Photography — oceanleaf

Paralarvae of the California two-spot octopus hatching from their egg sacs

Capturing the Unseen

Photography sits at the very core of my identity, serving as the link between my love for nature and my work in imaging systems. Specializing in the macrophotography of aquatic life, I believe that a powerful image is the most effective way to spark a genuine interest in science. As an engineer, the camera is both my canvas and my workbench; I frequently design custom instrumentation to push the boundaries of what I can capture. Follow my latest visual projects on Instagram.

Recognition

Awards & Press

British Ecological Society · Capturing Ecology 2020 — Overall runner-up

The paralarvae of the California two-spot octopus, Octopus bimaculatus, hatching from their egg sacs. The egg yolks attached to their mouths sustain them for a short period before they must hunt to survive.

Technique: Side-scattered flash photography

Featured in: National Geographic Kids UK (Jan 7, 2021); Amateur Photographer (Mar 9, 2021, p. 50–51)
UC San Diego · Art of Science 2021 — Judges' Award

A collage of tiny ocean drifters imaged by the Scripps Plankton Camera, showing the hidden beauty of the underwater world unseen to the naked eye.

Technique: Underwater darkfield microscopy (Scripps Plankton Camera, Jaffe Lab, UCSD)

Featured in: Photonics Focus (Sep/Oct 2021); Explore Magazine (Fall 2021, p. 12–13)
British Ecological Society · Capturing Ecology 2021 — Highly commended

A funnel-web spider emerges from its dew-covered web. The tropical highland climate of Phu Kradueng National Park, Thailand, produces a large daily temperature swing that forms these dews every morning.

Technique: Macrophotography
British Phycological Society · Hilda Canter-Lund 2023 — Highly commended (Micro)

The embryonic stage of a giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) sporophyte following fertilization (~5 mm across).

Technique: Back-illuminated darkfield micrography
Nikon Small World 2023 · 15th Place

Fluorescent image of an Acropora sp. showing individual polyps with symbiotic zooxanthellae.

Technique: Front-illuminated darkfield micrography

Featured in: HHMI Beautiful Biology Online Exhibition
Nikon Small World 2023 · Image of Distinction

Coral (Acropora granulosa) fluorescing under blue light.

Technique: Front-illuminated darkfield micrography

Methods

Specialized Techniques

Darkfield / Backlighting

Small plankton are generally transparent, so their details are hard to capture with regular flash illumination. Illuminating the subject from behind greatly increases the contrast of these transparent organisms. Combined with a translation stage, this also enables focus stacking to increase depth of field.

Fluorescence

Some organisms have fluorescent proteins that produce striking coloration when stimulated by certain frequencies of light — especially useful for coral photography. I built an LED array of royal blue, blue, violet, and cyan LEDs to stimulate these proteins; synchronizing the LEDs with the camera also captures the movement of coral tentacles.

Side-scatter Illumination

For relatively large, non-transparent macro subjects (~1–5 cm), side-scatter illumination produces better images than darkfield. It also avoids lighting the background — a common challenge with typical front illumination.