How do you photograph jellys?

Last weekend I found this comb jelly at San Miguel and struggled to get a decent image. You could see the cilia doing its characterisitc space alien light show. I was completely unable to get the colors. I am not really happy with this image since the DOF is a little too shallow. I tried to get the light behind it in hopes that it would help provide some contrast. How do others deal with nearly transparent subjects?

I've had some success with jellies and other clear critter pics with higher F-stops, creating more DoF and faster shutter speeds to black out the background and make the jelly "pop" a little more. I think strobe placement is pretty important to try to get the reflected light from inside the critter to make it look like it's "emitting it's own light".

I also like a good deep blue background when possible by shooting up at the critter with similar settings.

Just a few thoughts,

John

hey steve, glad you made it to san miguel

I like to photo jellies with my tokina 10-17, close to the dome port, small aperature, position your strobes for sidelighting/backlighting as much as possible. pre-focus on your hand first, then switch off auto-focus if possible.

those comb jellies are pretty common, so get back out there and try again!

scott

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been trying to get the sun behind them to get back lighting. Perhaps I could simulate the effect by getting my strobe behind it. I would have to take it off of the arm, but that isn't a problem.

I think the light they produce is so weak that even small amount of strobe light just overwhelms it. Maybe it could be captured without strobes?

I'm not sure they actually produce light (could be though). The light show you see is the reflection of light on the ciliata (combs), that consist of little "hairs".

Steve, thanks for posting this topic. I replied to one of your posts a few months ago about some other jelly you were shooting out here. I asked the same question about how you got such good focus. Seems that question got lost somewhere. Anyway, I'll follow the recommendations above to see what I can get. Good luck and glad you could get to Miguel!

Pat,

The previous thread was here UFO?. I haven't had any problem getting good focus on them, but I have had problem separating out the background. As you can tell, my most successful attempts have been to backlight them with the sun, but several people suggested trying sidelight with an underexposed background. I think I will give that a try the next time I see them. Actually on this dive, I saw a red Medusa just as I jumped in the water, before I got the camera set up properly. By the time I was ready, it was gone in the current.