Author: Ashley Armstrong
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Updated Flickr Gallery: Anilao Muck Diving
I’ve added new photos to my Anilao, Philippines muck diving gallery on Flickr, including underwater photos of pipefish, ribbon eels, and mantis shrimp. Enjoy :)
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Back in Sun Diego: Solar-powered sea critters
Yesterday, while enjoying the heat at the pool, I briefly considered the possibility that maybe I was actually solar-powered. I don’t need food anymore, I thought, All I need is warmth. This of course was incorrect, and I shuffled my flip-flops home almost immediately thereafter and ate some soup. But it reminded me of critters…
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Go get the new issue of Scuba Diving Magazine now!
Hey everybody! My photo inside the HMCS Yukon was just published in the May 2014 issue of Scuba Diving Magazine. It’s on newsstands (and available digitally) now! Please go check it out! :)
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This Shrimp is the Tiniest Sea Creature You’ve Never Seen
It’s easy for divers to get stoked on seeing the big-ticket critters. Manta rays? Majestic. Sharks? Spellbinding. So far, we’re all on the same page here. There’s this cognitive leap, though, that occurs for divers when they learn to find and appreciate the nudibranch. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, but this…
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Topaz Detail for Underwater Photos: A Review
There are lots of Topaz Detail reviews floating around, but none (so far as I could find, anyway) specifically catering to underwater photos. Curious to find what it could do for my stuff, I dug up a handful of photos I had previously deemed “finished” and ran them through Detail. I was pleasantly surprised! Read…
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How to Remove Backscatter: The Fastest Way to Improve Your Underwater Photos
Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking about technical diving and underwater photography to the Whalers Dive Club in Canoga Park, California. It was a great crowd, and the attendees were every speaker’s dream: they both laughed at my jokes and asked engaged, thoughtful questions! One of the questions that stood out, and that…
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The Missile Tower Wreck (165′), San Diego
The Missile Tower in San Diego, formerly used by the U.S. Navy to test-launch Trident submarine missiles, now rests in 165 feet of water near the Mexican Border as an artificial reef.
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The Reproductive Habits of the Ghost Pipefish (A Limerick)
When asked of his ties to the seahorse, the ghost pipefish replied in due course: “Though I lack a pouch, “our girls are no slouch, “and they tend to their eggs without remorse.”
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Poor Handling of San Diego Seahorse Spotting
San Diego journalist grips seahorse; NBC publishes photo
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Why the Mantis Shrimp Rocks
Although named for its resemblance to both praying mantis and shrimp, the mantis shrimp is neither; it’s a stomatopod, in fact only a distant relative of crabs, shrimps, and lobsters. Stomatopods can be loosely divided into two groups based on how they kill prey with their raptorial appendages (I just want to say that over…