Blue Dragon

waisj · 23rd December 2003

Hieee all

Blue dragon Pteraeolidia ianthina perched/sleeping on a funnel weed Padina gymnospora

Normally this species of nudibranch exhibits colouration that is closer to the purple hue, whereas this one was displaying colouration that is nearer to cyan and had a blue-ish tint to it.

cheers and enjoy.

c'mon guys where art thou's pictures??

The Blue Dragon has evolved ways of harnessing solar energy. While feeding on solitary hydriod Ralpharia it swallows microscopic plants called zooxanthellae, Within the nudibranch the plants use the sun's enerygy to produce sugras, passing on a considerable portion to the nudibranch for it's own use. Adults are blue to brownish purple. Juveniles are white. This species often gather in clusters for 2-3 weeks around egg masses on large submerged rocks encrusted with coraline algae. this nudibranch can inflict a sting, using the hydriod's untriggered stinging cells in its body.

beivied · 23rd December 2003

wa... this is called a blue dragon ah? hmm, didnt know ...

kng · 23rd December 2003

Originally Posted by waisj

Hieee all

Blue dragon Pteraeolidia ianthina perched/sleeping on a funnel weed Padina gymnospora

Wahh,

damn nice man!

I'm am really learning tons from the pix and descriptions! V v helpful.

Keep those pix coming!

lovells19 · 23rd December 2003

Originally Posted by waisj

Hieee all

Blue dragon Pteraeolidia ianthina perched/sleeping on a funnel weed Padina gymnospora

woah.. damn nice.. where you shot it?

waisj · 23rd December 2003

Thanks guys, for the kind comments.....

/lovells it was photographed at Aur, Atlantis Bay night dive.

anyway, Aur has alot of these around. on diff is the colour.

lovells19 · 23rd December 2003

Originally Posted by waisj

Thanks guys, for the kind comments.....

/lovells it was photographed at Aur, Atlantis Bay night dive.

anyway, Aur has alot of these around. on diff is the colour.

damn i must open my eyes bigger! :P

kthan · 23rd December 2003

is this commonly known as flaballina? (spelling?)

thot your pics a little over-exposed, then i realise it's my screen

waisj · 3rd January 2004

hieee all

would just like to share some of the shots of different colouration that this species has. Feel free to add to this thread what ever picture of this species that you have photographed; So as all of us will know what are the normal colourations of this species

Blue-ish hue

Brown-ish, or white
Juveniles

magenta-ish

beivied · 3rd January 2004

err, actually i have one shot of this from kuantan wreck .. but hor .. DONT DARE TO PUT BESIDE YOURS!

waisj · 3rd January 2004

haa haa don't like that lar.....

these aren't my better shots anyway, just wanted to share with everyone.. c'mon post lar... well at least we can "lure" more people to go divin' and into underwater photography

at least our community can refer to this and everyone can benefit from it.

beivied · 3rd January 2004

hmmm... how do you go so low to take those pics? your settings? sometimes i find that my pics can get overexposed.... you always take in supermacro mode ma?

waisj · 3rd January 2004

I actually don't always take pictures in supermacro mode, actually my settings are mostly macro.

I just remebered when i was starting out this woman told me this "golden" rule,

Get Low, Get Close and Shoot Up

that has been my golden rule so far. Bouyancy will be a major factor in getting good shots IMHO

one thing i find useful is to know what you are shooting; and to capture the "finer" part to photograph instead of just a downwards ID shot.

beivied · 3rd January 2004

will definitely try that when i get the next chance to dive w/ a cam ... newbie diver here, didnt wanna start crushin corals and getting my tummy all pricked with urchins or .. gulp... crown of thorns... keke...

waisj · 3rd January 2004

Kudos to you for that...
Have seen alot of divers who "accidently" destroyed corals just to get a shot....

beivied · 3rd January 2004

Originally Posted by waisj

Kudos to you for that...
Have seen alot of divers who "accidently" destroyed corals just to get a shot....

me just gia see only, keke...

beivied · 3rd January 2004

how close were you to your subjects usually? i always use macro mode, but very often i cannot really focus leh ...

kng · 4th January 2004

Originally Posted by waisj

these aren't my better shots anyway, just wanted to share with everyone.. c'mon post lar... well at least we can "lure" more people to go divin' and into underwater photography

at least our community can refer to this and everyone can benefit from it.

