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Atomic - Highly Commended, Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020, British Waters Macro Category

Highly Commended, Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020
British Waters Macro Category

This image took many sessions of working in a shallow pond to perfect the technique, background and lighting for this artistic expression. Tadpoles are both the cutest and cruelest of subjects when shooting Super-macro. They’re born to wriggle! So many times I would have all the elements aligned but the star of the show had other ideas. Often they would swarm over my off-camera lights - the ones placed with obsessive precision. So while they basked in their new-found LED luxury, I’d be trying to encourage them to move along without knocking anything out of place or stirring up the water.

For the background I designed a series of creative slates to bounce light off and then experimented with an extremely shallow depth of field. My ultimate goal was to make a contemporary image. Something refreshing that might inspire, renew or ignite interest in our endangered freshwater environment.

Judge's comment:
"Love the subject, but love the background even more. The light and colours in this frame transport me straight to spring."
- Alex Mustard

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Highly Commended, BSoUP / DIVER Annual Print Awards, November 2019
Advanced British & Irish Category (Judges Vote)

"One of the judges had seen this image before, but it is so fresh that it still scored well for novelty as well as technical and artistic execution. The subject is razor sharp where it matters, although the tail is slightly cropped. However, the light, pastel colours and bokeh create a wonderful artistic rendition of this subject."

Exhibited at the Dive show (Birmingham NEC), Oct 2019

Tadpole with Spirogyra algae and duckweed

Equipment used to capture this image - Canon 550D, Canon 60mm macro lens, Sea & Sea RDX550D housing, DX Macro Port 52, Nauticam SMC1, two off-camera lights (Light & Motion SOLA photo 800 and 1200), twin INON s2000 strobes, homemade creative slate backdrop

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Published in DIVER magazine, January 2020

Location: Urban wildlife pond, Surrey, England

Photographer: Laura Storm

Atomic - Highly Commended, Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020, British Waters Macro Category

Highly Commended, Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020
British Waters Macro Category

This image took many sessions of working in a shallow pond to perfect the technique, background and lighting for this artistic expression. Tadpoles are both the cutest and cruelest of subjects when shooting Super-macro. They’re born to wriggle! So many times I would have all the elements aligned but the star of the show had other ideas. Often they would swarm over my off-camera lights - the ones placed with obsessive precision. So while they basked in their new-found LED luxury, I’d be trying to encourage them to move along without knocking anything out of place or stirring up the water.

For the background I designed a series of creative slates to bounce light off and then experimented with an extremely shallow depth of field. My ultimate goal was to make a contemporary image. Something refreshing that might inspire, renew or ignite interest in our endangered freshwater environment.

Judge's comment:
"Love the subject, but love the background even more. The light and colours in this frame transport me straight to spring."
- Alex Mustard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Highly Commended, BSoUP / DIVER Annual Print Awards, November 2019
Advanced British & Irish Category (Judges Vote)

"One of the judges had seen this image before, but it is so fresh that it still scored well for novelty as well as technical and artistic execution. The subject is razor sharp where it matters, although the tail is slightly cropped. However, the light, pastel colours and bokeh create a wonderful artistic rendition of this subject."

Exhibited at the Dive show (Birmingham NEC), Oct 2019

Tadpole with Spirogyra algae and duckweed

Equipment used to capture this image - Canon 550D, Canon 60mm macro lens, Sea & Sea RDX550D housing, DX Macro Port 52, Nauticam SMC1, two off-camera lights (Light & Motion SOLA photo 800 and 1200), twin INON s2000 strobes, homemade creative slate backdrop

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published in DIVER magazine, January 2020

Location: Urban wildlife pond, Surrey, England

Photographer: Laura Storm