Long Nose Hawkfish & Gorgonian Coral

This image was captured on one of our trips to Bali this year. Bali has fantastic macro subjects as well as wide angle. Although I have photographed these fish a number of times on this occasion my goal was to capture an image with a blue background instead of the usual black background common to most macro images. These fish will tolerate a careful close approach if you take it slow and have good buoyancy skills. If they move, wait quietly, often they return to the same perch on the coral.

Photo Data: Genre: Macro. Nikon D200, 60mm macro lens, Seacam Housing & Dual Seacam Sea Flash 150 strobes, ISO 100, Manual Exposure Mode. Combined Sunlight & Strobe Exposure f22 @ 1/8 th second. Image by Kevin Deacon.

Photo Hints: Sharp macro photos are best achieved by using a very small aperture setting. On a DSLR lens this is F22 or F32. To achieve the correct exposure for the sunlight which ensures a blue background I had to use a very slow shutter speed therefore any photographer or subject movement would blur the picture. The photographer must be exceptionally steady to prevent movement blur when shooting such images. On a compact camera the smallest aperture is F8 however this is suitable for sharp macro images with compacts.

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