Wide angle macro

OK, sometimes you never have the right lens. A herd of Bumpalos (bumphead parrots) swam by. You do what you can; flank strobes out, set to full power, open up aperture. Taken with 105mm macro lens on cropped sensor. At least I didn't have a diopter on it.

Well if this was the wrong lens then you did a great job making the best of it as I very much like the shot. I would be interested to know what kind of distance you were from the parrots. Composition-wise it would have been nice if it had only been the two parrots on the right, but another lens wouldn't have helped you with that.

Bart

I was about 10-12 feet away. 3-4 meters

A while ago I asked about the maximum tolerable working distance and most considered it to be about 50cm. I'm sure your picture would have gained in detail and possibly colour if you had been able to get that close but I think this one worked out pretty well anyway. Do you think there were special conditions to make this work: exceptional visibility, shallow depth with lots of ambient light and some remaining red...?

I've just booked a trip to Bonaire for Jan 6-20 and would like to experiment with shallow water strobe-free/filter close-up tele photography (2-6ft, 100-270mm). One application of interest would be to observe and capture fish behavior while staying far enough away not to disturb them. It may even be possible to shoot some short low-resolution video clips with my Canon 20D. The goal is to do this with a Canon 135mm F2.0L lens. This lens is said to be superb topside. Will be interesting to see what it can do UW. I've not found any messages on use of this lens UW so it's going to be a bit of a gamble but in combination with extension tubes and TCs I think it has potential. Anyone out there with hands-on experience? If so tips are welcome.

Bart

good job on it.... buffaloes are a tough fish to light

you wouldn't believe how often i just watch mantas go overhead when i have the 105...

But, i do use it to shoot sharks at times... works ok for head shots

you wouldn't believe how often i just watch mantas go overhead when i have the 105...

Sorry mate, can't have any pities for you for missed one manta shot B)

A good friend had this situation exact, big manta & 105, the only different is that it was in the golf of Ababa where a manta is watch once a year maybe, not in yap!

Do you think there were special conditions to make this work: exceptional visibility, shallow depth with lots of ambient light and some remaining red...?

1) Very shallow with a lot of light which allowed f/8 or so with a reasonable shutter speed. 2) Photoshop

I've never had much luck shooting ambient with the 105 or the 60mm even though I've tried. Shooting even longer lenses from distance are near impossible because you can't get a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action because you can't hold the lens still enough.

I've shot the 200mm macro underwater. I easily spent 10 minutes getting one in-focus shot. Your arms can get pretty tired, too. Back then I had two SS200 strobes stretched out to the end of the port. I could have used a port mounted monopod.

Thanks Scorpio Fish,

Based on your comments and earlier remarks by Alex and others it seems I'm in for a challenge using a 135mm lens with ambient light. But given the reasons for the challenge, getting short enough shutter times, I think that if there is a lens to make this work then the 135mm F2 is a good choice. The consensus is that you can shoot it wide open at F2 and still get excellent image quality. If needed I can also use the low noise of the Canon 20D to boost the ISO setting. If it all fails then I have at least found an excuse to buy a superb top-side lens

Bart

I had a similar experience in Kona. We saw a school of Heller's Barracuda swim by when I was using my 105. I ended up with this shot, which I actually kinda liked. It forced me to compose the shot differently than I normally would have.

I think that's a nice shot of the bumphead parrots - certainly shows the mouth and teeth with which they devour hard coral (i.e., it's useful to show non-divers that...and the way they travel in herds/packs.

If the water is clear enough, there's no reason NOT to take a shot like that when you have a macro lens on IMHO. I was surprised to get this one with a 100mm macro lens (not a great shot, and needs the backscatter cleaned off with PS, but worth keeping nonetheless):