June OCUPS Photo Contest. "Reproduction"

Somehow I had this written, but slipped through the cracks before being posted, so a little untimely, but I wanted to share, as shooting interesting marine life behavior is a highlight of underwater photography for me.

One of these interesting behaviors was featured in this past months photo contest theme for the Orange County Underwater Photographic Society meeting, which was "reproduction". Many photos were entered showing behavior such as mating, egg laying, egg carrying, spawning, etc. I was fortunate to have won second place in the advanced shooter category for this image of a nudibranch, Chromodoris willani, laying a ribbon of eggs. The photo was taken in Puerto Galera, Philippines. 

Nikon D90, 60mm Nikkor Micro Lens, Sea & Sea YS110a Strobes. ISO 200, 1/200 sec, f/18.

...AND I won first place for this image of a Ring-tailed Cardinalfish, Apogon aureus. As I'd mentioned in a previous post, these male cardinalfish hold their brood in their mouths until the fry are ready to hatch. This image was taken in about 60 feet of water, within the remains of a ship at the Sebang Wrecks in Puerto Galera. We did a dive on a wreck where I observed this behavior, but was unable to get close enough to get a decent shot with my 60mm macro lens, so when we returned the next day, I was prepared with my 105mm macro lens to get this shot. 

Nikon D90, 105mm Nikkor Micro Lens, Sea & Sea YS110a Strobes. ISO 200, 1/100 sec, f/16. 

Details of how I got this shot and some natural history of this behavior can be found at the Underwater Photography Guide.