Underwater Photography, Citizen Science, and iNaturalist at Goolboodi (Orpheus Island)

A recent workshop led by Reef Ecologic staff at Orpheus Island Research Station enabled a great collaboration of scientists, Traditional Owners, photographers and snorkellers. One of the aspects of this workshop was to encourage the use of citizen science tools such as iNaturalist to learn more about the natural world. As staff, I had an additional goal - to trial a new underwater camera - that aligned perfectly with this objective. iNaturalist is a website and app that enables the user to upload observations of organisms that the global community can then identify. The more information captured about the organism, the more confident the ID. Each dive we undertook with the workshop participants, I was available to assist in safety, navigation, and interpretation, as well as taking photographs when possible.

As is the case with most unfamiliar equipment, there was some trial and error involved with the settings on the camera. While broad shots were fairly simple, macro shots were much more finicky to undertake. Many images I thought turned out well looking through the image finder ended up blurry, washed out, or poorly aligned in the frame. Even with these issues, many images came out well enough to be used on iNaturalist for species identification purposes.

Some species are more cooperative than others in modelling for the camera - very small or very active organisms such as shrimp or parrotfish were particularly difficult, while benthic animals such as corals and clams were a delight to photograph.

By the end of the workshop, it was easier to manage the camera settings on the fly, critical when you have only the length of your breath hold to take a shot. This allowed me to target creatures deeper or more carefully hidden in the reef structure.

A highlight of the workshop was a night dive on the final evening. Many creatures came out that had hidden away during the day, and some were less flighty in these nighttime hours. Using dive torches, even these dusky dwellers were subjected to the lens. A colleague had a great sighting of a harlequin shrimp - no one else on the workshop had seen one in the wild previously.

These outings were a great trial run of the camera and also helped to familiarise myself with iNaturalists new features since I first used it in 2012. Using the image, metadata, location, and other criteria, the tool's AI can now suggest an ID as soon as you submit your observation. This let me get straight back into identifications, and all of my pictures contributed to the Citizen science at Orpheus Island and Marine Park project.

Next time you go for a hike or a swim, see what you can find. Each upload contributes to local area knowledge of the region's biota, and helps to improve your identification skills as well. I certainly have been invigorated by this active and passionate community and will continue to practice both my photography and ID skills.