Chiaroscuro is an Italian word it is used to describe the use of light and dark in photographs or film; specifically the use of strong bold contrast between light and dark affecting the nature of a composition.

Chiaroscuro originates from the Renaissance period, and refers to a technique of drawing on coloured paper; the artist would work from the paper's base tone towards light shades using white gouache, and towards dark shades using ink or water-colour creating depth using tone and contrast in layers. These techniques them selves drew from primarily religious traditions in illuminated or illustrated manuscripts, which date back as far as the late Roman Imperial era.

The effect of contrast and light and dark is essential to the essence of this shot. See how the light crinkles through these Anemones tentacles as the Skunk Anemones Fish hide in their tentacles. The direction of your light source and your position is critical when considering this play of light and shadow.

This particular shot caught my eye as I was taking another shot which I will be posting later this week, it’s titled #05 Traveling South for the Summer and it’s a long swimming, crane style shot. Halfway through this shot when you view it you will see the Anemones on the left hand side, carry on looking left and there you see my position for this shot.

Chiaroscuro is one of my favorite areas of study and I can spend whole dives shooting just based on just this subject, so expect that I will be coming back to this subject in future posts.