Underwater Coral Reef & Marine Life Scene

## ROLE

You are a professional underwater photographer and marine art director whose work has been featured in Ocean Geographic, Coral Magazine, and the Our World Underwater competition. You have logged over 5,000 dives across every major reef system on Earth — from the Great Barrier Reef to Raja Ampat, the Red Sea to the Maldives, Cozumel to the Galápagos. You understand the physics of light underwater — color absorption by depth, Snell's window, backscatter management, and the interplay between strobes and ambient light. You bring scientific accuracy to every species placement and ecological interaction while creating compositions that stir emotional connection to ocean conservation.

## REEF ENVIRONMENT & ARCHITECTURE

Generate an underwater coral reef scene set in [REEF LOCATION: a pristine Indo-Pacific reef wall in Raja Ampat, Indonesia with the world's highest coral diversity / a vibrant Caribbean barrier reef off Belize with massive brain corals and sea fans / an Egyptian Red Sea reef drop-off with overhanging table corals and crystalline visibility / a Maldivian atoll reef slope with abundant soft corals swaying in current / a Japanese subtropical reef at Okinawa with unique temperate-tropical species overlap / a Hawaiian reef at Molokini crater with volcanic rock substrate and endemic species / a Polynesian pass channel in Fakarava with current-swept coral gardens]. The reef architecture should feature [CORAL STRUCTURE: towering pillar corals rising 3-4 meters from the substrate with branching Acropora thickets filling the gaps between / massive Porites bommies (coral heads) the size of automobiles draped with soft coral trees in pink, orange, and purple / a steep wall plunging into deep blue abyss with horizontal plate corals extending like shelves at regular intervals / a healthy shallow reef flat at 3-5 meters depth with sunlight dappling across a mosaic of coral species in every color / a coral garden slope at 15-20 meters with gorgonian sea fans oriented perpendicular to the prevailing current / an overhang or small cave entrance with encrusting corals, sponges, and tunicates covering every surface in jewel-like colors].

## MARINE LIFE COMPOSITION

Populate the scene with ecologically accurate marine life. The primary subject should be [HERO SPECIES: a green sea turtle gliding gracefully over the reef with remoras attached to its shell / a giant Pacific manta ray with a 4-meter wingspan banking through the scene with cephalic fins unfurled / a school of 500+ bigeye trevally forming a swirling tornado vortex column / a whale shark approaching head-on with its enormous spotted body receding into blue water behind / a pair of clownfish nestled in their host anemone with the female significantly larger than the male / a Napoleon wrasse (humphead wrasse) with its distinctive forehead bump and knowing eye gazing at the camera / a reef octopus mid-color-change displaying half camouflaged rock texture and half vivid warning pattern / a pod of spinner dolphins descending from the surface with sunbeams streaming between their bodies]. Supporting cast should include [SECONDARY LIFE: clouds of orange anthias hovering above coral heads, darting for cover at the slightest movement / a moray eel with its mouth agape revealing needle teeth while a cleaner shrimp works inside its jaw / a lionfish displaying its elaborate venomous fin array in full spread against a dark background / parrotfish actively biting coral with visible clouds of sand expelled from their gills / a giant clam with iridescent mantle tissue in electric blue, green, and purple / reef sharks patrolling the drop-off edge as silhouettes against the open blue / a cuttlefish hovering with hypnotic chromatic wave patterns pulsing across its skin / a frogfish perfectly camouflaged against a sponge, visible only by its lure and eye].

## UNDERWATER LIGHTING & OPTICS

The lighting should simulate [LIGHT CONDITION: bright tropical midday sun penetrating a shallow reef at 5-8 meters with dramatic god-ray caustic patterns dancing across the coral / late afternoon golden hour light entering at a low angle creating long shadows and warm tones in the shallows / split-level half-above half-below waterline view (over-under) showing the reef below and tropical island above with Snell's window visible / deep reef at 30+ meters where red and orange wavelengths are fully absorbed leaving only blue-indigo ambient light with strobe-lit subject revealing true colors / diver silhouette in the background with their torch beam cutting through particulate / dappled light filtering through surface waves creating animated caustic web patterns on the seafloor / dramatic backlighting with the sun positioned behind the subject creating rim-lit silhouettes and volumetric light shafts through the water column].

Apply [STROBE SIMULATION: dual underwater strobe lighting positioned at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock creating even illumination with minimal backscatter / single strobe side-lighting for dramatic shadows revealing coral texture and depth / no artificial light — ambient only for a natural blue-water feel / snoot-lit spot beam illuminating only the hero subject against a dark blue background / rear-curtain strobe effect capturing motion blur of a fast-moving fish with a sharp frozen endpoint]. Water clarity should be [VISIBILITY: 40+ meters of gin-clear tropical water with no visible particulate — pure blue gradient into the distance / 15-20 meters with natural marine snow particles catching strobe light as tiny white points / green-tinted temperate water with 8-10 meter visibility creating a mysterious, close atmosphere / crystal clarity in the foreground transitioning to hazy blue in the background for depth].

## COLOR PALETTE & CORAL DETAIL

The coral color palette should showcase [CORAL COLORS: a full rainbow spectrum with fluorescent greens, electric blues, hot pinks, deep purples, and vivid oranges representing peak coral health / warm palette dominated by golden-brown zooxanthellae tones with accent pops of purple soft coral and orange sponge / cool palette with blue, teal, and purple corals against deep navy water / high-contrast complementary scheme with orange clownfish against purple anemone or yellow butterfly fish against violet sea fan]. Individual coral textures should display [TEXTURE DETAIL: visible individual polyps extended for feeding on branching corals with tentacles catching passing plankton / the fractal-like surface pattern of brain coral meanders with fluorescent green valleys between brown ridges / the translucent quality of soft coral polyps with their internal spicule structure visible when backlit / the velvety surface of mushroom corals with radial septa lines converging at the center / encrusting coralline algae in pink and lavender creating a living paint layer over dead coral substrate].

## DEPTH & ATMOSPHERE

Create a sense of three-dimensional underwater space through [DEPTH RENDERING: foreground reef elements sharp and strobe-lit with true colors, mid-ground elements transitioning to ambient blue, background reef wall fading into deep blue haze / layered depth with a coral arch framing the scene and the hero subject positioned in the mid-ground with open blue behind / fish school arranged in a receding formation from large foreground individuals to tiny background silhouettes establishing scale / visible depth markers — a diver or anchor line in the background providing scale reference / a coral wall on one side with open blue pelagic water on the other creating a split environment]. The water should convey [WATER QUALITY: particles of marine snow floating in the water column catching light like underwater stars / perfectly clean water with zero particulate for pristine clarity / phytoplankton bloom creating a slight green tint with reduced visibility but rich feeding activity / bubble trails from a diver ascending in the background adding dynamic elements].

## OUTPUT PARAMETERS

--ar [ASPECT: 3:2 for classic horizontal reef landscape / 2:3 for vertical wall dive perspective / 16:9 for cinematic panoramic reef / 1:1 for square social media / 4:3 for traditional underwater photography format] --v 6.1 --style raw --s [STYLIZE: 175 for balanced / 100 for photorealistic / 300 for artistic] --q 2 --no above water, land, sky, cartoon, text, watermark, blurry, diver hands