Nikon D90   Tokina 10-17mm at 14mm end   f/11   1/45   ISO 100 

This image and post is somehow a tribute to the person that first guided me through the marvels of the underwater world, he is the owner and dive master of Aquaventura Diving club, and one of those persons that seems were born underwater, not only because they have the coolest pose while diving (as you can appreciate on the image) but because they have the ability to inspire either highly experienced divers and those who enter the water for the first time.

Thank you Jose, for all the great minutes and experiences we have shared underwater, and for inspiring me and many others in this awesome and magic world. Hope that we will enjoy diving together many years ahead.

As for the image,though it was taken in color originally, I have decided to convert it to Black & White, since to me color does not really bring anything in images of divers only surrounded by water, and gives this halo of mistery and peacefulness.

Related Post in this blog 

Underwater Photography-Weightlessness 

Nikon D90 on an Aquatica housing     Nikkor 60mm     f/16     1/60    ISO 200

Here’s one of my first shots underwater, I was playing with the shutter speed to try to get a blurred image, and this was one of the best I took, is a female of Ornate Wrasse “Thalassoma Pavo” and is one of the more colorful fish you will find in the Mediterranean.

 Nikon D90 Tokina 10-17mm at the 11mm end ISO 100 f/6.7 1/30

Last August I was talking to a friend that is into Tek diving and obviously diving at Moraig river appeared at the conversation, it is a dive that I really enjoy as everything around it is perfect, it is a shore dive so you can plan the start time to suit your schedule, the scenery is incredible, you get an amazing environment in no more than 10 m depth and more importantly you can select the level of difficulty you want, entering in the cave and just swim around or really get extreme and enter the underground river.

This time as I had filmed twice from the first cave to the river mouth my idea was to shoot inside the river as my friend is doing Tek diving it will just make the perfect combination, a tek diver cave diving inside an underground river. So after the first excitement that you get when talking of diving at Moraig river we started to plan the dive, equipment,diving time, diving procedure and specially security measures that in cave diving are the most important aspect of the dive. Just see the image below, a sign you find inside the river

Moraig river has actually two dives, the first one is the Moraig Cave where you get dressed and enter the water, it is a cave on the ground the leads to the sea, once out of this cave, you dive with the wall on your right hand side and turn right to enter the second cave, which is the river’s mouth and the best place I know to see a halocline as the salt water is mixed with water coming our from the river.

“Cave Diver recovering Safety Line”

Nikon D90 Tokina 10-17mm at the 10mm end ISO 100 f/5.6 1/60

“Escaping Divers”

Nikon D90 Tokina 10-17mm at the 10mm end ISO 100 f/8.0 1/60

Here you have a map of this first dive created by “senderos bajo el mar”

Once you get to Moraig’s river mouth (point B in the above map) you have to ascend as it is an open space where you can breathe normally and get ready for the second and more difficult part of the dive.

To enter the river you have to exit the water and walk inside a cave where you will tie the security line and start the dive. (One important and necessary advice, cave diving is only to be done by properly trained and experienced divers, this dive is extremely dangerous and there has been several casualties inside the cave).

Here you have a map of the underground river, it was created by a Bernhard Pack who died at Moraig river the 21st of September 1992.

Nikon D90 on Aquatica housing   Nikkor 60mm   f/8.0   1/60   ISO 200 Natural light 

I have always liked the Red sea scopionfish, it is considered one of the most spectacular fish you can find, the mediterranean scorpionfish is not that colorful and a bit more lazy but doesn’t  have to envy the ones in the red sea at all.

If you have read this blog for some time now this image might be familiar to you, actually I posted a B&W version before;but I have found it looks also nice in color.

