AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Photographs Tips What's wrong with this picture?

Here's a common mistake: The subject is lost in the clutter. In this case, Mr. Moray is hard to find against the background of the reef substrate. As Robert Cappa said "if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough"[1].

Sometimes when shooting wildlife, however, the subject won't let you get close enough. This is one of the times when I wish I had a housed SLR with a long lens. With a single lens reflex you can focus accurately, even with high magnification lenses. That means that you can get a frame-filling shot without physically getting too close.

Dab


Note 1. Robert Cappa was a Time-Life photographer back in the day, best known for his D-Day photograph of The Face in the Surf. He died after stepping on a land mine during the 1st Indochina, or French-Vietnam War, proving that there's a fine line between "not close enough" and "too close".

Makes a good case for using a rebreather!

A request to Marty (there's nowhere else to make it - sorry Dan for hijacking your post!).

Can you arrange it so that either in this section, or in a new section next to it, it's possible to make posts (concerning photography) which don't have a picture attached? From time to time there is a need, and currently such a thread can only go under general Chat.

http://scubalessonsbelize.blogspot.com/2007/11/meet-oscar.html#links
distracted by the shrimp

yeah Peter got that added....

//ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/47/1/Photo_Chat.html

Dan
Yes, it is hard to separate living things from their background as they are usually pretty good at camouflage.

In looking at your picture I have to wonder if you could have gotten below the subject off to the other side. It looks like there was enough room there. If you could get under the eel maybe you could have gotten open water behind him.

One of the things I like about eels is their inability to see well and how you can tease them out by making them curious. The great shots that make people think they are dangerous show them with their mouths wide open. I've been told that they 'see by smelling. I find if I push my camera towards them, then pull it back they often will follow it out.