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Libby Sterling Photography

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Fitting name for a dive site — Redemption. This

Fitting name for a dive site — Redemption. This tomato anemonefish clearly wasn't hiding from anything, tucked right in and happy to have its portrait taken from every angle.

That white stripe against the deep orange-red always makes for such a striking contrast, especially against the soft pastel tentacles of its host anemone.

Swipe through for three looks at the same little guy.

Best dive site name you've heard, or does Redemption take the crown?

Fabulous diving with @ra_divers

📸 Canon EOS R, 100mm lens in a
@scubapixaustralia Nauticam housing and two
@backscattervideophoto atom strobes

#tomatoanemonefish #anemonefish #redemption #fiji #radivers #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #fijidiving

A few random faces from the dive site - Dua Tal, s

A few random faces from the dive site - Dua Tal, still around Volivoli with @ra_divers .

Some dives don't have one big story — just a string of great characters, and this was one of those.

That first one's a real showstopper up close, but each of these three had their own personality on the day.

Swipe through — which one's catching your eye first?

1 Eastern Triangular Butterflyfish
2 Pallid Triggerfish
3 Pink Skunk Clownfish

📸 Canon EOS R, 100mm lens in a @scubapixaustralia Nauticam housing and two @backscattervideophoto atom strobes

#duatal #volivoli #fiji #radivers #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #fijidiving #reeflife

#greenturtle for #turtletuesday, and this time we'

#greenturtle for #turtletuesday, and this time we're back home on the Great Barrier Reef, Flynn Reef, from the 2017 archives. 🐢

This green turtle wasn't in any hurry, just gliding along the surface while I hung back and enjoyed the company. Some of the best turtle encounters are the ones where nobody's rushing anywhere.

Swipe through for three moments from the same encounter.

Flynn Reef or the reefs we've just been diving in Fiji — which would you pick?

📸 Canon G7X Mkii, Recsea housing, AOI wet lens, 2x @seaandseaimaging strobes

#flynnreef #2017archive #greatbarrierreef #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch

This is a ghost pipefish — and this one, from Ha

This is a ghost pipefish — and this one, from Hakuna Matata, took some serious searching. Its colour and texture match the coral rubble around it almost perfectly; camouflage doesn't get much better than this.

Ghost pipefish drift and sway to mimic the movement of the debris they're hiding in, so even when you're looking right at one, it can take a moment for your brain to register there's actually a fish there.

Swipe through for three angles — did you spot it straight away, or did it take a second look?

Fabulous week of diving with @ra_divers

📸 Canon EOS R, 100mm lens in a @scubapixaustralia Nauticam housing and two @backscattervideophoto atom strobes

#ghostpipefish #hakunamatata #fiji #radivers #macrolife #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #macrophotography #fijidiving

Nudibranch trio from Hakuna Matata — and yes, th

Nudibranch trio from Hakuna Matata — and yes, that's genuinely the name of the dive site, no worries here.

Three completely different colour schemes, three completely different species, all found within metres of each other. This is exactly what keeps me coming back to macro photography — you never know what pattern or colour combo is waiting on the next patch of coral.

Swipe through — which one's your favourite of the three?

Oh and according to Claude: "Hakuna Matata" is Swahili, and it translates roughly to "no worries" or "there are no troubles here." It's a genuinely common phrase in East African Swahili-speaking countries, not something invented for a movie, though most people outside East Africa know it from The Lion King, which is likely where the dive site got its playful name from.

Fabulous week of diving with @ra_divers

📸 Canon EOS R, 100mm lens in a @scubapixaustralia Nauticam housing and two @backscattervideophoto atom strobes

#nudibranch #hakunamatata #fiji #radivers #macrolife #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #macrophotography #fijidiving

More from Amazing Maze — that magenta sea whip w

More from Amazing Maze — that magenta sea whip was too striking not to get from a couple of angles. A pair of fish tucked in close in the first shot, then a wider pull-back showing just how much colour this site packs into every corner.

This reef doesn't let up — every turn through the maze had something new to look at.

Swipe through for the full walk-through.

Which shot's got the best colour for you — the whip coral close-ups, or that open blue in the last one?

📸 taken with a Canon EOS R, 14-35 mm lens in a
@scubapixaustralia Nauticam housing, and two
@backscattervideophoto Strobes

#amazingmaze #fiji #radivers #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #fijidiving #wideangle

Back after a few days offline, and easing back in

Back after a few days offline, and easing back in with one of Fiji's most aptly-named dive sites: Amazing Maze.

Winding coral formations, swim-throughs, and walls absolutely alive with orange anthias catching the light from above.

Swipe through for three angles of the same maze — that last shot gives you a sense of scale with two divers tucked into the reef.

Genuinely one of the standout sites from this Fiji trip so far.

Anyone dived Amazing Maze before, or added it to the list now?

📸 taken with a Canon EOS R, 14-35 mm lens in a
@scubapixaustralia Nauticam housing, and two
@backscattervideophoto Strobes

#amazingmaze #fiji #radivers #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #fijidiving #wideangle

Back to Fiji's reefs, and this bommie was an absol

Back to Fiji's reefs, and this bommie was an absolute riot of colour and life. Thousands of orange anthias swarming the wall, soft coral catching the light, and somewhere in there, one very small diver (bottom left) getting completely dwarfed by the scale of it all.

Swipe through for three angles of the same bommie — it looked slightly different every time the light shifted.

This is exactly why wide-angle reef shots never get old for me. Structure, colour, movement, all in one frame.

Would you rather dive a bommie like this, or something more open water like our recent whale encounters?

📸 Canon EOS R, 14-35mm in a @scubapixaustralia Nauticam housing

#fiji #radivers #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #fijidiving #wideangle #reeflife

Meet the titan triggerfish — unofficially known

Meet the titan triggerfish — unofficially known as the most feared fish on the reef, and not without reason. These guys will absolutely charge a diver who gets too close to their nest, no hesitation.

This one, thankfully, was just going about its business and let me get close enough for this level of detail. Still kept one eye on me the whole time though — you can see it in that gaze.

Ever had a run-in with a triggerfish on a dive, or heard the horror stories before you'd even seen one? 😅

📸 taken with a @canonanz EOS R, 100mm lens, in a @scubapixaustralia Nauticam housing, and two @backscattervideophoto strobes

#titantriggerfish #scubadiving #uwphoto #canonphotography #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #reeflife #greatbarrierreef

Part 4 of that 2017 turtle morning — and this is

Part 4 of that 2017 turtle morning — and this is the shot where you can actually see two of the three together. 🐢

Twenty minutes with these guys before the rest of the group arrived and they scattered. Moments like this are exactly why I got into solo diving — patience over pursuit.

Did you spot the second turtle joining in this one before reading the caption?

Yes, I teach the #padiselfreliantdiverspecialty

📸 Canon G7X mkii, Recsea housing, AOI wet lens, 2x @seaandseaimaging strobes

#turtletuesday #greenturtle #2017archive #scubadiving #uwphoto #ocean #uwphotography #photooftheday #underwaterpics #padipro #natgeoyourshot #libbysterlingphotography #sterlingimagery #instafish #girlsthatscuba #scubatravel #orcatorch #selfreliantdiver #solodiving