Lately, I have been getting out a lot more on night dives. The conditions have been great for Scuba diving and underwater macro photography. Diving at night is exciting because you never know what you will find. My last dive I stumbled upon a few new brightly colored nudibranchs and an undescribed pygmy cephalopod known as the pharaoh cuttlefish.
Could this pygmy cuttlefish be an undescribed species or just a clever juvenile broadband cuttlefish resembling the sand?
Scientific name: Sepia sp
Common Name: Pygmy or Pharaoh Cuttlefish
Found: Kin bay, Okinawa
Habitat: Sand bottom @ night
Depth: 35feet
Size: 17mm
More than likely this pygmy cuttlefish is Sepiella inermis. The pharaoh cuttlefish is absolutely stunning. I found this large specimen sand-dwelling during a night dive.
If you have never been night diving I highly encourage you to try it. If you want to learn more about Cephalopods of Okinawa, check out my post on the beautifulBlue-ringed octopus.
My Mission: To Document and Preserve the Wildlife of the Ryukyu Islands
This site is also designed to help people identify the beautiful animals of Okinawa, basically to serve as an online nature reference guide. If you would like to make a contribution to support my mission, please click on the donation link paypal.me/maketheswitch4nature
Your donations will help conservation initiatives as well as bring solutions to the worldwide pollution issues on our beautiful shorelines. Thank you for your support, Shawn M Miller.
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Okinawa offers some of the best Scuba-Diving in the world. I really enjoy the Art of Underwater Macro Photography. Macro subjects can always be found, it just takes some imagination and good framing to create beautiful underwater abstracts. Pattern’s, textures and vibrant colors generally stand out in underwater photography.
Equipment used
Camera: Canon 70d with Canon 100mm&60mm
Housing: Ikelite underwater housing
Stobes: Ikelite DS160 & DS 200
Modeling lights: Light&Motion Gobe 800, Sola 3800 and Sola 1200
Specialized lights: Light&Motion Sola Nightsea
All images were taken in the beautiful waters of the Ryukyu Islands. Underwater Photography by Shawn Miller.
All photographers experience a time when their work becomes redundant and lose vision. The Light & Motion Sola Nightsea has opened up a new style of photography for me. Recently I have been blending the Light&Motion Nightsea blue light with ambient light underwater and getting beautiful vibrant results.
Some of my Fluorescence enhancement coral images were featured in The Blue Planet 11 publication. It’s always nice to see years of hard work finally pay off.
Underwater fluorescence – Shawn Miller featured Blue planet 11
Here are some basic lighting examples using different techniques.
Here are some of my favorite images using this fluorescence enhancement technique. All Images I used Light&Motion Sola lights to achieve these beautiful vibrant results.
I was nominated by Martin Bailey to participate in the 5 Day Black & White Challenge. I had to post one black & white Image each day while challenging another photographer to do the same. It was difficult to find subjects that really popped out in B&W. Below are the five images I posted during this challenge. All images were taken underwater on Scuba in the beautiful waters of Okinawa.
Tomato Anemonefish (Amphiprion frenatus)
Ringed plate coral (Pachysersis speciosa)
Ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris)
Razor coral with polyps out
Leopard sea cucumber (Bohadschia argus)
All images were photographed with the Canon 70d in an Ikelite underwater housing.
The Light & Motion Sola NightSea blue light will enhance your night diving experience like nothing before. It Is an underwater blue light that allows you to see fluorescence. The NightSea blue LEDs cause proteins and minerals to fluoresce brightly underwater. If you want to photograph fluorescence you will need a yellow barrier filter over your camera lens. The barrier filter will block the reflected excitation of light and transmit the fluorescence to deliver a psychedelic experience.
Underwater fluorescence by Shawn Miller
Below is a photograph of my underwater rig. This is the setup I use to capture the underwater fluorescence in Okinawa. I am currently using one Light & Motion Sola Nightsea and one GoBe nightsea blue light.
Below is a photograph of the Light & Motion Sola NightSea Underwater blue light photographed in the studio. I wanted to capture the blue light rays coming out of the light. No previous photos displayed this and I had to do it.
Some cases the fluorescence is so strong it can be photographed during the day without any specialized lights or filters. This red heart coral was photographed at a depth of Seventy-five feet.
I decided to experiment using the nightsea and custom filters over my strobes to give it an original look. I call this technique fluoro blending.(Nightdive)
More than likely this pygmy cuttlefish is Sepiella inermis. The pharaoh cuttlefish is absolutely stunning. I found this large specimen sand-dwelling during a night dive. 
