Sea Snake and Gobies from Dauin

[klausi]

I am lucky to spend these days on Negros Island, in the Philippines, just north of the muck diving capital of Dauin. Diving conditions have been great lately, and I managed to get some decent shots.

I black and whited this banded sea snake, I think that works well in this case. I followed the snake to 35 m on its way over the rubble.

I always love shooting gobies, of course. This one was perching on a large invertebrate. Can you guess which one?

This is Trimma halonevum, or a closely related species. These live in crevices, and hover upside-down. Not easy to shoot.

 

[arew+4]

What do you do if the snake decides it doesn't like being followed

 

[klausi]

What do you do if the snake decides it doesn't like being followed

Swim away very fast, fins facing the snake. But that has never happened.

 

[arew+4]

Swim away very fast, fins facing the snake. But that has never happened.

Channel your inner Michael Phelps

 

[Searcaigh]

Sea snakes on the whole are very passive to divers. I encounter them frequently in the Gulf of Oman but rarely have the opportunity to get decent photos

 

[arew+4]

I prefer to keep the poisonous snakes on two axis, three degrees of freedom is one too many.

 

[klausi]

I prefer to keep the poisonous snakes on two axis, three degrees of freedom is one too many.

haha, good way of looking at it!

 

[Ian Fatzinger]

Photos look great! Completely up to your discretion but I like to eliminate backscatter using the heal function in lightroom. I'm still new to UW photography so if you have a stylistic reason to leave it in please let me know

 

[klausi]

Photos look great! Completely up to your discretion but I like to eliminate backscatter using the heal function in lightroom. I'm still new to UW photography so if you have a stylistic reason to leave it in please let me know

Yes, good point. I use GIMP, but it can do the same thing. I don't edit much if the backscatter isn't too unsightly, no bigger reason than that.

 

[Ian Fatzinger]

Yes, good point. I use GIMP, but it can do the same thing. I don't edit much if the backscatter isn't too unsightly, no bigger reason than that.

hell yeah makes sense