TerryGoss-viewbugadds-12
Scarred blue shark (Prionace glauca), off the coast of Rhode Island; the midday sun was rather bright, and unfortunately highlights the scratches on my dome por...
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Scarred blue shark (Prionace glauca), off the coast of Rhode Island; the midday sun was rather bright, and unfortunately highlights the scratches on my dome port - many caused by this little guy's siblings earlier in the day....
Nikon D300 w-Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye, Aquatica housing
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Nikon D300 w-Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye, Aquatica housing
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Jan, 2013Views
1758
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Awards
Member Selection Award
Featured
Krishna_Kumar
August 07, 2013
Cant say much about this shot, as I am quite speechless. Simply stunning and amazing! Congrats on being featured!
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Platinum
Platinum
Platinum
AlanJakarta
August 07, 2013
Superb capture of this awesome predator. Congratulations on being featured.
elfiedwards
August 07, 2013
please tell me you were in a cage? :-) personally I probably would have dropped my camera out of shock, so thank you for being not scared and for sharing this image with us, great! and many congrats on being featured!:-)
Platinum
loriblackburn
November 21, 2014
Amazing shot of one of the few things in this life that I am completely terrified of!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Just off the southern coast of Rhode island, about 40-50 miles or so?Time
The weather that week was great, and it typically only took a few hours or so for the first sharks to appear after the early morning chumming. Blue sharks are pretty bold & sociable, so we usually spent all day in the water, only getting out to eat & drink or give others some targeted time with a few sharks. Not sure of the exact time off hand, as I would be in there shooting from about 10am until we left, around 5pm.Lighting
Pelagic sharks - like blues and makos - are typically photographed on snorkel, as they're plenty happy to hang out by the surface, and bulky scuba gear not only slows you down but can seriously spook the sharks (especially makos). Lighting is therefore pretty straightforward - smaller apertures for the hard sunlight on their backs, and just enough strobefill underneath to light their snouts & bellies without totally blowing out the highlights (which is really easy = they're white!). It's best to try to keep the sun to your back, but it's more important to keep the boat to your back so you can focus on what's in front of you - hint: it's lots of sharks - but there are a lot of ways to play with different lighting angles.Equipment
I usually travel with two Nikon D300 bodies, Aquatica housing, Sea & Sea YS90 strobes on Ultralight arms & clamps, Nikkor 12-24mm, and for this trip I was shooting my old Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye.Inspiration
My friends were running trips off the coast of Rhode Island, and I thought, "sure, I don't have any blue sharks in my portfolio yet...". So off we went, and made blues one of my all-time favorites. They're like living cartoons with their exaggerated features, but stunningly beautiful when the sunlight hits the deep, glowing blue on their backs.Editing
This one was terribly overexposed, but people seemed to like it because of the dramatic backlighting and the scarred snarl of this particular shark's mouth. I did some spot-removal, played with the contrast a bit, and tamed the highlights as much as I could. There are better shots from this trip, but people seem to like the vibe of this one so I tried to pretty it a bit.In my camera bag
When I'm at home or about the neighborhood, I only use an iPhone. For traveling, I'm stuck with baggage fees: I have a 50-pound Pelican case for the underwater rig & parts, and carry two Nikon D300 bodies in my backpack, usually along with my Nikkor 18-200mm, 105mm macro, 12-24mm, and the killer Tokina 10-17mm fisheye (- though this image was taken with my old fisheye, the Nikkor 10.5mm). Then there's all the dive gear, and as a result I travel with very little clothing or non-essentials.Feedback
Much more important than anything photography-related, when swimming openly with sharks (sometimes lots of sharks) you MUST be comfortable swimming with sharks! Not just comfortable in the water, and being a strong swimmer and all that, but you're going to have to constantly keep your eyes forward, and your head turning, never getting zoned-out on any particular thing. Even while maintaining a constant 360-degree vigil, I would still have sharks peeking through between my legs, or suddenly appearing to my side, out of nowhere. Tweak your settings on the boat, and use the camera as a blocking device, and try your best to angle your shots 'from the hip', as opposed to framing in the viewfinder - you MUST keep your eyes on the sharks.