Tagged: calpe, escorpora, luisguijarro.com, mediterranean, mediterraneo, portrait, scorpaena scrofa, submarina ]]> http://luisguijarro.com/2011/10/01/mediterranean-scorpionfish/feed/ 1 38.388731 -0.439875 38.388731 -0.439875 lmguijarro Mediterranean Scorpionfish Portrait http://luisguijarro.com/2011/09/22/underwater-photography-dusky-grouper/ http://luisguijarro.com/2011/09/22/underwater-photography-dusky-grouper/#comments Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:12:20 +0000 Luis Guijarro http://luisguijarro.com/?p=1465 ]]> “Dusky Grouper”

Nikon D90   Nikkor 60mm   ISO 200   f/10.0   1/80

I am currently reviewing my pictures archive to clean up some disk space,because without noticing it,you can really accumulate a good bunch of megabytes. I am quite enjoying it as I have discovered lot of good images that initially passed unnoticed or I just transferred the memory card and went on to the next dive without having time to check and process the files;so the images got somehow lost  in my library.

This is one of the newly discovered, it is taken in Cape Palos, Murcia in a divesite called Piles II, as the area is a marine reserve you can easily find several resident shoals of grouper and other species that get really big. This particularly is a Dusky Grouper “Epinephelus Marginatus” which I guess weights around 40 Kg, so you can tell it is enjoying life.

If you carefully look at his left mouth corner you will see a small Clingfish “Gobiesocidae” which is probably attached and waiting to get some left overs when the grouper feeds.

You can see a clingfish better in this earlier post.

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Underwater Photography-Teethie Blenny

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Nikon D90 on Aquatica housing Tokina 10-17mm at 12mm end f/8.0 1/60 ISO 100

Simply a rock indeed but when you look further and consider its surroundings,the picture takes a whole new look.

It was taken at the North face of the Benidorm Island,more exactly in the NE part where normally all the dive masters turn arround to enter what they call the “double arc” situated at a depth of between 8 to 10 meters, a shallow tube cave divided into two so you can cross it from above or below.

This is the area of the Island more exposed to the rough seas and is clearly visible as every rock has similar marks to the one in the picture.

Particularly this one is just at the entrance of the tunnel, as I was about to enter it, looked behind and saw the rock, with the typical marks, surrounded by little fish and a very nice pale blue sea, that will make a perfect negative space. I selected a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second  and an aperture of f/8.0 to make sure the blue of the water was recorded as my eyes were seeing it.

Solo una roca, sí, pero cuando miras un poco más allá y consideras lo que la rodea, la imagen toma una perspectiva completamente distinta.

Está tomada en la Cara Norte de la Isla de Benidorm, exactamente en la parte NE donde normalmente todos los guias suelen dar la vuelta para entrar a lo que llaman “La Laja” o “Doble Arco” que está entre 8 y 10 metros de profundidad, es una tubo natural en la roca dividido en dos y se puede atravesar buceando por arriba o por debajo.

Esta es la parte de la isla más expuesta a los temporales y se puede ver claramente por que todas las rocas tienen marcas parecidas a las de la fotografia.

La roca de la foto se encuentra justo a la entrada del doble arco, cuando estaba apunto de entrar en el,me dí la vuelta y me encontré con la roca, llena de marcas, rodeada de pequeños peces y un mar azul claro espectacular, que iba a crear un buen espacio negativo en la imagen. Quería que se quedara grabado el mismo tono de azul que estaba viendo, así que, seleccioné una velocidad de obturación de 1/60 de segundo y una apertura de f/8.0  para asegurarme el resultado.

Related articles

• Underwater Photography-Weightlessness (luisguijarro.com)
• Underwater Photography-Peacock & Rainbow Wrasse (luisguijarro.com)

Nikon D90 on Aquatica housing Tokina 10-17 mm at 10mm end f/8.0 1/250 ISO 100

One of the things that brings more people underwater is the weightlessness feeling, it is an amazing sensation and pleasure that makes you become crazy about diving.

Though you can feel it the very first time you put a BCD on and get underwater either on a scuba discovery course or in the first of you Open Water Diver practices, it is only really experienced when you buoyancy control achieved by a mix of practicing and relaxation status, a kind of underwater Yoga.

