Pygmy Seahorse

[Bruce Enns]

Hi again, Here is my best shot of a Pygmy Seahorse (not sure of the ID...may be a Hippocampus denise, Akos?). Shot at the Spiral Corner reef near Wakatobi, Sulawesi, Indonesia. As with the Hawkfish just posted in the Wildlife forum (hint hint), this one would benefit from a distant blue water background, but as this was my first trip with a dSLR underwater, I was working hard on a bunch of other things (like trying to get sharp photos), and once in a while looking around to see if my wife and daughter and the rest of the divers had disappeared while I had my face pressed to the back of the housing ;-)

These guys were really small (1/2 to 5/8 inch long overall) so DOF was extremely shallow. No tripod and I was suspended in the water column, so I was pretty happy to get a shot as sharp as this.

I would have liked a better head angle and some eye contact but I don't know how to pish fish.

I have played around a bit with replacing the background visible through the lattice of the gorgonian with various gradients of blue and blue-green, and they look okay, but somehow for this guy, it feels a bit like cheating.

Canon Rebel XT in an Ikelite housing with Ikelite DS125 and DS50 strobes in E-TTL mode, Canon 60mm EF-S lens, AV mode, ISO 200, 1/200s, f/16.

Comments and critiques are welcome and much appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Cheers!
Bruce

[Alfred Forns]

I would be very happy also Bruce !!! Just finding one is tough !!!

I'm amazed at the lack of backscatter in your images, all are very clean !!! Having the blue bg as mentioned would be sweet but love it as presented !!!

[Bruce Enns]

Thanks Alfred. You're up pretty late! We were fortunate to have dive guides that were very skillful at finding the animals...Kat is also an excellent subject spotter!

On the backscatter, it is of course all about the strobe position and the techniques on that have changed from back in the late 70's when I first got in to UW photography. I still have shots with backscatter, but they are usually pretty easy to clean up in PS.

Cheers!
Bruce

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I'll get a mate to confirm ID for me on this one. It definitely does not look like H. bargibanti and I am sure our local Denise :p would love it to be her "baby". Certainly has more the H. denise look than any other.

Mate, the image does look great to me, and having a blue BG does not look to feasible with that tangle of gorgonia behind the plane of focus. While I have never seen these fish, I can certainly appreciate the difficulty in locating them (thank God for guides) and the small size, as well, making getting any keeper image an incredible achievement. The color is outstanding. I kept looking for these in Sydney (just in case) but to no avail. If you send me an e-mail to akos@amatteroflight.com I can e-mail you a pdf of an article I wrote about our local Blue Liquid Highway, the East Australian Current for a local dive mag some years ago.

Thanks for sharing.

[Julie Kenward]

Wonderful image, Bruce. The colors are stunning and the detail is fascinating to me now that you've mentioned you were just hanging there!

I'd love to hear a better explanation of what "backscatter" is...is that the uneven light filtering down from the surface?

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I just returned from a trip to California and they had a sea-horse display on. I find it amazing how they camouflage and wrap themselves around existing vegetation. Great for you to spot this. Must say my favourite of the exhibition was the Green Leafy Dragon (endangered). Cool capture Bruce.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I just returned from a trip to California and they had a sea-horse display on. I find it amazing how they camouflage and wrap themselves around existing vegetation. Great for you to spot this. Must say my favourite of the exhibition was the Green Leafy Dragon (endangered). Cool capture Bruce.

Jackie,
Is that the Leafy Seadragon from Australia? Phycodurus eques?

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Don't know the scientific name, but believe that is the one Akos. They are so beautiful. Saw them at the Aquarium in Monterey, California.

[Bruce Enns]

Thanks everyone for your comments!

Jules, backscatter occurs when the light from the flash hits tiny particles in the water column between the flash and the subject and reflects back to the camera to become part of the image. The tiny particles are usually plankton (plants) or zooplankton (animals). There is backscatter in this photo, especially noticeable in the UR corner where there is just open water.

It is alleviated or reduced by proper positioning of the strobe or strobes so that light hitting these particles does not reflect back in to the camera lens.

Hope this helps!

Cheers!
Bruce

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Bruce, my museum mate was away Friday, I will call him Monday and hound him for assistance with ID. I suppose I should have asked my other mate Rudi Kuiter, who is a world-authority on marine fishes. You'd probably heard of Rudi?

[Bruce Enns]

Hey Akos, no problem re the ID. Nope, haven't heard of Rudi.

Cheers mate!
Bruce

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

HI Bruce

Got an answer from Mark McGrouther (Collections Manager of Ichthyology) at the Australian Museum. His answer is:

Also, can you kindly confirm the ID on the seahorse I send the link to? I think
it may be a Hippocampus denise?
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=40134 (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=40134)



Wow. What a great shot. Yes, I think that the fish is probably H. denise. Do you
know Bruce Enns? I’d love to use the image on the AMS site. I would probably seek
confirmation of the species name from Rudie before I used it though.

His e-mail is Mark.McGrouther@austmus.gov.au

He is an expert and even he NEEDS Rudi Kuiter, who can ID seahorses from a mile away. :D

Are you OK for me to also forward your details to Mark?