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Basket Stars

Basket stars are related to brittle stars but have branching arms which make the quite beautiful.

The first two shots are from my recent trip away and the last two are from a dive at Kurnell on Sunday.

The first shot is of a large basket star at night at Osprey Reef. When fully opened, the span of the arms is around a metre. This particular individual is in the same place nearly every night. I first saw it in 2002 and have seen it on nearly every trip since. It is not fully open. I shot it with the Tokina 12-24mm at 12mm although I think I still needed to get closer.


Basket star, Astroboa nuda, at Admiralty Anchor, Osprey Reef, Coral Sea. Depth: 15.3 m

The second shot is of the same species at Steve's Bommie. Steve's is full of macro subjects and so I was using my Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D. I was not expecting to see any basket stars and when I did, I could not get a shot of the whole animal.


Basket star, Astroboa nuda, at Steve's Bommie, Ribbon Reef #3, Great Barrier Reef. Depth: 9.1 m

The next two shots are the same animal off Kurnell. The first shot mainly shows the arms wrapped around a purple sponge.


Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus, at The Steps, Kurnell, New South Wales. Depth: 10.6 m

This second shot shows most of the central disc as well as the arms as it was taken from the other side of the sponge. Some is in shade and I'm kicking myself that I didn't move one of the strobes to above the port.


Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus, at The Steps, Kurnell, New South Wales. Depth: 10.6 m

I am not a big fan of marine photography, but these, and in particular, the last two, are fantastic photographs. The lighting on the third is spot on. Very interesting creatures and thanks for the commentary.

A good read and a good set of photographs. Underwater must bring its own set of unique challenges. Well done!

Andrew

It seems not long ago you expressed concern no one was interested in yoru marine work. Things have come along well. There is little I can critique here (of course that won't stop me) but I appreciate you sharing both your informative commentary and your images. As for critique - the composition of the first shot bothers me. For some reason my eye is drawn to the lower right corner where there is some interesting coral (?) and I miss the centre. Maybe you should dodge or vignette the corner to bring the eye back to the star of the show (pun itnended)

Thanks for the comments.

Peter,

Thank you for your detailed response. It is appreciated. I think you are correct about that distracting soft coral to the lower right. My subjective eye and not noticed it at the time of the photograph or even in the image. I'll have to see what I can do with it. I may just have to wait until next year when I can have another attempt at the star.