What do you focus on?

[Antagonist]

I am new to the underwater photography and I was just wondering what you all focus on when you are taking macro or any other photos. Do you always focus on the eyes with a F8-F11 or do you do take shots using F2 or so. What shutter speeds do you use for shooting reef fish or other divers? (wide angle)

One other thing if I may ask? HOW DO YOU ALL FIND THESE TINY ANIMALS? I see all these pictures of fish, but where do you look for them at? Research on the site, doubles filled with nitrox, and a magnifying glass? jk

I am using a sony rx 100 mk2 w/ sea and sea ys-01 single strobe

 

[KeithG]

HOW DO YOU ALL FIND THESE TINY ANIMALS? I see all these pictures of fish, but where do you look for them at?

for macro creatures
- go slow
- learn where they live
many creatures have standard habitats that they frequent. If you see the proper type of habitat, you may find the creature.

As an example: wire coral shrimp are (strangely enough) found on wire coral. Which is generally found between 60 and 100 feet along walls. So do not look for them at 30 feet in the sand. If present, the shrimp are hard to find since they have the nasty habit of crawling over to the other side of the wire coral so that they hide from you. Simple solution is to run your hand up the far side of the wire coral about 9 inches away from the coral. That will cause the shrimp to move to the side you can see. My wire coral shrimp hit ratio is very low, maybe 1 in 30 or less.

#2 Pedersons cleaner shrimp (and others) co-habitate with bulb anemones. The anemones are easy to spot. See one, go check it out for the tiny stuff.

 

[fiziks]

You must be patient. Just stay in one spot, and keep your eyes open. Look for movement. I have a picture of an invisible shrimp... well it isn't really invisible, but it's shell and tissue a practically transparent... I noticed to tiny gold dots on a sponge... and they moved... and moved again and I realized they were moving in unison, so I put my macro framing bracket around the two gold dots and took the picture. When we developed the slides and projected it on the screen, we could clearly see the outline of the shrimp and some of the internal structures with the color of the sponge showing through, and two gold dots that turned out to be it's eyes. Night time is an excellent time for macro... a lot of tiny stuff comes out at night that doesn't during the day.

 

[Ran Mozaik]

The best tip I can give for macro shots, is don't try to shoot wide and macro on the same dive.
You have to tune your body and mind for "Macro Mode", not just your camera and gear.
Once you step into that mode, all the little things become visible.
Look closely, move slowly, check under corals and inside little crevices. These tiny creatures survive thanks to their hiding and camouflage skills, so naturally they are hard to spot.

Once you find a small critter, using a muck stick might help to stabilize yourself (careful when placing it not to hurt any corals or marine life), close your aperture to gain some more depth of field, and mind your breathing. The key to correct stabilization is correct breathing and timing. Don't try to shoot while moving since you probably won't get the focus right.
Blennies are fairly easy to start from - easy to spot and not scared easily.

Good luck!

 

[bvanant]

Sometimes you focus on the whole little beast, as in

and sometimes you try very narrow DOF like this


And sometimes you try to get a very very shallow DOF with good color and Bokeh in the background like this.


It all depends on what you think will look good. As for finding things, go slow (and then slower) and you will eventually learn where various critters live.
Bill
P.S. These were from a trip we did to the Northern Sea of Cortez on the Rocio del Mar.
Bill

 

[ShootingUnderwater.com]

Antagonist, have you tried as others suggested so far? I didn't see anyone mention a focus light. Going slow is key, sitting still is even better, but a light really helps discover movement. It will also help your camera focus on the tiny things. When you're on a trip to a macro specific area, ask a guide to help you; it's amazing what they see!
R

 

[victor]

I second the guide. Once you have been in an area for some time shooting only macro then your eyes will become trained to spotting these little critters. Until that happens it can be a matter of luck and you will swim slowly past thousands of critters jus posing for you.
Even when a guide points you in the direction you may still miss it. E.g. the guide directed me to a small coral outcrop, spotted 2 cleaner shrimp at work and carefully shot a number of pictures. Only later that night did I notice the leaf fish gracefully framing the shot that I had totally missed at the time. Would have loved to have gone back and retaken all the subjects.

I think the mantra is "Buoyancy, Trim, go slow, go slower, buoyancy, trim, go even slower, oh yes and take your time, stop hurrying"

 

[PatW]

The more you learn about the critters, the better. When I see a giant or condyl anemone, I look for small crabs and shrimp often found with it. I look for cleaner shrimp at spiral anemones. I look for flamingos tongues on gorgonians. I look for neon gobies perched on brain corals. The list goes on and on.

As to focus, I think you always want the eyes in focus. If possible, you want negative space in the shot to let your subject " pop". F stop is variable. Often with crustacians, you want their legs and parts in focus which often dictates a high F stop. Sometimes, you can use a low f stop to limit depth of field and emphasize your subject.

I would recommend Martin Edge's book, Underwater Photography for a good treatment of these issues.