Monday, September 1, 2008

I love stingrays!

(yes, another St. Croix post)
They're my favorite animals to photograph underwater. Not only do they usually sit still on the bottom and let me get really close, but when they're swimming they look so majestic and beautiful.

I have some photos I took with disposable underwater cameras and so they're displayed on my wall, but I also got a chance to use my mom's digital camera with underwater case. Only used photoshop to play with the levels a little bit.
These are all shots of the same stingray, a Southern stingray (Dasyatis americana). They can get used to people and will even be friendly in approaching them for food, but only in certain areas. I wouldn't dare touch a wild stingray simply sitting on the bottom of the ocean, no matter how tempting and how close I can get. I *have* gotten extremely close though, down to a matter of only two or three feet for a photo.

This is a picture of my favorite photo on my wall... perhaps later I'll scan it along with some others.
I also have some fishy photos I'll post later :)

Oh and I forgot to mention - in the above pics, that ray was at least four feet across.

4 comments:

kim* said...

They are funny little creatures... so thin and mysterious.

Pretty Fun said...

The photo on your wall is beautiful. I used to be terrified of stingrays when I was younger. We lived in San Diego and would go swimming just about every day and I was sure I was gloing to step on one. I am not even sure they are found in that area!

Anonymous said...

They creep me out BIG time, but you have awesome camera skillz. Great pics!

Lisa Brawner said...

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!