Red Abalone's Wave-tumbled Shell

Description

Behold the beauty of the abalone! The iridescence of these sea-tumbled abalone shell fragments proved challenging to tame - direct light washed out color and indirect light flattened contrast. With some trial and error, I found bouncing and angling improvised lighting - a macro flash reflected with aluminum foil-wrapped sheets of cardboard - produced the most vivid results. Abalones are amazing marine snails with a wide rainbow of species including red, green, pink, black, and white. Sadly they are at risk of extinction from overfishing and ocean acidification which eats away at their gorgeous shells. Show these wonderful gastropods some love by not participating in the illegal trade of poached take on the black market and reducing your carbon footprint so that we may continue to share the sea with these critters into the future.