Sea life photography may be taken with all types of equipment, from extension tubes to wide angle lenses. There are many ways to sea life photography. Identification photographs, for instance, show a side view with all the animal's parts in proper proportions. There are photographs of animals in action (feeding, schooling, or swimming), and there are photos that picture the animal in its habitat. But the most common, and perhaps the most striking, type of creature photograph is the portrait.
The portrait photograph captures not only the way the animal looks but something of its personality as well. The portrait photographer's goal is to create an image that communicates the animal's expression and temperament. In short, a successful portrait conveys character.
There are some important concepts that influence sea life photography. The animal in the photograph should seem to be aware of the viewer and its expression should communicate some aspect of its personality. In order to achieve this, the photographer should approach the animal as if attempting to carry a conversation.
In sea life photography, the portrait should "speak" to the viewer, and there are several unwritten rules about conducting a conversation. You do not converse with a person while looking down at the top of his head or while looking at the back of his head. Nor do you conduct a conversation with someone while inspecting his tail or the animal is swimming away from you. The eyes are the primary importance.
When the viewer looks at the photograph, the animal's eyes should be the first thing the viewer notices when looking at the photograph. For this reason, the eyes must be very prominent in the photograph. The eyes must also be the point of critical focus. If the eyes are soft, then the photograph will be unpleasant to look at and must take its rightful place in the round file.
To carry out good sea life photography, the depth of field must be manipulated so that the eye and everything in front of the eye is in focus. If the eye is sharp but the face of the animal forward of the eye is soft, the softness will be very distracting. The area behind the animal's eye can go out of focus without much loss of impact. Generally, getting the eye and the facial features forward of the eye in focus is not a very scientific process. You simply focus on the eye, and depth of field will take care of the rest.
Camera Angle
Another very important concept is your physical relationship to the subject, which is expressed in the camera angle you choose. It is a well-known fact that tall people have a psychological advantage over shorter people in conversations. Teachers and ministers on raised podiums have extra power over their audiences simply because they are situated above them. This concept can be used in animal portraiture. If you want the photograph to have added power and impact, then make the animal appear to stand above you in the frame. If the animal is above you in the photograph, it will appear to be a towering monster that might gobble you up at the slightest provocation. But if you above the animal and looking down at it, the creature become something small and negligible that you could easily step on.
Lighting
Lighting can be a problem in portraits. Because most portraits are taken at close range, artificial light is often used to allow small apertures and increased depth of field. The use of one strobe will generally illuminate one side of the animal's head while leaving the other in a very harsh shadow. Or, if the strobe is held directly above the subject, there will be a very large dark shadow below the animal's chin. This is why portraits taken at close range with extension tubes or reflex macro system are best taken with two strobes.
Each strobe should be positioned to one side and above the animal so that light comes down at 45 degree angles on either side of the creature's face. One strobe should be powered down or moved further away than the other so that at the subject, the brightness ratio between the two strobes is about 2:1. This ratio will produce soft shadows on one side of the animal's face and highlights on the other.
In situations where there is plenty of ambient light (as in the tropics) or where the animal is large enough to allow the use of a wide-angle lens, one strobe can be used as a fill light. The fill light will fill in the colors and remove shadows on one side of the face while ambient light softens shadows on the other. In this case, a light meter should be used to determine the ambient light exposure. Then strobe power should be manipulated to balance the two exposures.
I'm Mike Chua, Do visit my site for more articles and information on underwater photography
http://www.worldofunderwatercamera.com/CFWA
