Ashley_Missen

Sydney Day Octopus looking majestic

one of the 2 octopus that were posing for the camera on a dive at Julian rocks in Byron Bay

one of the 2 octopus that were posing for the camera on a dive at Julian rocks in Byron Bay
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OLYMPUS E-M1

settings

Aperture f/7.1 ISO 100 Shutter 1/200 Focal Length 12/1

upload_date

Nov, 2017

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1979

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+239

Awards

Contest Finalist in Picturing Aquatic Animals Photo Contest

Contest Finalist in My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol 6

Contest Finalist in Social Exposure Photo Contest Vol 12

Peer Award

+76

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Behind The Lens

Location

This shot was taken at the Julian Rock's dive site (nursery area) at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia on one of my regular dive trip to that site as it has best marine bio-diversities

Time

It was on the second dive of the day, around 9am and I had gone down first and was waiting for the rest of the divers to join me, and right under the boat while I was turning on my camera and getting everything ready I had two of these beautiful creatures show themselves right in front of me. will never forget this as such a rare treat, this shot is of the more playful of the two octopus and part of a sequence of shots I took for 20 odd minutes on that morning.

Lighting

the dive conditions were really good that day as the water visibility was about 20m and the dive site at that point is rather shallow at 12m allow for a bit of natural light and for the camera to meter a lot better, I use two external guide 32 strobe as water takes the colour out of everything depending on depth and distance of object from camera, so you have to get very close to get the good lighting and it helps if you point the camera upward to let more light in. the external strobe positioning is really important so you light the object but don't light the particles in the water and get lots of scatter in your shot.

Equipment

The was shot with an Olympus OM-D E-M1, 12mm F2.0 lens in a Nauticam NA-EM1 Housing with a 4.33" dome port for the wide angle lens, a FIX Neo 2000 lumens focus light and 2 x Sea & Sea YS-250 Pro Strobes linked to a flash trigger via fibre optic cables, the strobes strength are set manually, plus I have a Go Pro sitting on the housing so I can film the whole dive (yes I have the footage of this shot being taken and the colour changing the octopus did during the time I was taking shots

Inspiration

The Julian Rocks dive site is one of my favourite spot to dive because of the amazing marine life there, and for the chance to run are this larger species of octopus. these are one of my favourite marine creatures to take a photo of and when ever I come across one they become my many focus on that dive, I would normally spend at least 10 minutes with one when I do as it takes a while for then to get comfortable with you. this shot in particular I have want to get for a while as I normal have shot in mind for the animals I would come across at a given site. I this is what I pictured as dramatic octopus shot, by having a lot o blue water behind them and waiting for them to be a really bright colour, I like to visual a lot of shots before I go on a dive as you have to be read for anything and be able to act very quickly

Editing

I do use Adobe Photoshop a little bit and that is normal to remove any particles from the water that show up as scatter from the flash, sometimes you also have to colour correct a bit because of the water taking the colour out, but I try to get a close as possible, and than a bit close as you want to shot through the minimum amount of water and get the photo right in the camera as much as possible

In my camera bag

On Dive trips I only have 2 lens in my bag with the Camera, a 12mm F2.0 with a really good minimum focus distance (the front of the dome port) and a 60mm macro lens, I have the dome port for the wide angle lens and a macro flat port for the macro lens, the macro port also has a flipper designed to hold a wet lens for when you want the really really small creatures, I normally have a +10 or a +15 wet lens on that. the rest of the bag is fill up with the housing and chargers to support all the parts listed in the equipment in this shot part as you need those strobe for underwater photography

Feedback

learn about your camera and it minimum focus capabilities as you want to get really close. but more importantly learn about the animals you want to photograph, their behaviours, how to interact with them safely so you don't upset them and they can feel comfortable with you and what you are doing, be relaxed and enjoy the experience you have with this beautiful creatures, pre-visualize your shots and be ready for everything to change on you, don't be disheartened by early fails with shots as it is a very fluid environment you are working in and you have to be able to response quickly when things become available. I have been taking underwater photography for over 13 years now and I still have so much to learn and I keep trying to improve what I do. Get close, I mean really close, the less water you shoot through the better, use external strobe/s and learn how to position them.

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Ashley_Missen

Ashley_Missen

Sydney Day Octopus looking majestic

one of the 2 octopus that were posing for the camera on a dive at Julian rocks in Byron Bay

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow Ashley_Missen

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