Sarasvati Anemone Shrimp 1

While diving at the Misool Ecoresort, I spent most of my time underwater looking for wide-angle soft coral landscapes. However, after the first week, the full moon brought about a plankton bloom which made the visibility go to crap. Thus, I changed the focus of my underwater photography from wide-angle to macro. I was enamored with the beautiful abstract possibilities of the anemone tentacles and have previously shared several of my favorite clown anemonfish images. While reviewing these images after my dives, I discovered numerous tiny invertebrates in the background, so I began to look specifically for them on my later dives. This Sarasvati anemone shrimp is one of my favorites that I photographed. I have tighter images that show more detail of the shrimp, including its eyes, gills, and see-through body, but I like the patterns of the tentacles that help frame the shrimp in its environment. I spent at least 30 minutes trying to photograph this shrimp, and keep in mind that I was underwater about 40′ down a wall with a small amount of current pushing against me the entire time. Buoyancy is a hard skill to master, but especially when looking through a diminished viewfinder and using a marco lens that easily loses reference to what I am trying to photograph. I created this image using my Canon 5DmkII and 100mm f2.8 macro lens in my Ikelite 5DmkII housing with dual Ikelite DS160 strobes set on TTL. This image required minimal processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

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