Photographer’s Choice – David Smith

8 Replies

Forty Feet Below: An Amazing Featherduster (and Friend)

David Smith - Featherduster Worm (Sabellidae)

David Smith - Featherduster Worm (Sabellidae)

In June of this year, David traveled to Bonaire, a small island in the Caribbean lying 50 miles north of Venezuela and a part of the recently formed ‘Caribbean part of the Netherlands’. Bonaire has many of the characteristics of Caribbean islands in general but perhaps its main draws for tourism are warm, clear water for diving and windsurfing. David has special gear for underwater photography, the DX-2G Sea & Sea (a waterproof housing coupled with a modified Ricoh camera) which he used to capture the image above. Illumination was provided by a strobe not only for light but to bring out the natural colors of the creature and its surroundings. The featherduster is the main attraction but see if you can also find the ‘friend’.
David captured another creature on the same trip, not as brilliant but the detail is fascinating. Take a close look at his shy “blenny”.

Photographer’s Choice – Leda Winebarger

4 Replies

Tour the Cape Fear on this Riverboat

Leda Winebarger - Cape Fear River - Wilmington NC

Leda Winebarger - Cape Fear River - Wilmington NC

A new series of postings entitled Photographer’s Choice begins this week with this submission by Leda Winebarger. The family was taking a tour of the battleship USS North Carolina in the late afternoon when Leda spotted this harbor scene. She was attracted by the lighting, the sky color, the river boat and its reflection, with the Wilmington skyline in the background. She took several shots with her Nikon D80 and shares the above with us.
The shutter speed was 1/500 second and an aperture of f/11 was selected. Her lens was a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at a wide 24mm. The ISO a low 200.