Goose Barnacles

[Steve Maxson]

This group of Goose Barnacles was squeezed in amongst California Mussels near the base of a sea stack exposed at low tide on an Oregon beach. Barnacles are arthropods. Once covered by the incoming tide, their shells open and modified legs sweep through the water like a net to capture their plankton food. These barnacles are firmly attached to the underlying rock via a flexible "neck" and are typically found at sites subject to a lot of wave action. 40D, 300 f/4 + 1.4X, 1/15, f/16, ISO 400, tripod. Comments are welcome.

[Bruce Murden]

Steve, I really like interspersed mussels and barnacles, especially the "veins" of barnacles coming off the main mass, and the color contrasts between the species.

At this image angle, the main mass of barnacles seems too rectangular and horizontal, leaving me to wonder if a little wider comp at different rotation would give some more dynamic feel to the comp (funny with a static subject, eh?).

The image seems a little cool (blue) for my personal taste, but it's all dependent upon the feeling you want out of the image.

It's also nice to know what these barnacles are. I photographed some last year, and never knew what they were!

[Fabs Forns]

Very neat arrangement of textures and they create a very good design. Very well seen and executed.

[Steve Maxson]

Steve, I really like interspersed mussels and barnacles, especially the "veins" of barnacles coming off the main mass, and the color contrasts between the species.

At this image angle, the main mass of barnacles seems too rectangular and horizontal, leaving me to wonder if a little wider comp at different rotation would give some more dynamic feel to the comp (funny with a static subject, eh?).

The image seems a little cool (blue) for my personal taste, but it's all dependent upon the feeling you want out of the image.

It's also nice to know what these barnacles are. I photographed some last year, and never knew what they were!
Thanks Bruce and Fabs for your comments. Bruce - an interesting take on the comp and one I hadn't considered. I have other images of this species and I'll keep your thoughts in mind when I process them. As for the color tones - I deliberately processed this image a bit on the cool side. I could have gone the other way too, but I liked the bluish tones in the mussels. :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
I like cooler tones so I am OK with that.....I have to say.....I would have thought this would be busy but you composed the shapes so well I think that is what is carrying this image. Very nicely done!

[Julie Kenward]

Wow! What impact! I love the saturated blues - they are not overdone but really give a deep feeling of the sea to the image. I also wonder about the comp - I do really like it - just wondering if a straight down angle would have looked even better. I feel like you are almost coming in from the side a bit and it leaves me feeling like I want that "straight down" view.

In any case, it's beautiful. Nice job on a very organized abstract!