Schooling Rockfish

Gallery: WildlifePosted April 11, 201012,007 views3 comments

This is a small mixed school of Blue (Sebastes mystinus) and Olive (Sebastes serranoides) rockfish. It was taken at the Schmieder Bank which is about 4 miles directly west of Point Sur in Central California. It is quite deep - the top of the reef is about 120 feet deep and the base of the pinnacle we were diving about 180. Given its remote location and depth it's one of the more intimidating dives our group does in California. We feel it's worth the effort though as it is truly one of the prettiest places in California, and that's saying something. There are a lot of fish here and every square inch of the reef is covered in hydrocorals, anemones, gorgonians and sponges.

Taking pictures here is challenging and we've had several days where the photographers amongst us spent the ride home muttering to ourselves. I think I did pretty well in this one, though diving here makes me wish I had one of the new wunder cameras that can shoot in the dark. I don't like to shoot my D200 above ISO 200 and at that ISO I'm reduced to shooting f6.3 and 1/20th. Many of the images are ruined by significant motion blur (there is some in this one too if you look carefully at the higher resolution image). OTOH I'm not quite sure what lens I'd shoot on a full frame camera as a full fisheye is often too wide and rectilinear lenses usually have sharpness issues in the corners when shot behind a glass dome underwater.

I've done a bit of relatively minor post processing to brighten up the image a bit and remove just a bit of backscatter.

Nikon D200, 16mm Fisheye, Subal Housing, Dual Sea and Sea YS350 strobes.
ISO200, f6.3, 1/20th, strobes at 1/2 power.

Clinton

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on April 12, 2010 at 1:10 AM

There is a lot of interesting things to appreciate within your frame Clinton, really like the diagonal created by the coral. It would be nice if the fish on the left side of the frame weren't cut in half, but I appreciate how difficult it must be to just get an underwater shot like this let alone orchestrate where all the fish will be. I'm glad to hear there are still places with some good fish populations and healthy coral.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on April 12, 2010 at 2:43 PM

We do not see many under water images in this gallery so I am always have to see you posting one Clinton! Thi is an interesting image and what appeals to me most is the striking fish in the center. The diagonal line helps to make the composition more dynamic. Like Gary said the cut in half fish on the edge are a slight distraction. I know the same issue with flocks of small birds and in my experience cloning those half ones out will improve the overall appeal of the image. Not that I am advocating cloning here, I am not a big cloner at all, but this is one situation where I have no problem with that personally as long as it involves subjects that are relatively small compared to the frame (as is the case here).

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on April 12, 2010 at 10:09 PM

I am amazed you do not have an all black background at this depth! I agree with the other suggestions. This is quite pleasing.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments