A little while ago, I shared some images from the waters closes to my home in Scotland in a bid to remind people that cold seas can be as wonderfully rich as warmer ones.  So, here are a few more of my favorite images from this year’s diving season.My first image (top) shows my long-suffering buddy Colette, posing for me (she’s very patient).  She’s looking at a soft coral known as Dead mens fingers (Alcyonium digitatum).  This soft coral is very common in UK waters and can cover huge areas of rock and shipwreck.  What this photo shows though, is just how many particles there are in these waters, much of it potential prey for this planktivorous coral.  A close-up shot (below) shows the detail of the polyps that gives A. digitatum its fuzzy appearance.

In the picture below, you can see how the phytoplankton causes the water to become greenish.  Sometimes, photographers ‘correct’ the color with magenta filters or in software.  My lights illuminated the dead mens fingers well, so I left the background alone.

In this pic I did tinker with the color balance.

Shooting animas using a macro lens pretty much removes the need to adjust color balance too much.  My flash guns (aka strobes) provide enough white light to bring out ‘true’ colors.  Here are a few animas with some great color.

This Dahlia Anemone has some amazing color forms.  The Painted Top Shell (below) requires good lighting to bring out its color.