Nicolas REMY, Moonlight (ANIMALS 2021)

During a scuba dive I set out to photograph the potbelly seahorses with a single snooted strobe. My initial goal was to « wrap » the seahorse with a bit of texture, created by moving the camera during a long exposure, while lighting the main subject with a single snoot. On this particular picture the waves were subtle, but I liked the directional lighting, and how the seahorse looked at the surrounding seatulip (a type of sponge). Also, at the distance it was aimed, the snoot’s beam didn’t have a sharp edge, but rather a progressive one, which made for interesting contrasts. This drew me to explore a monochrome conversion, and then this photo inspired me even further, with the seahorse’s belly now evoking a half-moon.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.