fish afraid of camera?

[maractwin]

I've noticed a problem that I seem to encounter a lot. I'll see some interesting fish, who doesn't mind me swimming a couple feet away watching it. But when I lift my camera up and point it at the fish, it becomes afraid and hides. I really think it is the camera that they are responding to, as I can get much closer to fish with the camera by my side than with it pointed forward.

Any ideas why this is? What I can do about it?

I'm using an Olympus housing, which has a red metal ring around the lens port. I wonder if this looks like a large eye to a small fish. Maybe it needs to be obscured, like the stripe through the eye of most butterfly fish.

-Mark

 

[justleesa]

I notice that at times too. When I pull up the camera they're gone. I find that if I have my camera up as I approach they tend to stay put.

 

[jcclink]

Someone previously posted that camera & strobes may look like 2 big eyes & a mouth. Having the same problem with my still setup, but much less so with my video.

 

[Hank49]

I've noticed a problem that I seem to encounter a lot. I'll see some interesting fish, who doesn't mind me swimming a couple feet away watching it. But when I lift my camera up and point it at the fish, it becomes afraid and hides. I really think it is the camera that they are responding to, as I can get much closer to fish with the camera by my side than with it pointed forward.

Any ideas why this is? What I can do about it?

I'm using an Olympus housing, which has a red metal ring around the lens port. I wonder if this looks like a large eye to a small fish. Maybe it needs to be obscured, like the stripe through the eye of most butterfly fish.

-Mark

I asked a good fish guy photo man about this too. It's the same if you're spearing fish. This is what he told me. Fish swim near and around their predators all day. Sometimes a snapper, shark, jack or barracuda swims passively by just passing the time. Other times he's on the hunt and the fish know this. When you focus on a fish and stalk him with a spear gun or a camera, you're a predator. If you're just passing by not looking at him, you're not hungry or aggressive.

 

[The Kraken]

Don't do much underwater photography, but why not try this . . .

the next time you're out about taking photos, keep your camera out in front of you, that way when you get ready to take the shot you won't have to make extra moves that may frighten the subject ?

 

[jonnythan]

If some big animal swamp up to you, paused, looked at you, then brought a large appendage up menacingly over your head, would you get spooked?

 

[Charlie99]

If some big animal swamp up to you, paused, looked at you, then brought a large appendage up menacingly over your head, would you get spooked?

Particularly if that appendage started tracking my movements.

I buy into the predator avoidance theory also, since it's not the closeness that seems to spook marine life, but any sign of interest in it. To get close to mantas I swim on an intersecting course looking as if it's just by accident that our paths cross, only peeking at it with sideways glances.

I've also learned through repeated failures to get photos of small fish, that once I start tracking something with my camera, the fish will spook and the only chance of geting a shot is to ignore it for while.

It seems like fish detect when you are responding to their movements, and that kicks in their automatic flee and hide response.

 

[maractwin]

Some good ideas there.

I should have thought of this sooner, because it's a technique I use to photograph fish in aquariums: focus the camera on a spot that you expect the fish to pass through, then wait for it to enter the frame. That way you're not tracking the fish and less likely to spook it. Of course, in the ocean there are more places to go and the fish you are interested in may not go where you want it.

-Mark

 

[mike_s]

The best pic's I've ever gotten of fish looking "straight on" seem to be at shallow sites where tourist boats take snorklers. Why? Because they feed the fish. The get used to divers and think they've got food. So they wait around you hoping you're gonna feed them. Then you take their pic