Fluorescence Photography Underwater

Pete Horsley · Issue 5, Feb 2002 · pp. 38–41

Products mentioned: Nikon F100, Subal housing, Nightsea, Ultra Blue Hand Torch, Exciter Filter, Barrier Filter, Blueblock Mask Filter, Dark Light

Perhaps it is time to take our underwater photography to the next level...art. The images you see here were taken on a dive which my notes describe simply as ‘nothing special’ and the subjects are frequently encountered on almost every dive made in the Indo-Pacific. In addition to that, most of the shots show only a part of the animal and to those unfamiliar with marine life it’s not even obvious that they were taken underwater. I ask myself “Does that matter?”. Only yesterday a non diving family member and veteran graphic designer caught site of a couple of these pictures. He was catapulted into over excitement and rendered speechless to discover that the photographs were taken underwater. If a visual image can elicit such a reaction in someone then have I achieved my aim even if the subjects rarity or natural history is, at that time, inconsequential to its audience. The confusion I fe…