Grey Nurse sharks

Hey guys I have attached a couple of shots of Grey Nurse sharks from Byron Bay Australia. I have had the chance to shoot these sharks on quite a few occasions and although I like the shots I am having trouble to get that great shot.

So I would love some constructive criticism. Cheers

I'm not too sure how to improve on your first image: it looks pretty good to me!

I guess it's about photographing in the same way, but getting some different angles on the shark, even lower down, perhaps. A portrait format sometimes works. The images look a little dark, but that could be my monitor; the water in the background might have better colour if you can shoot with the sun over your shoulder. Here a few thoughts from diving with lemon sharks in the Bahamas:

I don't think that they're any better than yours, but I quite like the blue backgrounds on the landscapes and the gorgonian on the portrait.

I suspect that the great image is the one where the shark opens wide, and says "Aahhhh"! That's a matter of endless patience and getting very waterlogged, I suspect...

Tim

Nice shots Matt, nothing wrong with them, although the second one may have a touch too much light in his face (or it could be my monitor too). As Tim said, shooting up into them can look quite good, especially if you can catch a sunball in the shot (like a lot of Mark's shots from down there).

Ryan.

Hi Matt,

When the weather clears up and we get good vis again, come down during the week and I will take you out and show you. But the way we are going with the rain and weather that might be 2011!

Regards Mark

Cheers for the tips guys. I think the shot I am after is to capturing some cool behaviour like it eating something so I think I just need to get in the water more or stab my buddy with my knife lol .

Mark I will try to come down during the week but like you said the weather is so crap, it sucks.

As you know Matt I shoot alot of Grey Nurse shark pics with my Favourite Tokina 10-17mm always on 10mm behind a 8 inch Aquatica dome. I have my strobes (Ikelite DS125 replaced now with DS161) out wide on the end of two 8 inch ULCS bouyancy arms with strobes firing at full power. As a General rule I start shooting with f8 and 1/125th, depending on how either bright, clear, or deep the water is and also how close the sharks are getting to me.

I think to get great shots of GNS you have to learn how to dive with them so you can get into position and be at the right spot at the right time. I always have success with approaching them by moving in slowly with good control and move along as close to the bottom if not on the bottom as I can. I see far too many times people approaching GNS only a couple of feet off the bottom and seeing GNS turn away when I have been on the bottom shooting them for a few minutes. Bad bouyancy and swimming with the hands is a sure way of scaring them away. Also groups of divers is another sure way to scar them away. Some days they are not in the mood and doesnt matter what you do they move away from divers.

I often see that GNS have a pattern to which the move around. I think they get comfotable with an area and like doing laps around their favourite track so to speak. Often I have laid on the bottom and had particular shark swim by and racked up a few shots and then no sharks for a few minutes then followed by the same shark doing circle work. This is great when you find a nice comfortable spot as you can settle yourself down and not disturb the sharks as they are swimming by and you have already worked out your camera settings for the next series of shots. Most times they get comfortable with you being there and approach really close.

Seek out the Sharks which are really comfortable with you. You might come along a group of GNS and find that there are one or two in particular arnt bothered at all by your presense and you can approach them and swim along right next to them and take a whole series of shots without scaring them at all. I have had some of these sharks actually follow me around for most of the dive and have provided me with some excellent shots. Having this type of interaction provides one with an experience far more than just a simple dive with your camera and often or not reflects in the shots you take.

Here a few shots of my many GNS which I like:

Regards Mark

Mouths, teeth, movement and great angles on the action: very nice, Mark!

Tim

Mark, your 3rd shot with the fishes schooling around the the nurse sharks is really stunning.

Is it a shot on your flickr stream?

Damien

Hi Damien,

Yes it should be there somewhere. There are alot of really cool Grey Nurse with schooling fish shots from last year. I see if I can find some of the better examples.

Regards Mark