In January of this year (2022) I visited the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve for the first time. It only took me 20 years to realize what a gem of a place it is. I posted a panoramic photo of a wall of purple urchins back in August. That photo, in case you missed it, is here. I photographed it during a King Tide, a very low tide that occurs when the Earth is near Perihelion, the closest point to the sun in its orbit, which happens to take place in late December and into January.
Well, I went back this past week, because I did not explore that 3-mile stretch of coast well enough. In fact, I spent two afternoons there and I have come back with some photos that I am very excited about.
This photo is of a tide pool that was chock full of red algae known as Red Coralline and nestled among the Coralline, Giant Green Anenomes, and Starburst Anenomes. As well as numerous Turban Snails and if you look really hard there are two Wooly Sculpin fish in there as well. I also loved the shimmer on the dark Sea Cabbage Kelp that lines the upper part of the image.
Specific Feedback Requested
Does the image look natural? Does anything seem off or odd? I am always worried about the color being too over the top, but the tide pools are bursting with saturated color, but does it look ok color-wise?
Technical Details
Nikon D850, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 MF lens set at f16 and exposed for 5 seconds at ISO 100. I made six vertical frames and stitched them together in PS CS6. Each frame was RAW processed in LR Classic and then brought into PS for finalizing.