I believe this image expresses “Weightlessness” perfectly, the diver is the owner of the diving club I usually go diving with, he was not only controlling completely his buoyancy, but as you can see in the image if you look carefully he had taken his BCD off.

As I approached the mooring line at the end of the dive I found him in this position, just below our boat, with clear blue water, and sun rays entering the water.

The image formed immediately in my mind,luckily I had my Wide Angle lens mounted on, so it was only a matter of achieving the proper illumination, composition and pressing the shutter.

Spanish version

Una de las cosas que atrae a más gente bajo el agua es ingravidez, es una sensación placer increíble que te hace volverte inmediatamente un apasionado del buceo.

Aunque se puede sentir la primera vez que uno se pone un jacket/chaleco entra al agua, ya sea en bautismo de buceo o en la primera de las prácticas del curso Open Water Diver, sólo se experimenta realmente cuando se logra un control de flotabilidad perfecto, combinación de práctica y estado de relajación, una especie de yoga bajo el agua.

Creo que esta imagen expresa la sensación de “Ingravidez” perfectamente, el buceador de la imagen, es el dueño del club de buceo con quien suelo salir a bucear, no sólo estaba controlando por completo su flotabilidad, sino que como se puede ver en la imagen fijándose bien, se había quitado su jacket/chaleco.

Según me acercaba al punto de fondeo, al final de la inmersión, lo encontré en esta posición, justo por debajo de nuestra embarcación, rodeado de agua con un tono azul espectacular, y los rayos del sol entrando en el mar.

La imagen que se formó inmediatamente en mi mente, por suerte llevaba montado mi gran angular montado, por lo que sólo era cuestión de lograr la iluminación adecuada, la composición y pulsar el obturador.

Nikon D90 on Aquatica housing   Nikkor 60mm   f/16.0   1/160   ISO 200

Here I am back after a while on dry land, the reason why I was missing is that back in August last year my family increased and I have been out of the water and my pictures for a while, but as my little daughter is growing seems that I can get back to take pictures and blog share them here.

Obviously my 365 pictures project is cancelled and I am writing a post with the conclusion about it, I find pros and cons so I want to put it in a post so I can get back to it as a mental note.

Moving to this picture, I took last week in a dive at the North Face in Benidorm Island with my diving club Aquaventura, it is quite a common behavior for this couple of wrasses, a Male of Peacock Wrasse ¨Symphodus Tinca¨ about to eat and a Male of Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse “Coris Julis” waiting for the leftovers. Actually it is a similar situation than the one in this picture from my project “Peacock Wrasse & Ornate Wrasse Sharing Food”, but in this case the species are different and though I did not manage to capture the sharing food moment the exposition in this one is better.

Bueno pues aqui estoy de vuelta después de un tiempo en dique seco, la razón de que haya estado desaparecido es que en agosto del año pasado mi familia aumentó y he estado fuera del agua y de mis fotos por un tiempo,pero según crece mi hija parece que vuelvo a hacer fotos y a poder compartirlas aquí.

Obviamente, mi proyecto de 365 imágenes submarinas se ha quedado retrasado,  y estoy escribiendo un mensaje con lo que he aprendido y las conclusiones que he sacado de el,pros y los contras, quiero ponerlo en un post como nota mental.

En cuanto a la foto, la hice la semana pasada en una inmersión en la cara norte de la isla de Benidorm que hice con mi club Aquaventura,  muestra un comportamiento bastante común de este par de lábridos, un macho de Peto “Symphodus Tinca” a punto de comer y un macho de doncella “Coris Julis” esperando las sobras. En realidad se trata de una situación similar a la de esta foto de mi proyecto “Peacock Wrasse & Ornate Wrasse Sharing Food”, pero en este caso las especies son diferentes y aunque no logre capturar el momento  en que compartían la comida de la exposición en esta es mucho mejor.

