Longnosed Hawkfish

These guys are incredibly hard to shoot. They are shy, and they move around a LOT even when they're behaving normally. This guy was in a hydrocoral at about 70' at the dropoff in Tulamben:

They're also hard to light as they are down inside the fan, so you can't get good side-lighting. Even though the fish are pretty big (5") a long macro lens with it's longer working distance is helpful. But then you need clear water and good strobe positioning to minimize backscatter...

Cheers

James

Here's another. I like the expression on the fish's face better, but don't like the distracting polyps in the foreground:

Cheers

James

The ones in the Red Sea are a bit bigger and I generally find them a bit more placid and easier to shoot. Like most skittish critters you find cooperative and uncooperative ones. The trick is not to waste time on the troublesome individuals!

Alex

Funny. I may have mentioned this earlier. There was one hanging around the fan where I was trying to shoot the pygmy seahorse, that I had to chase away a few times in fear of having it eat my subject.

Or if you have a camera with AF as good as mine then you try and shoot them free swimming. Hang on, that's too easy. How about 2 free swimming!

However despite my camera's skill, it is not a nice shot

Alex

Funny. I may have mentioned this earlier. There was one hanging around the fan where I was trying to shoot the pygmy seahorse, that I had to chase away a few times in fear of having it eat my subject.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You should have backed up a little when you were done and encouraged him to come back and finish the job. That would have made for a very unique pygmy shot...