Stopping and spending time recording the activities at cleaning stations on the reef or sea mount, offer great opportunities to capture the local marine life and to practice buoyancy and composition skills, as the fish take part in their daily grooming sessions to rid themselves of parasites. Observing these areas and studying the fishes behaviours will require you to move in close to the area with out disturbing the cleaner fishes customers. Use slow gentle movements, controlled soft fin kicks (different techniques are appropriate for different situations) and inch in a little at a time. Find a stable position to hold and if the areas topography allows we suggest the lowest possible body position with the tips of your fin in the sand. The more relax and content you are with your body position the easier it will be to hold these types of shots. Widen your legs if need be, to maintain balance ensuring you’re not touching any coral or wildlife.
This will give you the chance to practice your fish portraits comfortably and with this stability it will enable you to make the small adjustments to your field of view along the x & y axis, the trick is to make as small as adjustments to you frames location as possible.
H-Stop #09 - Cleaning Stations
- Details