Turtle Resting On The Reef (FA)
While diving in Roatan, Honduras, came across this Hawksbill Turtle resting on the reef against a Sea Fan.
While diving in Roatan, Honduras, came across this Hawksbill Turtle resting on the reef against a Sea Fan.
Read less
Read less
Jun, 2022Views
63
Likes
Awards
Summer Views Award
Flawless Summer Award
Achievement in Originality
Top Pick Award
Staff Favorite
Halfway22 Award
Peer Award
Top Ranks
Top 20 rank week 1
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on the reef around Roatan Island, Honduras.Time
The photograph was shoot at 2:30 pm near the West Bay community on Roatan. I usually dive on the reefs around West Bay / West End Roatan once a week. We do two dives on this part of the reef every week. So I am generally in this area of the reef first at 11 am., then again at 2 pm.Lighting
My setup uses dual strobes and for this shoot, I wanted to highlight the turtle's face and less light on the background allowing the shadows and color of the water to show, To accomplish this I set the left strobe to be brighter than the right strobe.Equipment
My underwater rig consists of a Sony A7Rii camera inside a Nauticam housing, a Nikonos 15mm lens on an adapter to attach directly to the housing, and two Sea & Sea YS-D2J strobes & arms.Inspiration
This turtle was resting on the reef, snuggled up against a fan which he was using as camouflage from divers and predators. He was in about 45 feet of water and I dove right over the turtle before I saw it. I thought the camouflage was unique and had to get a picture to show others how well they can hide from divers and predators.Editing
Normally, I spend about 10-20 minutes processing underwater shoots, removing backscatter, removing objects, doing white balance, and making color corrections to make the water bluer and less green, but in this case, I felt the green highlights helped enhance the overall photograph and highlight the turtle.In my camera bag
Since most of my photography is underwater, I use the same setup as listed above for this photograph. I shoot mostly wide-angle so the 15mm Nikonos lens is my go-to lens. When shooting macro, I use a Sony 90 mm lens with a port. For above-water photography, I use a Canon 24-70 mm ultrasonic lens with a Metabones adapter.Feedback
First, be comfortable diving (experienced), then make sure you know how to use the camera your using, get off of Auto and on to Manual. Then it is the normal things like getting close, closer & closer, practice, and more practice. I am fortunate, I dive and take photographs three to four days a week for the last 6 years. and thousands of dives prior to retiring and working in Roatan, Honduras.
