Hermissenda crassicornis

A colorful nudibranch makes his way across corralline-encrusted rocks.

As peaceful as it looks, the conditions during which
this photo was taken were anything but calm.
Situated at a depth of 65 feet on the face of a pinnacle
off San Miguel Island (off California) in 49-degree water,
I had to time my shots during the strong surge,
so the nudibranch didn't look like it was in a hurricane,
and so I could hopefully get the animal within
the 1/2" depth of field that was in focus.
And, since I was using a manual strobe,
I had to bracket my shots to ensure proper exposure.
My hope was that one would come out well-posed,
in focus, framed nicely, and exposed properly --
and would not obstructed by the many pieces of kelp
which were constantly blocking my lens
just as I was about to press the shutter release.

My patience paid off; out of 10 shots I exposed,
this -- the last one I took -- was the only one worth keeping,
and remains one of my favorite photos.