Susan Pellegrino
October 2026 - Eye on You
About the Image(s)
This might look like a jellyfish but it’s actually a blue button which is a colony of teeny, tiny sea creatures. I took this photo near St. Augustine Beach (Florida) a few weeks ago. The only adjustment I made was brightening it up.
14 comments posted
Hi Susan,
It's an interesting creature that is not a single organism but a colony of tiny specialized animals working together! The bubbles they generate show that they are breathing.
For this image, I'd prefer to sharpen the gray center more since the bubbles around it are sharper.
I have never seen the blue button. I am curious to know if you found more blue buttons washing ashore. Thanks for sharing your interesting image! Posted: 10/05/2026 11:27:47
It's an interesting creature that is not a single organism but a colony of tiny specialized animals working together! The bubbles they generate show that they are breathing.
For this image, I'd prefer to sharpen the gray center more since the bubbles around it are sharper.
I have never seen the blue button. I am curious to know if you found more blue buttons washing ashore. Thanks for sharing your interesting image! Posted: 10/05/2026 11:27:47
Kieu-Hanh, I wish I could have gotten the gray center sharper, but that was the jellyfish like coating around it that caused it to be less than sharp. I hadn't seen so many of them closer to an alive state (or maybe even alive?) before this time. In the past, I've seen some of them dried up on the beach. I don't know if they appear seasonally since this is only the second time I've spotted them. Posted: 10/13/2026 14:27:28
Thanks for providing more clarification, Susan! Posted: 10/14/2026 09:46:31
Interesting image; I would have had not clue what I was looking at without your explanation; that mystery strengthens the image. Even reading about the creature leaves me a bit confused - but I need to read more carefully about it. I wonder if a composition without the blue button centered would be more compelling. The image you shared is small 480 x 640 pixels, making it difficult to assess sharpness. Since you didn't crop the image - I'm guessing this is due to whatever process you use to reduce the size for submission. Posted: 10/06/2026 06:50:26
Steven, I've read more about them, and I still don't fully understand this organism. I didn't intentionally center the blue button. I picked this composition because I liked the shape of the bubbles around it. I'm sure my resizing method is an issue (more about that in a moment) but there is a translucent coating all around the collection of creatures, kind of like what you'd see on a jellyfish. Not sure how to get around the foggyness that comes from that.
Posted: 10/13/2026 14:31:13
Posted: 10/13/2026 14:31:13
Even after the few years I've been in this group, I struggle to resize my photos for submission. I'm using an iPhone Pro Max 15. Sometimes I'll resize in mobile PhotoShop. Sometimes I resize in files - and my options don't seem the same from one time to the next. Other times, I take the lazy approach and just email a photo to myself in medium size and then the smaller photo is what I email to Jack.
What's the best method for sharing? I'd love for it to be easy and something I can do consistently. Posted: 10/13/2026 14:33:30
What's the best method for sharing? I'd love for it to be easy and something I can do consistently. Posted: 10/13/2026 14:33:30
Hi Sue,
Let us know what operating system, and what applications you are using, and hopefully someone can help. I export my iPhone photos using Apple (Mac) Photos. Posted: 10/26/2026 20:52:16
Let us know what operating system, and what applications you are using, and hopefully someone can help. I export my iPhone photos using Apple (Mac) Photos. Posted: 10/26/2026 20:52:16
I'm on an iPhone. I've tried adjusting using the files app. I've tried adjusting size on mobile Lightroom. I've just emailed to myself at medium and used the image I receive as the email.
I tried Lightroom again for my November photo. I hope it worked. Posted: 10/26/2026 21:02:58
I tried Lightroom again for my November photo. I hope it worked. Posted: 10/26/2026 21:02:58
I like and agree with the comments above me, Susan. Just a tad sharper, and perhaps off center, would make this already compelling image even better. It's a good find! Posted: 10/12/2026 18:04:18
Thanks, Jack! Here's a question for you. I think the image isn't sharp because of the coating around this creature. Would you sharpen something like that in some post-processing? And obviously I'll still struggling with resizing prior to submission. Why do I have such a hard time with that one final step? Posted: 10/13/2026 14:36:28
(Group 51)
Absolutely love all the circle patterns of various size bubbles and colorful ones of the sea creatures. Beautifully seen and executed. Posted: 10/16/2026 23:44:01
Thank you, Lynn. And thanks for stopping by! Posted: 10/26/2026 20:44:02
Great image Susan. This creature is intriguing. The light coming in from the side makes the bubbles really pretty. I agree with previous comments about perhaps shooting the original a little wider so you had more options for cropping so the blue button was a bit more off-center. Great capture though. I probably wouldn't even have noticed it since it's so small. Posted: 10/27/2026 02:06:41
Thanks, Jan. I tend to walk looking down. Otherwise I never would have noticed it! Posted: 10/27/2026 15:50:56