Taking Fish Photos III
Taking Fish Photos III
Written by Friday, 12 July 2002 02:00
Examples of Underwater Photography
Once you get un underwater camera, the first thing you do is to read the manual, try the basics, charge the batteries, get a huge compact flash memory (a 256 MB module in my case; a total of 500 MB for both cameras) and get to the sea. Nature has already prepared thousands of interesting images for you, some of them will look new although you have seen them hundreds of times in the past. Indeed, you can choose to take a closer look at the places you used to swim for years. When you are holding a camera, every rock, every anemone, fish or invertebrate looks interesting. You notice colors and shadows, texture and behavior you have never observed before. Even that same old rock seems different. That is where I was on that Sunday morning.. mainly to learn how to use this camera undewater..
The Serranus scriba (Lettered perck) uses its markings to hide in the bottom vegetation. I have seen this fish hundreds of times. Still, the first time I saw it in my monitor it was like a new species. Depth = 40 cm.
A huge school of Chromis chromis are just enjoying a nice summer day. Found at depths of 2-6 m the sight of those schools is very usual. The fact that the chromis chromis is not edible combined with over fishing the natural enemies of this fish has allowed this species to reproduce in huge numbers. Focusing is a tricky thing here.. but I will think of something. Depth = 3 meters.
The vivid red colors of Echinaster sepositus contrast with the pastel background of the rocky habitat. I was really happy when I made the comparison with the photos of the same species in my tank. You see, I really couldn't tell the difference. Depth = 1 meter.
The Thalassoma pavo (turkish wrasse) is - perhaps - the most colorful fish of the Mediterranean sea. This photo shows a young specimen found in shallow waters (depth = 50 cm).
This sponge is the same species as the one I have in my tanks. Very common near the coast. Depth = 4 meters.
This male Tripterygion tripteronotus is lurking on the rock for any female that comes close. Its bright red coloration makes it easily visible. When they meet courting will start immediately. Depth = 50 cm. Of course, some times things don't work out the expected way.
This is exactly what we saw today (end of July 2002) when we got to the sea. Of course, we decided to give it a try and thought that by going 30 meters off shore things could be better. However, this kind of waves stir the sandy bottom and lower visibility to a mere 50 cm! On top of that, swimming against them is a very tiresome business. It takes more than 10 minutes to get 30 meters off shore - carrying all the equipment.
After fighting with the waves for about half an hour, it was evident that these conditions would not allow us to take any pictures (and of course collect anything). In fact, we even tried to get to the bottom but the extremely low visibility made this very dangerous since we couldn't see the rocks until it was almost too late. Already tired, we decided that the only wise thing to do was to turn around and get out of the water, which was by itself quite a task.
So yes, this was one of the very few days that MCH was literally "grounded". You can see the lead weights, the huge hand net (more than 50 cm), the swimming suit and of course the frustration. A perfect, warm summer day just ruined. June 28, 2002, photos by John and George Reclos.
Related Articles: Techniques for Taking Underwater Photos by J. G. Reclos.
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