HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY BLACK AND WHITE
Martin Broen |  Mobula Ray Fever

Name: Martin Broen
Picture title: Mobula Ray Fever
Category: Black and White
Nationality: Originally from Argentina. Currently American living in the United States
Occupation: I’m a Product Designer and Innovation Expert and underwater photography is my hobby

Technical information
Camera: Sony a1
Lens: 28-60mm f/4-5.6,
EXIF: 1/160Sec at f7.1 ISO400
Accessories: Nauticam underwater housing and Nauticam wet conversion Port WWL-1

Martin Broen​ says:

Every year there’s an aggregation of Mobula Rays in Baja California, Mexico. An amazing moving fever of rays that create an immense dynamic pattern of light reflections underwater. You don’t get to distinguish the individuals but a single mass. For a week been trying different techniques underwater, half and Half, as well as top side as Mobula jumps quite high out of the water as part of their social ritual

During the morning the sun was penetrating the water at an angle that allow for a show of fluctuating light rays that somehow complemented the moving texture of the Mobulas, and provided even more volume to the photo. After getting some good detail shots of a few individuals reaching toward the sun, I became obsessed with capturing a dramatic shot of the full group and showcasing its massive size, but after several attempts, I realized that at the proximity dictated by the water visibility, not even my fish-eye lens will fit all of them in a single frame. So fitted my rectilinear wide-angle lens in the underwater housing and attempted a x6 shot panorama, doing it fast enough that allow me to stitch that moving mass. And getting them framed by the morning rays