Blog Related Posts / Posts Relacionados en el Blog

 “Peacock Wrasse & Ornate Wrasse Sharing Food” 

Nikon D90 Tokina 10-17mm at 10 mm end 1/80 f/8.0 ISO 200

I want to share a couple of shoots from yesterday´s dive, we went diving at the Benidorm Island North Face with Alisub, though the sky looked grey and a storm was on its way we had a wonderful dive with the surface very calm a temperature of 21 º C, which is quite good considering we are almost in November; the only bad point was the reduced amount of light entering the sea due to the cloudy weather.

When we were about to ascend and just after leaving a small submerged arch we found a huge school of Goldline fishes “Sarpa Salpa”, you can appreciate on the below bonus image they were swimming synchronized until my buddy broke into them, see above image and note how the school splitted into two groups swimming different directions. Looking again at the picture it seems like if mu buddy wanted to join in the school.

Os dejo un par de fotos de la inmersión de ayer, fuimos a la cara norte de la isla de Benidorm con Alisub, aunque el cielo estaba bastante gris y una tormenta estaba en camino aunque tuvimos una inmersión genial con la superficie muy tranquila y una temperatura de 21 º C,que está bastante bien teniendo en cuenta que estamos casi en noviembre, el único punto malo fue la menor cantidad de luz que entra en el mar debido al tiempo nublado.

Cuando estábamos a punto de ascender justo después de salir de un pequeño arco sumergido, nos encontramos con una banco de Salpas “Sarpa Salpa” bastante grande, se puede apreciar en la imagen de abajo como nadaban de forma sincronizada hasta que mi compañero pasó por en medio, mirando la imagen de arriba se puede apreciar como se dividió el banco en dos grupos nadando en diferentes direcciones. Mirando de nuevo la foto me da la sensación de que mi compañero quería unirse al banco

Nikon D90 Tokina 10-17mm at 10 mm end 1/125 f/8.0 ISO 200

This is how the jetty looks from Alisub , before heading to the dive site

Una foto del pantalán desde Alisub , antes de salir hacia el punto de inmersión

Nikon D90 Tokina 10-17mm at 17 mm end 1/125 f/29.0 ISO 200

Blog Related Posts / Posts Relacionados en el Blog

Underwater Photography 71/365 Feeding Hermit Crab

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365 Days of Underwater Photography Project

Nikon D90   Nikkor 60 mm   1/60   f/16.0   ISO 200

I found this Red Hermit Crab “Dardanus Calidus” on a night dive at the North face of the Benidorm Island past summer, what called my attention initially was some sort of white area on the floor, as I approached it, I found out it was a piece of fish flesh, (for the size and skin texture I guess it was from a White Sea Bream), and my friendly crab was having a proper meal with it.

It’s a shame I wasn´t carrying enough light to make a video as it was real fun seeing him cut the meat to place it into his mouth, it looked like if he was knitting it instead.

Note:  If you click on the image to see it large,  you will see another interesting thing on this image, as you can appreciate the effect of the thermocline arround the crab

Me encontré con este Cangrejo Ermitaño “Dardanus Calidus” en una inmersión nocturna en la cara norte de la isla de Benidorm el pasado verano, lo que me llamó la atención inicialmente era una especie de área blanca en el suelo, a medida que me acercaba, descubrí que era un pedazo de pescado, (por la textura de la piel y el tamaño,supongo que era de un Sargo), y mi amigo el cangrejo se estaba dando un buen atracón.

Es una lástima que no llevaba conmigo suficiente luz para haber hecho un video ya que esa bastante divertido verle cortar la carne para llevársela a la boca, en lugar de comer daba la sensación de estar tejiéndola.

Nota: Si pinchas en la imagen para verla en grande se puede apreciar alrededor del cangrejo el efecto de la termoclina.

Blog Related Posts / Posts Relacionados en el Blog

Underwater Photography 70/365 Small Tube Anemone

Underwater Photography 69/365 Turtle Snail Portrait

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365 Days of Underwater Photography Project