Manipulating underwater subjects

I think the key is the species of octopus and the pose that it is in. Very few species will swim in the water column voluntarily. They will swim along the bottom.

There was a 'fad" a few years ago that involved picking octopus up and dropping them, in order to obtain images of them "falling" in the water column. These were roundly condemned at the time and I guess I was hoping that we had moved beyond this type of image.

The free swimming Octopus that I was able to get the picture of was a blue ring octopus. It was moving from one soft coral to another, with the blue rings turned on. There were no other divers nearby. On that dive there was only me and a bored DM, and the DM was 50 yards in front of me acting impatient, so really it was a solo dive. The Octopus was far enough in front of me that I'm sure I did not drive it.

On another occasion I saw a larger octopus of unknown species swim into a barrel sponge then swim off and hide in a hole. I saw a mimic acting like a sea snake. The preceeding were all in Puerto Galera/Sabang, Philippines. In Cayman brac on a night dive from the beach I saw a larger octpus of unknown species swimming from one place to another in what seemed to me to be a hunting pattren.

I think you're missing the point here Don. It's one thing to see some Octopus species moving from one point of cover to another. But for a benthic species like a Mimic or Wonderpus

to head up into water column goes entirely against the predisposition of such species. Its not that Octopus can't swim up, it just goes against there evolved form and behaviors. The

few occasions I have personally witnessed an octopus free swimming were all due to it feeling under pressure. In all instances the octopus went to ground as soon as it could. Such

instances are extremely rare to be a photo oppurtunity as they happen very quickly and the octopus nearly always are heading rapidly away, escaping.

What is clear, is that competitors in such shootouts are under self made pressure to get wow shots in a short space of time. For some obviously the image comes before the needs

of the subject being photographed. Shame if a website promoting underwater macro photography would actively promote an anything goes attitude. Even worse if it were to then

suppress any discussion to the contrary.

Cheers,

Jim.

This should not be focused on the octopus fad, as there are many more, and probably worse examples around. There are a number of fully pelagic octopus and several mainly benthic species do now and then swim, so an occasional picture of a swimming octopus can obviously happen. Blueringed will often swim, so no problems there. The octopus problem is that the coolest pictures of swimming, or rather parachuting octopus (an octopus slowly floating down towards the substrate), are of more or less strictly bottom dwelling species such as mimics or wunderpus. Rare things can and will happen in nature, but the amount of such pictures that are perfectly lit and composed are just way to many. Several of my friends have thousands of dives in parts of the world where these octopus are quite common, and have no such pictures in their collections. Jim and Adam have more or less covered that, so I will not continue that debate.

Jim really points to the bigger picture here. Big Facebook sites with many members will without doubt affect beginners behaviors and expectations. If the discussion on ethics in reef diving, or even more important ethics when doing underwater photography is suppressed, or even worse, more or less forbidden, I fear that we are in for quite some trouble in the future. As an example, several times during the last couple of years discussions on not allowing cameras on Sipadan have been raised. I would hate that to happen, and to spread to other areas, but I wouldn't bet against it.

I watched it all waiting for my turn at the pygmy.

Do you have a point to make in quoting my post?

It's quite common etiquette for photographers to wait while someone else takes a few shots, and also to not monopolize a subject. I expected the other group to move on after a few minutes. Finger wagging and signs between our respective DMs had no effect on them. When they hassled the subject for an inordinate amount of time it was clear that it would have been cruel to take any shots myself.

But please do let me hear your suggestions on dealing with such a situation, as it is unfortunately not an uncommon one.

Suppose a photographer spots a mimic on a sandy bottom and looking around see the hole that is likely the hidy-hole for the mimic. Would it be ok to block the entrance to the hole to keep the octopuss out for more pictures?

Hi Don,

My thoughts are that it would not be OK to deliberately prevent any animal for reaching sanctuary if it wishes to do so. I could understand if it happened inadvertently but if it is deliberate, this is a negative interaction.

Adam