Turtle Marsa Alam
Feb, 2014Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken in Marsa Alam, Egypt. Opposite our hotel we had a lovely bay for snorkelling, with a few baby eagle rays and this cheeky little baby turtle :)Time
We had just come back from two dives on the Hamada Wreck and decided we had not had enough of the beauty of the sea. So we grabbed our snorkelling gear and headed to the beach. At around 4pm i found our resident turtle chilling out on the sea bottom at around 15m.Lighting
January in Egypt means that it gets dark quickly so the sun was sitting very low in the sky. However this light as it does on land at this time of day adds a dreamy like quality to your photographs. Underwater is the same especially just under the surface. This fella however was sitting at 15m so i was worried about the loss of light.Equipment
The camera was a panasonic FT2 compact camera, and olympus underwater housing. The only other equipment i had was a mask, snorkel, fins and a large pair of lungs :)Inspiration
Inspiration came from the empathy that we have with certain animals like dolphins, turtles, whales, rays, etc. We recognise them easily and suddenly connect with them, as we recognise similarities with ourselves. So much more than a small fish as these pelagic animals have character, emotion and eyes that invite us in to say hello. Also i was inspired as it was not going to be an easy shot. The younger the turtle the more skittish they are, and diving is different so can move slowly and get the shot. However with snorkelling gear a turtle will just see as large predator swimming straight towards them, and they can swim a lot quicker than us :)Editing
I use Lightroom and photoshop as they are amazing programs to use together. My post processing as with all my photos is basic. I firstly i white balance, then i minimally change the brightness, colour and sharpness. Also with this shot I had to crop the photograph as i was never going to get close enough to my subject.In my camera bag
If i was taking a photograph today my equipment firstly starts with a full scuba unit which has been streamlined into what i need for taking photographs over years of diving. The camera equipment consists of an Olympus OMDEM5 which sits in a Nauticam underwater housing. Attached to this i have two arms with Inon z240 strobes and a FIT focus light. I also have a series of underwater light which i can use independently to light subject matter, foreground or background. My lenses consist of a panasonic 8mm, olympus 12-50, olympus 80mm and a Nauticam SMC convertor for the super macro. Other equipment i have is a Inon Snoot system, U/V filters and light for capturing Bio luminance in marine animals and some custom homemade filters, and tricks :)Feedback
I would not suggest to capture this type of photograph unless you have experience in free-diving, breath-holding or feel very comfortable duck diving. The subject matter was around 15m deep, and not accommodating at all. This Photograph was a real hunt, as i quickly worked out if the turtle could see me then it would bolt as i came close. This meant that i had to get down to 15m and free swim along the bottom using rocks etc for cover as i approached from behind. I then had to kick hard to get in front of the subject, then spin, frame and take the photograph. In the end i was very happy with the result, especially the clarity and the fins showing exactly where i was as they are pushing in the opposite direction. If i had another chance to re-take this photograph i would only wish that i could have both eyes in shot, but hay this is what makes us try harder :)
