Best Selling Great White Shark

This image of a five meter female Great White shark and my fellow photographers in the cage was captured on my first trip to the Neptune Islands off Port Lincoln, South Australia. Since then it has been published Worldwide in books and magazines, often on front covers including Readers Digest and BBC Wildlife Magazine. It was also used as a giant poster at most Australian Airports to launch Telstra Broadband. It has been my single highest money earner in royalties. Capturing this image involved a slight risk, I had my head, arms & camera outside the cage window to follow the action. I wasn't worried about the shark in front of me, it was its mate that circled nearby outside my view that concerned me!

Photo Data: Nikon F3 Film camera, Aquatica Housing, 8 Inch Dome Port with 18 MM lens. Kodachrome 64 Film, F5.6 @ 1/250 second. Image by Kevin Deacon.

Photo Hints: A wide angle lens is essential and the close up action is fast so a motor drive is really helpful. In these shooting situations I use aperture priority mode so the camera can automatically adjust the shutter speed for exposure. I check the light meter constantly to ensure the shutter speeds are always 1/250 second or faster to prevent movement blur. Adjustment of your Aperture setting or your ISO is necessary to ensure this. As your cameras light meter will always be fooled by the dark body of these sharks you will need to use some minus EV to prevent over exposure.

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