Northern California Kelp Forest

[2ndjetty]

Canon 5D Mk IV with Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L. As shared on Instagram.

[Stephen]

This is gorgeous! What lighting & housing did you use? 

[2ndjetty]

Thank you Stephen! I used a Sea & Sea MDX-5DIV housing and dual Backscatter MW-4300 video lights. Settings were ISO 1600, f/13, 1/60s. Uncropped.

[2ndjetty]

Oops, the 4:5 for Instagram (this version here) IS cropped to adjust aspect ratio.

[shadowsports]

@2ndjetty  👍

[ccanada]

@2ndjettyThis is such a beautiful image. Having attempted underwater photography myself, I recognize the amount of effort to make it happen. Nice work!

[Tintype_18]

Unique setting with vivid colors. Thanks for sharing. BTW, don't sharks hang out in kelp beds? Curious if you have ever seen any there.

[2ndjetty]

Thanks. You're lucky if you see even a horn shark or leopard shark in kelp beds these days. I think in the 60-70s you could see blue sharks, soupfin sharks, and a few others here and there, but they're mostly gone now. You can see six-gill sharks somewhat reliably in La Jolla when they're known to be in the area. It's extremely rare to see something like a great white shark. Of all the 10s of thousands of divers in California, one person might catch a fleeting glimpse of one every couple years. So to answer your question, I've seen the small sharks but have never seen the big guys with near 1000 kelp dives up and down the coast.

[Tronhard]

This is a gorgeous image, but one of a sadly reducing environment.   The kelp forests are the cold-water equivalent of our coral reefs, in that they they provide protection for the young of many species.  As the water warms, their environment is threatened by the temperature shift and also the explosion of some predatory species like star fish, which kill of core species.
This is a gorgeous photograph and say that with total respect for the skill involved and also getting into that cold water!

[Fotogrni61]

Lovely photograph. Very interesting equipment used too; some I've never heard of.

Canon 850D Tamron 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3