Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Allure of the Intertidal Zone

My blog has moved from Blogger to my own domain.

The Naturography Blog can now be found at http://naturography.com


This blog post can now be found at http://naturography.com/?p=197

Thank you for your interest.

7 comments:

Carolyn Fox said...

Good info and pic, Mike. Thanks for sharing.

Danine Cozzens said...

Stunning! Like something from another planet. And how did you get that shot without removing the poor thing from its habitat?

Mike Spinak said...

Thank you, Carolyn. I'm glad you like it. You're welcome.

Thanks, D. G.!

I've been asked this, before. I hope you don't mind if I repeat my answer. Let me know whether you have further questions"

"That's a big question, and I'm not sure specifically what you are asking.

If I had to sum it up in three words: effort, love, conscientiousness....

In this case, I was splashing around in the tide pool, kneeling on the jagged rock, working the tripod with one hand, and the camera with the other. I waited until the little fella darted out of the eel grass, and slithered by a nice bit of sea lettuce, and took the shot.

My equipment was a Canon 1Ds MarkII, a 180 f/3.5 macro lens, a 1.4x tele-extender, a 25mm extension tube, an electronic cable release, a (customized) Velbon Carmagne 530 tripod, and an Acratech Ultimate ballhead.

This was shot during the day. I just captured it at a nice angle to the light, where the sea lettuce background wasn't reflecting much light, but the nudibranch was."

Danine Cozzens said...

"This was shot during the day. I just captured it at a nice angle to the light, where the sea lettuce background wasn't reflecting much light, but the nudibranch was."

Wonderful! The "put light on dark and dark on light" advice plus excellent timing and knowing your gear... observing that the background was matte. To know how to see. So great the way you combine art and technique.

Greg Cope said...

Mike, great post. It sums up all of my thoughts on tidepool photography, except a heck of a lot better than I could ever describe. I was very happy to see the accompanying picture as well - my wife and I were only recently introduced to this species vicariously. We both saw your photo and it left our jaw gaped open.

Mike Spinak said...

Thank you, D.G.!

Mike Spinak said...

Greg,

I'm glad you enjoyed.

You know, there are often Hermissenda crassicornis to be found at Fitzgerald (which is where I photographed this one). I look forward to the next time we run into each other, there.

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