Arrow blenny

I recently returned from a whale shark trip (aboard the Peter Hughes boat) in Belize. Three days of blue water diving at Gladden Spit yielded no whale shark encounters, so the trip was very disappointing, and my wide angle lenses were hardly used at all (except to shoot the other 16 divers in our group swimming aimlessly about in blue water!).

The one bright spot of the trip for me was my first ever arrow blenny, which I coincidentally encountered on the first dive where I tried using a 2X Kenko TC with my Canon 100mm macro lens. BTW, I didn't expect the 100mm lens to auto-focus with the TC, but it (light permitting) actually AF'd quite well.

Anyway, I spent about 5 minutes with this little guy, and took about 20 photos, but this one, where he opened his mouth momentarily, was by far my favorite. I decided it was pretty ironic that my favorite shot on a whale shark trip was a 1-inch macro critter!

You can see the few other decent photos I got on this trip at: My Belize photos

Great capture, especially for diving with a microscope! Even more amazing if that isn't a crop. I'm not sure I could even find one of those in the frame, let alone compose the shot that way. I also like the secretary blenny with dual strobe glints in his eye.

Great capture, especially for diving with a microscope! Even more amazing if that isn't a crop. I'm not sure I could even find one of those in the frame, let alone compose the shot that way. I also like the secretary blenny with dual strobe glints in his eye.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm afraid I did crop it, but it WAS tough to find in the frame. I used AF to get focus in the "ballpark" and then had to move the camera back and forth until the little guy "seemed" (couldn't tell for sure) in focus. About 3/4 of the shots actually WEREN'T in focus, but a few were, and fortunately, one of them was this one with his mouth open.

As for the secretary blenny, I actually didn't notice the strobe reflections in its eyes until you pointed it out! THANKS!

haha! Great shot Bruce!

Too bad about the sharks....

Sorry to hear about the no-show sharks. But I guess if these things were easy then it wouldn't be as much fun.

Nice arrow blenny. That is the first time I have seen one in a mouth open pose.

Glad to see the advice was helpful:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13256

Alex

Sorry to hear about the no-show sharks. But I guess if these things were easy then it wouldn't be as much fun.

 

Nice arrow blenny. That is the first time I have seen one in a mouth open pose.

 

Glad to see the advice was helpful:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13256

 

Alex

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, the advice to take a macro lens proved to be very good (I think I'm finally to the point where I'll never travel without one!).

It IS interesting that you don't always see on a trip what you "envision" ahead of time. I had imagined whale sharks on every dive, and contemplated which lens I would use first, and next, and which lens(es) I'd use with a Magic Filter rather than strobes, etc., etc. In the end, I might as well have used a friggin super-macro lens WITH a Magic Filter on most dives!

Just so you can appreciate my view for three straight days, this was it: