Green Sea Turtle

Blogged by Simon on January 06, 2010 3:23pm | Last updated by Simon on February 21, 2010 12:07am | Category: Underwater Photography | Get a Print Get a Print |

Green Turtle (Chelonia Mydas)A green turtle (Chelonia mydas) as found off the bow of the SS Yongala. The Yongala has a resident population of several green and hawksbill sea turtles, which is of course convenient for the budding photographer. Learnings for me include that this species has absolute right of way in the ocean and is not afraid to ram you if you think otherwise. I was pushed out of the way swiftly after taking this shot!

As the turtle did a one-eighty, I approached from the side with my flash arms still extended wide for wreck photography. I quickly brought them in closer and waited for the animal to pass in front of the dome port, which it did within less than half a meter. Photographed with the Nikon 10-24mm wide angle lens at 15mm, ISO 200, f/11, 1/60s and manual flash. Probaby slightly too hectic and overflashed, owing to the opportunity.

I cropped about 10% of the frame to get the turtle centered, and adjusted for levels and saturation. I also used the dodge brush in Aperture to brighten the Turtle’s eye, which was too dark to contain any visible detail. On top of that, I recovered some blown out highlights with the Aperture recovery slider and color temperature is adjusted to a cooler 5000k for better blue tones.

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