Thanks Michael!

Thank you...I gasped when I saw my first one...!

David - drag queens is a great way to describe them. And actually, some of the most beautiful species are in cold water. Pacific Northwest is great, Northern California has completely different species than us. Some of those really beautiful blue and yellow ones are in cold water Japan. Southern Australia and Tasmania, South Africa...even UK...I have a Norwegian family member whose hobby is UW photography and photographs beautiful nudibranchs!

Thanks! That is a great question, and I was actually able to replicate it for the first time a few weeks ago. This photo is from 2022, and I have tried to replicate that shoot every year and only had luck around the time I coincidentally posted this older photo. These nudibranchs appear at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach in small numbers in April when there is a negative tide. I use a 100mm macro and a garden pad. The nudibranchs will often come up just a millimeter or so from the surface...

...of the water, so you can shoot without U/W equipment and not get distortion. They can be very hard to find. Also, for me its important to not step on those tidal rocks, so I have to find a place where I can lay the garden pad down on wet sand and then have an exist when the tide comes back in. I think the tide was negative 1.3 feet...anything above that makes it difficult. I always ask the volunteers what they have seen as well...and tell them how I plan to photograph w/o disturbing anything.