Yesterday I went to Redondo to try out super macro. The macro dive gods smiled upon me and I found a tiny Mosshead Warbonnet on the large pipe. This critter was by far the smallest Warbonnet I have encountered. With my 100mm lens, I could not get close enough for detail. So I flipped down my +15 wet diopter and fired away. I had to get about 1/4" away to even get this little critter in focus. My focal range was about 1/8" to 1/16" too. Many shots, I had missed the focus point of the eye by a small margin. The final result of all this effort was one really nice photo :-) I shot this at f10 to get enough light. However, I will try f22 next time to try to increase the depth of field.
Great photo, nice background! I love that even looking at a tiny critter like this petite warbonnet, there is an even tinnier barnacle that shows up off to the left.
dlh wrote:Great photo, nice background! I love that even looking at a tiny critter like this petite warbonnet, there is an even tinnier barnacle that shows up off to the left.
What a beauty, You young guys with eagle eyesight and magic skills. I can't see this stuff underwater myself, so it is a treat to see it on my computer screen.
Thanks for sharing!
Awesome Scube! Thanks for the behind-the-lens story too -- I still need to try shooting with a diopter, so this is useful.
We had a great weekend trying to dive Salt Creek. We made it out for a 100 minute dive on Sat -- calm but poor viz. Today we got blown out and went to Crescent instead. It was a super fun trip!
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Jan K wrote:What a beauty, You young guys with eagle eyesight and magic skills. I can't see this stuff underwater myself, so it is a treat to see it on my computer screen.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Jan. My sight is getting worse, so I have to hit the tiny critters while I can. Lol
YellowEye wrote:Awesome Scube! Thanks for the behind-the-lens story too -- I still need to try shooting with a diopter, so this is useful.
We had a great weekend trying to dive Salt Creek. We made it out for a 100 minute dive on Sat -- calm but poor viz. Today we got blown out and went to Crescent instead. It was a super fun trip!
Thanks YE. It is super tough. Especially with a full frame camera. Glad you had fun up at salt creek. Sorry to hear you got blown out today though.
derekcs wrote:Very warm colors. What were the surroundings like?
Excellent question Derek. This critter was on the large pipe. IMO, I think the rusty orange background makes for great contrast. However, this critter was super small and kept making its way toward the white patches of barnacles. To most likely blend in. So I had to wait for a few fleeting moments when the warbonnet was in a barnacle free patch. As far as location, it was right in the middle of the pipe right in the open. But this thing was tiny. I have no idea how I found it to be honest :-) did that answer your question?
derekcs wrote:Very warm colors. What were the surroundings like?
Excellent question Derek. This critter was on the large pipe. IMO, I think the rusty orange background makes for great contrast. However, this critter was super small and kept making its way toward the white patches of barnacles. To most likely blend in. So I had to wait for a few fleeting moments when the warbonnet was in a barnacle free patch. As far as location, it was right in the middle of the pipe right in the open. But this thing was tiny. I have no idea how I found it to be honest :-) did that answer your question?
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Rust was the answer I was looking for.
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