Waisj, if you don't mind, perhaps you can share why you don't think these are your "better shots" and how you think the shots can be improved - i.e. "self critic". This will help the rest of us learn on how to improve our own shots!

waisj · 4th January 2004

Originally Posted by kthan

is this commonly known as flaballina? (spelling?)

thot your pics a little over-exposed, then i realise it's my screen

hi there KTHAN, you are actually quite very close Flabellinas actually belong to the Flabellinidae family, whereas this species belongs to the Glaucidae family. cheers

waisj · 4th January 2004

Originally Posted by kng

Waisj, if you don't mind, perhaps you can share why you don't think these are your "better shots" and how you think the shots can be improved - i.e. "self critic". This will help the rest of us learn on how to improve our own shots!

WOW.. KNG you are really twisting my arm on this....

none ther less, will try my best to throw my 2 cents in this topic we are in.

First of, i guess there are normally 2 types of nudibranch shots that underwater photgraphers are looking for. (besides the normal ID shots)

1. A nudibranch in motion
2. A nudibranch that is still , but stands out within it's surroundings. (colouration, poses) and stuff

why i considered my shots failures,

First off, although the nudibranchs are in motion, i was not able to "convey" the motion through my photographs. -> major failure

The first of the 3 shots that i posted ,are a classic example of trying to squeeze too many things into a frame, i was actually trying to "Squeeze" the Aeolid and a cone shell into the frame, miserablly failed by not being able to adequately controll the DOF. Portraying a shot that is neither here nor there

The second shot, no motion there either. compostion could have been better, couldn't even "show" that the nudibranch was moving. Neither could i "isolate" the nudibranch from its surroundings. thus effectively creating a very flat picture, nothings stands out and nothing captures the EYE, you almost couldn't even ID the Species, miss the most important "feature" of the aeolids, the rhinophores and it's appendages and the gills.

The third shot, could almost feel the motion there, but the rhonophores are not shown, neither does it stand out from its surroundings,
which is just a bad case of background usage. A tip, if i had actually waited for a while more and actually shot from the left side when the aeolid just reaches the edge of the coral head, the shot could have been better, thus creating creating contrast and motion

Please feel free to add what ever 2 cents that i have included, so everyone would benefit from this

beivied · 5th January 2004

wow,thats quite a bit to read and digest .... waisj, will you consider taking in students?

23rd December 2003	#1
waisj Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: OZilla Posts: 1,965	Blue Dragon Hieee all Blue dragon Pteraeolidia ianthina perched/sleeping on a funnel weed Padina gymnospora Normally this species of nudibranch exhibits colouration that is closer to the purple hue, whereas this one was displaying colouration that is nearer to cyan and had a blue-ish tint to it. cheers and enjoy. c'mon guys where art thou's pictures?? The Blue Dragon has evolved ways of harnessing solar energy. While feeding on solitary hydriod Ralpharia it swallows microscopic plants called zooxanthellae, Within the nudibranch the plants use the sun's enerygy to produce sugras, passing on a considerable portion to the nudibranch for it's own use. Adults are blue to brownish purple. Juveniles are white. This species often gather in clusters for 2-3 weeks around egg masses on large submerged rocks encrusted with coraline algae. this nudibranch can inflict a sting, using the hydriod's untriggered stinging cells in its body. Last edited by waisj; 23rd December 2003 at 01:03 AM.

23rd December 2003	#2
beivied Moderator Join Date: May 2003 Location: East, Singapore Posts: 4,213	wa... this is called a blue dragon ah? hmm, didnt know ...

23rd December 2003	#5
waisj Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: OZilla Posts: 1,965	Thanks guys, for the kind comments..... /lovells it was photographed at Aur, Atlantis Bay night dive. anyway, Aur has alot of these around. on diff is the colour.

23rd December 2003	#7
kthan Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,318	is this commonly known as flaballina? (spelling?) thot your pics a little over-exposed, then i realise it's my screen

3rd January 2004	#8
waisj Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: OZilla Posts: 1,965	hieee all would just like to share some of the shots of different colouration that this species has. Feel free to add to this thread what ever picture of this species that you have photographed; So as all of us will know what are the normal colourations of this species Blue-ish hue Brown-ish, or white Juveniles magenta-ish

3rd January 2004	#10
waisj Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: OZilla Posts: 1,965	haa haa don't like that lar..... these aren't my better shots anyway, just wanted to share with everyone.. c'mon post lar... well at least we can "lure" more people to go divin' and into underwater photography at least our community can refer to this and everyone can benefit from it.

5th January 2004	#20
beivied Moderator Join Date: May 2003 Location: East, Singapore Posts: 4,213	wow,thats quite a bit to read and digest .... waisj, will you consider taking in students?