Seahorse in a haystack

Subject: This seahorse was probably no bigger than an inch (2,5 cm). We found it while we were lost, swimming over a desert-like area in search for the reef that we were supposed to dive on. At a certain point we decided to give up our search and just enjoy the dive. After all, muck dives were our favourite kind back when we lived in Bali. It paid off to slow down and look around because suddenly my eye fell on this tiny critter that was hanging around in the middle of this endless plain of sand… a needle in a haystack if you will…

Technique: In order to not to disturb this little one too much I turned my strobes to low power and kept my diaphragm wider as I normally would shooting such a small creature. I took very few images for the same reason. Luckily this seahorse was quite cooperative since it did not turn away from the camera or play dead like -in my experience- many of them do when confronted with a camera.

Whiteblotched Grouper

Subject: The Whiteblotched Grouper (Epinephelus multinotatus) can grow up to 1m/3ft in length. The adults of this species prefer deeper water while the juveniles are more likely to be seen in shallower areas.

Te chnique: On the day we filmed this animal the water was full of suspended particles. In post-production a noise-reducing generator removed the vast majority of this marine snow as it is often called. Because grainy footage (often the result of a too high ISO) and marine snow are look-a-likes to the editing software, these generators can be used to remove the unwanted particles, often with surprisingly good results.

Anker’s Whip Coral Shrimp

Subject: Anker’s Whip Coral Shrimp (Pontonides ankeri) is a small shrimp that lives solely on whip coral species. Females are usual twice to three times the size of the males. One whip coral will only host a single pair of these commensal shrimps.

Technique: Movement is important in video, without movement an image will be boring after less than 5 seconds. This little shrimp was moving around the coral so unhurriedly that it took him more than 30 seconds to crawl not even halfway around the tiny coral twig. So besides a little boost in saturation and contrast, the footage was sped up two-fold.