think my favorite was one I did for my first commercial photo shoot. It is simple, but clean.

 

I definitely wish I was still Hawaii. But we will see what kind of adventures Seattle brings!

[bentoni 1]

Thousands of fall run American River Chinook salmon smolts race through the water as they are released into the mouth of the American River in Sacramento on Thursday,May 5, 2011. The state Department of Fish and Game released 3 million juvenile salmon, raised at Nimbus Hatchery, to improve their survival chances and increase the odds they will return to the river to spawn.

I dove very little this year, but I shot this for a newspaper article for work.

 

[vazuw 1]

It was a slim year for diving. Alot of " life issues ". This was my favorite for its simplicity, and I think elegance

Edited December 28, 2011 by vazuw

[Rocha 0]

Wow, fantastic images, keep them coming!

[midael 0]

Really great pictures here!!! This one is from near Socorro island in May where we ran into school of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens). Great trip as a whole, but this encounter really was something special!

 

 

2011 was a good year! Already look forward to dives in all the new (and old) places in 2012!!!

[edpdiver 19]

Here are mine, both from the Philippines on a trip to Moalboal.

 

Here is one of my best shots (lucky timing, mostly).

 

 

and here is my favorite (from Pescador Island)

 

-Erwin

[marjan10000 0]

Here is one of my best shots (lucky timing, mostly).

[Bent C 18]

I have been shooting quite a number of parasites on fish this year. This is probably my best.

 

Edited December 29, 2011 by Bent C

[MaviPhoto 0]

My personal favourite photo from this year 2012 ( and I am happy to see that National Geographic shares my point of view ) is my shot named "Lightning Squids" . I could write books about this one...but know what ? "Let the photo talk for itself !!"

 

And who really need to read words, please read this from Tony Wu :-)

Write up/review by Tony Wu :

 

"Hi everyone,

 

I'd like to highlight this image, contributed by Rico Besserdich:

 

I'm a huge fan of unique perspectives on familiar subjects and scenes. I'm sure many of the people in this group have dived under a jetty at night. When I do so, it's usually with a macro lens in hand, looking down for interesting subjects. It's rare that I look up, and even more rare that I do so while carrying a lens with a wide perspective.

 

This image comes across to me as a clever play off the standard "shoot up with sun in background" type of shot, with the reflected strobe light in this instance creating the illusion of a source of light above the jetty. The situation, perspective and lighting make for an interesting set-up, and then the person standing on the jetty makes the shot.

 

Without the person, the squid would sort of be floating in space. The person provides a visual anchor, making it easy to understand the situation at a glance. I've had the honour of being a judge for three photo contests this year. While looking at thousands of great pictures, I kept finding myself thinking: "I wish there were more original images".

 

Not necessarily photos of rare subjects or big animals, but photos with a unique take on familiar subjects, like this one. "

 

1st December 2011 Tony Wu

 

 

 

 

A pleasant & happy new year to all of you !!!

 

Happy Bubbles,

 

Rico

 

http://www.maviphoto.com

[TomR1 5]

This is my favorite shot from last year because I actually found this Pigmy myself -- no help from the guide. The result was that I was first in line -- as opposed to last. The pigmy knew it was discovered and moved around so I had to follow it but it wasn't turning away in response to a flash.

 

So, with a +10 subsee on an Af-105-VR lens the minimum focus distance is less than 3". I positioned my camera at about 2" and backed out slowly until the Pigmy came in focus. Knowing that Pigmys don't like a flash I took one shot. The first is full frame cropped only on one axis while the second is a crop shgowing the crown on the pigmy's head.

[Herb Segars 4]

This was a terrible year for diving as my family and dive buddy had health issues that kept us out of the water. To compensate or because I am crazy, I began scanning nearly 10,000 slides from years gone by. What was amazing for me were images with subjects that I can't remember or don't know if I have seen (in the original slides). This one in particular amazed me as I have never seen a long-finned squid underwater in New Jersey but little did I know that I had captured one (albeit a juvenile) so many years ago. The picture is of the bell of a Lion's mane jellyfish. There is an arrow worm sitting on the bell and a juvenile long-finned squid laying its tentacles onto the jellyfishes' bell. Although I did not take this photo in 2011, it truly is new to me.

 

[Brian McHugh 4]

[allen 4]

I am still learning and this year my only dives were in the mucky waters of Costa Rica so compared to others they rank pretty far down on the wow scale but what I do like is that I was at least seeing the composition.

[_savage 0]

There are some gorgeous shots here, what a pleasure to scroll through this thread

 

Here are two of my favorites. I'm still learning my new setup, but since I'm more comfortable with macro I will spare you my failed wide-angle attempts Most of the time I try to find colorful and simple images as they speak to me most. Both shots were taken around Vancouver Island, BC, still one of the most amazing places to dive.

 

 

 

Happy new year 2012 everybody...

Edited December 30, 2011 by _savage

[jonpaul1969 0]

This was taken in Dahab and gave me a real wow moment. I only had one strobe at the time and only had the DSLR for a few months. I took a couple of shots and was really disappointed with the colouring. I made a slight adjustment to the strobe positioning and edged slightly closer and suddenly all the beautiful reds came out. No need to Photoshop.