Shooting schools of barracudas

Hi folks!

I have the pleasure of 1/ being in vacations 2/ in avery nice resort (Villa Alba, Bali), whose house reef hosts a school of young barracudas (about 200 i'd say) who i meet on each dive.

Obviously i try to take wide angle pics of the school (currently shootimg micro 4/3, with a 9-18mm lens) but just like any shot of barracudas school, i am not satisfied with what i am getting.

I usually manage to get the barras pretty well aligned, but them they are not all lit the same, some are too bright some not. They easily get burned (contrast too high vs the dart blue water background).

I wish i could post some pics but internet connection is too slow here.

Would you habe any advice on how to get great barracudas shots?

Maybe reduce flash output (but this won't help with heterogeneous lighting)? Maybe shoot ambiant light?

My opportunities to shoot them again are limited as wifey keeps telling me about the great small stuff that she finds while i play in the blue, ans sooner or later we'll switch to macro... (I am the wide angle person).

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Cheers

Nicolas

Baracudas in the blue is a tricky fish to shoot as they are rather reflective and the nearest ones burn out.

1° You should position yourself that you have them alineatet all on the same distance
2° reduce the strobe power to expose the nearest ones right or a little underexposed to avoid burn out the light parts

3° you should use mainly ambient light and use the strobe just to lighten them enough to isolate them from the background

4° having the sun in your back will help greatly to iluminate them by the sun and you may shoot only in ambient light

5° shooting them against the sun creat spectacular photos, but you need to consider hints 1-3 and master your strobe output

6° if they are stationary and not shy you may switch to spot metering to get the nearest/lightest one exposed right while the farer ones get graduately underexposed

You rather underexpose a bit and later adjust brightness, shadows and highlits on the computer than burning the whites.

Chris

Hey Nicholas

Good advice I'd say from Chris. They aren't easy - like tarpon. Anything silver is a challenge. Like Chris, I tend to go with ambient light and, if anything, underexpose so as to not burn out the highlights. Then, err tweak the exposures a bit....

Sounds great out there!

Definitely shoot barracudas with strobes. With ambient light they look dead. Use strobes at half power and long wide arms minimum 8+8 in combination with ambient light. If they are not swimming fast even 1/60 will be ok. The 9-18 lens you have is too narrow to get a good size schools so you will end up far and the light will only illuminate a few of them in the centre. Go for a fisheye lens for the school.

Few examples of barracudas and snappers both reflective fish shot with fisheye and semi fisheye lenses

https://flic.kr/p/obbFzZ

https://flic.kr/p/uEsZDY

thanks all for the great advice!

@Chris & Tim, #3 and #4 are very inspiring, i'll definitely try to benefit from natural lighting as much as possible. And yes, kiss of flash rather than full blast against a dark background seem more appropriate.

@Interceptor121, i am definitely aiming for strobes indeed, it feels like something is missing otherwise. I like your barracuda shot, indeed the front ones aren't overexposed, and the next ones are gradually less exposed, and the gradation is not disturbing (since they're well aligned).

cheers

Nicolas

Sorted eh, Nicolas? We expect to see cracking images now.

Have a great time!

If the only lens you have is the 9-18mm I think you are better off shooting wall to wall into the school. You can also attempt that with a macro or midrange zoom lens. You bring the strobes forward and those 3/5 fish you get in the frame come perfectly lit. Even at 9mm the field of view is too narrow you will be so far away from the school that the strobes will have no effect other than hotspots or backscatter

Thanks both. I am now back home and had no opportunity to shoot the barras with macro/mid-range zoom, but i do have some barras at home (bit more rare though), so i can try this advice here.

I will post some barras pics here after the sorting!

Cheers

Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk