In the pitch-black waters above Indonesia's Lembeh Strait, photographer Massimo Giorgetta encountered something quite incredible. A tunicate salp – a transparent, barrel-shaped marine animal barely five centimeters across – had become a floating sanctuary for an extraordinary array of marine life.
Protected Lives was captured on 14 April 2023, during what divers call a blackwater dive. Unlike traditional night dives conducted on reefs, this more challenging approach takes you miles offshore into open ocean, suspended over deep water in complete darkness.
His image reveals a gelatinous, barrel-shaped salp glowing ethereally against a pure black background. Its translucent body is illuminated to reveal an astonishing community within: a yellow juvenile boxfish with black spots, several tiny flatworms in their juvenile form, larval mantis shrimp, heteropods, crabs and a number of other organisms clinging to the exterior.
The yellow boxfish, with its vibrant coloring, provides the main focal point of the photo, contrasting beautifully with the cool blue tones of the gelatinous host.
The scene as a whole, meanwhile, offers a striking example of how sea creatures utilize each other for survival in the open ocean. This shot won Bronze in the Nature/Underwater category of the Tokyo International Foto Awards 2025.
Technical execution
The Nikon D800E isn't the newest of models, but it proved ideal for capturing this arresting image. Introduced in 2012, the camera features a 36.3-MP full-frame sensor without an anti-aliasing filter, providing the level of detail capture that's crucial for macro work.
At the same time the Nikkor 60mm Micro lens provided the right focal length for capturing the entire salp, while maintaining working distance from this delicate subject.
Giorgetta also employed two underwater strobes, which are essential for blackwater work. Proper positioning prevents "marine snow"; suspended particles in the water column that would otherwise ruin the clean black background. In this case, the strobes illuminated the translucent salp perfectly, revealing internal structures and inhabitants without washing out the ethereal quality that makes the image so captivating.
Even with the right kit, though, shooting translucent, drifting subjects in open water at night is one of underwater photography's biggest challenges. Salps are always moving and barely contrast against the background. Buoyancy control becomes paramount; any errant movement will ruin the shot and potentially harm the delicate animal.
Giorgetta picked his location wisely. The Lembeh Strait, which separates the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Lembeh, is world-renowned for its incredible biodiversity and unusual marine life. Its deep channels and nutrient-rich waters create ideal conditions for vertical migration, bringing deep-water species within range of photographers.
The photographer floated at 10 meters depth over an abyss plunging 60 to 100 meters below, where the divers' lights attracted sea creatures during their nightly vertical migration from the deep ocean to surface waters.
This technique requires advanced diving skills, precise buoyancy control, and the ability to work in disorienting conditions where the only visual references are your lights piercing the void.
Beyond that, the photographer's ability to recognize significance in something so easily overlooked also has to be commended. Many divers would pass by a 5cm salp searching for larger subjects. Instead, Giorgetta paused to examine this tiny transparent organism and discovered the remarkable biodiversity it sheltered.
The result is an unforgettable visual that speaks to both the beauty and interconnectedness of marine ecosystems.
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