Art by nature

When photographing Art by nature I (Nicola) focus on patterns formed by colours, textures, and shapes to compose and highlight (details of) creatures looking like little pieces of art already all by themselves.

Nature: Our daily inspiration

Nature is calling us. Calming and soothing, as well as adventurous and stimulating. That’s where Yoeri and I get our inspiration, recharge our batteries, have fun, and find peace, especially at the sea. When we get away from the ocean, we quickly feel cut off, like floating without an anchor, longing for our doses of Vitamin Sea. Fortunately working on photo and video material is getting us back into the feeling. Nature isn’t just there to make us feel good and connected or provide a pretty background for our lives – or photographs thereof. Essential for all of us, yet underappreciated and mistreated. Nevertheless, there still is so much to be discovered, captured, learnt, and shared to connect and protect.

Photography: Where nature takes me

Nature can be phenomenal, overwhelming, epic – and everybody wants to take a shot at that point. But nature also shows its beauty in details – no matter where you are – nothing new to macro lovers. I love looking for compositions, particularly patterns formed by colours, textures, and shapes. Nature is an endless provider of subjects without a clear subject, leaving room for imagination as well as interpretation.

Everybody sees and experiences the world differently. In the end, the final photo is just one of the many possibilities to take that shot. Therefore nature photography for me doesn’t have to be realistic. Photographing adds yet another dimension to my experience of nature, forcing me to really observe, choose, and focus, it helps to clear my mind. Ultimately, the more I practice with my camera system (particularly underwater) the quicker I can reach an almost meditative state, being in the zone, then and there when nothing else matters.

Art by nature: Photos mostly taken underwater

I can get totally lost in details when scanning the reef. Some creatures are little artworks in themselves and just deserve to be presented in all their glory. Photographs in art by nature don’t have to be based on small subjects. As we see the bigger picture only when taking a step back, patterns reveal themselves when we change our point of view or shift the angle. No matter what’s your focus, there is plenty to work with. Dive right into it (NO cropped pictures in this gallery. Why? Read more on photography, composition, design, and storytelling below the pictures).

Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up to highlight beautiful colours, grooves and filigrane texture of a tube worm (in pink, purple, orange, white)
Photographing Art by nature: Close-up of giant clam
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater marco shot of two Feather Dusters (underwater tube worm) right behind each other sticking out of a hard coral (pink, brown and white before black background)
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of small tunicates, ascidians or sea squirts small filter-feeders on coral reefs
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of soft coral polys in red, purple and white
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of Namei Tunicate in blue and yellow with tiny skeleton shrimps before background with blue-purple pattern
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up to highlight beautiful colours, grooves and filigrane texture of a tube worm (in lila, purple, white)
Photographing Art by nature: Close-up of endemic lichen (green and black pattern) on reddish stone in the Giant Mountains in Poland
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater marco shot of two Christmas Tree Worms right behind each other sticking out of a hard coral (brown and white before black background)
Photographing Art by nature: underwater close-up of spiny oyster with trippy colouration and pattern
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of orange-black arm of crinoid or featherstar
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of clam in darb brown with iridescent blue spots covering the whole curved mantle yellow sponge over side and tunicates at top end
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of an opening of a prickly sponge curving from low left to up right with deep shadow in middle
Photographing Art by nature: Close-up of green leafes, visible texture
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of bubble coral with strong contrasts and deep shadows highlighting the texture and shimmering in various colours
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of Coral Clam inside of hard coral
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of tubeworms (filogranella elastensis) in white, red and purple against black background
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of a Tiger Cowry having the striped mantel obver the white shell with black and brown dots.
Art by nature from Devoecean Pictures: Close up of a Passionflower
Art by nature of Devocean Picures: Ripples in the sand forming little landscapes, above the sea with motion blur due to long exposure (blue, purple and light orange and yellow dominate the picture)
Underwater close-up for art by nature: Tubbe anemone with. The arms start in dark grey in the centre, turn a little yellow, then pink and white for the rest of the arm, against blacksh background from Lembeh (Indonesia).
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of egg casing in form of a red ribbon laid by Spanish Dancer against black background
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of bubble coral
Underwater close-up for Art by nature: Zigzag Oyster covered in encrusting sponge or tunicate in bright red. Veins and pores are clearly visible.
Art by nature: Underwater close-up of hard coral polyps often mistaken for soft coral or anemone (Euphyllia ancora) with green inside, brown rim around it and white mantle. Heart-shape or liver-shape of the single polyp, also known as anchor coral, hammer coral, sausage coral, ridge coral, or bubble honeycomb coral.
Photographing Art by nature: Underwater close-up of giant clam in brown and yellow lines and grooves
Art by nature by Devocean Pictures: Underwater close-up encrusting sponge in white, pink and red
Art by nature by Devocean Pictures: Underwater close-up encrusting tunicate in white and yellow with dark brown spots
Close-up of leather corals polyps forming a little wave alont the bottom of the picture - leather coral known as toadstool leather (Sarcophyton)
Art by nature: Underwater close-up of two different kinds of encrusting tunicates or sponges against black background on both sides.
Underwater close-up for art by nature: Bubble anemone shimmering with green and blue dots on darkish ground and black background from Lembeh (Indonesia).
Photographing Art by nature: Looking up into the evening sky with pronounced cloud formations in orange and grey layer on upper left and purple round ball from middle to lower right

The composition is key in photographing Art by nature

Time to plan, check, adjust, and repeat – especially underwater

The composition of the photograph is fundamental when capturing art presented by nature. Therefore I take my time to find the angle, field of view, camera settings, and position of the flashes supporting my idea and evaluate the results after a couple of shots. Sounds like the standard procedure to any photographer on land, many divers taking pictures I’ve observed over the years actually don’t. Since there is always another subject or the group is waiting, most just shoot and hope for the best. After all, bottom time and air are limited too.

Thanks to powerful photography software one can adjust a lot in post-production. But the composition can only be altered, not completely changed. This is why some people always leave more negative space than needed so they can crop and tilt later. It works as a make-shift solution and is especially useful with (fast) moving subjects. Nevertheless, I prefer to get it right on the spot. Of course, I’ve cropped to make a composition stronger or change from landscape to portrait (good tips in Dive Photo Guide: Underwater Photography Cropping Guide). But for my part of the art in photographing Art by nature is to choose a strong composition in the process of taking the picture. The final look, however, can still be played within post-production. Therefore I’m happy to say no crops in this section. All photos in this gallery were taken exactly with the field of view shown here (which does not exclude the use of other postproduction tools).