Another shot from beautiful Bali showing a soft coral crab (Hoplophrys oatesi) making its way between the corals.
The picture’s background was intentionally trimmed to pure black by using 1/100 sec at f/22 – and getting enough flash power to make this little creature shine.
Wayan, our local dive-guide spotted the crab. – I honestly wouldn’t have noticed it in its perfect camouflage. Another example, why diving with local guides pays off.
Moothbrooders offer a great subject for a photo session, although it turns out that they are quite difficult to find. On the pictures below, a ring-tailed cardinal fish (ostorhinchus aureus, syn. apogon aureus), named after the black ring at the base of its tail, decided to pose and model for me. It kept opening and closing its mouth to circulate oxygen-rich water around its eggs.
The story for the shot? It was taken on the north coast of beautiful Bali in June timeframe. The tricky part – after finding the fish – was to capture the fish with its mouth open. It took about five minutes to get the shoots done.
Equipment used? A full-sensor DSLR, 100mm macro lens, one flash mounted top but positioned at a slight angle sideways to give the fish a bit more profile using shadows. 1/100s at f/16 and ISO 100 for those who want to know the detail.
Lionfish (Pterois) are territorial, slow-moving and therefore a great fish to train underwater macro shootings. However, it’s also probably one of the most ‘overly-photographed’ fish for the very same reason. So how to take a slightly different shot than ‘fish on top of reef’?
(1) Get close. But be careful. Particularly with venomous folks like a lionfish – The first shot was taken with a 100mm macro lens with an achromat staked on top of the macro-port. One flash from left to illuminate the scene. Some argue that for a macro-shot the flash should be mounted in the vertical axis straight above the lens. Depending on the subject, I disagree. Like in the first picture above, I prefer to model with light. Creating shadows on one side creates the contrast and therefore the ‘depth’ I wanted for the shot.
(2) Be ready for the special moment. For example, when a fish stretches its mouth or interacts with other creatures. The second photo was taken after a few minutes of waiting calmly near the lionfish.
(3) Check out cleaning stations. These are a great place for shoot outs, if you have enough time. I have found some of the most exciting scenes at these. However, you usually need something between ten to twenty minutes hovering or pivoting there, before the fish relax and literally ‘open up’ like in the third shot above. Done with a 100mm Macro and one flash.
Where it was shot? At Marsa Shagra, Egypt.
Here is the shoot of the week. It’s the eye of a crocodile fish.
What’s interesting about this shot?
The one thing which is amazing as well as challenging for pictures is camouflage. This shot clearly documents the camouflage strategy of a crocodile fish, an ambush hunter: Hide at the bottom of the sea, and don’t be identified by spots, which look like ‘eyes’.
So this fish is doing exactly the opposite of some other fish, which use imitations of eye-like spots as their protection. The crocodile fish camouflages its eyes by developing a curtain of fractal structures.
How to get so close? Slowly, very, very slowly approach the fish.
Specifics of the shot? F/32, 1/250, two flashes at max. sync speed. ISO 400, my favorite 100mm lens, full-size sensor and an achromat attached to the front port.
Where the picture was made? At Marsa Shagra, Egypt.
During the recent underwater photo workshop with Kurt Amsler in St. Cyr-sur-Mer, I had the opportunity to check out my 2 achromats stacked onto a 100mm macro lens on some precious corals (corallium rubrum).
For the first shot, I used just one achromat on a full-sensor DSLR with 100mm macro. For the second one, I added another acromat. Two flashes were used. One in slave mode slightly behind/above the coral, the other one in front of the coral, right above the lens. I set the slave to higher power and kept the main one pretty low.
I think it’s amazing what level of detail macro beyond a 1:1 magnification scale can reveal. Hence I am keen to get the acromats ‘wet’ soon again.
Two sepias ‘kissing’? Yes, that’s possible.
This shot has been taken on the Philippines. It was a night dive in shallow water at about 6m depth. One flash was used lighting the scene for a 100mm macro lens on a DSLR.
Sepias are a quite common sight on the Philippines. I have even seen sepias laying their eggs into hard corrals a couple of times. But I just had one opportunity so far to observe and take pictures of mating sepias. How often did you see these?
Today’s shot is a predatory fish (grouper, Cephalopholis) getting its treat at a cleaning station. Imagine you were that little cleaner shrimp, and had to step into a mouth probably ten times your size…
How the shot was taken? Well, nothing special about the setup really. Standard DSLR with my favorite 100mm macro lens and a flash on standard-length flash-arms.
How did I get to that specific moment though? Patience. It took about 15 minutes of hovering at the cleaning station until the grouper was confident enough to not just have its scales scrubbed, but open its mouth and let the underwater dentist do its daring job.
Where the shot was taken – you wonder? In Tulamben, Bali.
Today’s photo is a hairy shrimp from Bali. The shot was taken at the Liberty wreck in Tulamben.
The story behind the shot: Ylfa and I where diving with Wayan, our guide, at the Liberty wreck. Suddenly, Wayan kept pointing at something. I really tried hard to see something, but couldn’t figure out what he was trying to point at. Only when the shrimp moved slightly, I caught the movement and realized that it was a shrimp.
It turned out that ‘our’ shrimp was a really ‘big’ one, since it was pregnant. You can see its eggs shine through on the macro shot.
To give you an impression of context and size, I thought the second photo might be helpful. Enjoy!
So, here is the picture for the weekend. A tiny little pygmy seahorse, which we found diving in the Philippines at about 30m (100ft.) depth.
What’s interesting about this shot? You might have noticed the bright spots highlighting the coral in the background, which provides the picture with a special look, rarely seen on ‘regular’ pygmy pictures. How it was done? Quite simple: I detached my second flash from the camera, put it into slave-mode and Ylfa was positioning it top right behind the coral. It took three shots to get the positioning right.
So here is the shot for the weekend. It’s a sexy shrimp. No kidding – that’s what it is called according to wikipedia. But it’s also referred to as squat shrimp.
About the shot: In past years, I always wondered how the UW photo geeks and pros get that ‘alienated’, extraterrestrial look of the anemones. This time, I found out.
It took two flashes mounted on flash-arms at different lengths. With these you get the nice gleaming effect. Other equipment? Regular 100mm macro lens on a DSLR. That sexy shrimp posing for me? Priceless!
Location of the shot: Pintuyan Dive Resort.
