milisen

I found this larval flounder (Bothus thompsoni) drifting just under the surface many

miles offshore of Kona, Hawaii at night.

Hi MLM-

I used two Ikelite substrobes to light the subject here.  External strobes apparently don't show up in the metadata.

I photographed this blanket octopus 5 miles offshore from Hawaii mere minutes

before midnight. The encounter was over in about a minute so I had little time to act.

This is the result. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Unbeknownst to most, flounder start off their lives with their eyes on

opposite sides of their head like other fish. It isn't until later that one eye

will migrate to join the other.

I have been playing with wide angle lenses at night and found a likely

subject in this playful (and hungry!) manta ray. Please let me know what

you think.

There is a local spot that is known among divers for frequent encounters

with sharks. So my friends and I went at night. This bold sandbar shark

stole the show. Your comments are welcome.

The whole thing was quite unbelievable.  We were motoring along when we came across a floating pig carcass.  One timid tiger was already on scene but both the divers and the shark were being overly cautious.  Then, out of nowhere, a trio of humpback whales swung by to see what the commotion was all about.  If you've ever been in the water with a whale, it is an awesome, all consuming experience.  They swung by at what seemed like mach 5 and disappeared.  Thinking the encounter was over, I looked over at my buddy and watched as three huge flukes waved goodbye right behind him.  He completely missed the encore.  I got one photo of the whales that was so bad, I am too embarrassed to show it to anyone.  Once the whales left, the tiger shark came back with a vengeance.  We played with it for about 15 minutes before his friend showed up and started getting ballsy.  We divers were already comfortable after studying the first shark for a while, so we all lined up to spend the next hour watching the animals rip into the pig.  By the end of the encounter, my friends and I had all hugged/rode the accommodating tigers and I came away with some incredible shots and absolutely no adrenaline left to pump through the veins.  Like I said, unbelievable but that is the nature of the ocean-just awesome.

The leviathan is the world's biggest fish; whale shark.  In spite of their size, they are completely harmless.  Thanks for the interest!

As an avid underwater photographer, I am usually very critical of aquarium images but this is spectacular!  The crispness of the man in the foreground against the blurred, ghostlike image of the sandbar shark in the background gives this an intriguing juxtaposition.  Thanks for sharing.

A Hawaiian green sea turtle drifts by at Honaunau State Park. Green sea

turtles have been making a splash lately as the state senate is deciding

whether to remove them from their current protected status. Their

successful return has made sea turtles an icon of Hawaii worth

preserving.

Really cool abstract that bent my brain.  Now I wish you had a zoomed out version to put it all in perspective.

Why is the left side all blurry?  

Agreed about the scuba diver, but fantastic capture even with the diver included.  I'd love to know what kinds goes into creating these images, they are gorgeous!

Manatees are such beautiful animals.  If you get another shot at this, try using longer lenses and maybe a little creative cropping to isolate the head when it comes to the surface to breathe.

Well done isolating a reef-colored subject from the reef background.  Cheers!

I really like how the reflected 'prison' style bars give the animal a terrified look.

So often, octopuses (octopi?) are timid and wary of divers. It is a rare treat

when one ascends from its burrow to play with a diver. Please leave a

message and thanks for looking.

This tiger shark as especially inquisitive of my camera lens. Moments

after this photo was taken, I used my expensive camera rig as a pole to

coerce its nose gently off the current path. As feared as they are, tiger

sharks are also very timid, so encounters like this are an extraordinarily

rare treat. Please share your thoughts.

The dirty water and dust on th snow contrasts beautifully with the clean white snow and the fog in the background.  The only thing I would change is to straighten up the horizon.

I am notoriously terrible at finding interesting textures like this, so it is impressive to find someone so good at it.  Nice capture.

Cheers!

J

The colors, the reflection, the composition, excellent capture!

I've always enjoyed your work.  Here the diver really puts the size of the ship into perspective.  

Cheers!

J

Thanks Alan.  No cage.  There were two tigers and they were gorgeous!