Capture the Character

Mark Webster · Issue 40, Jan/Feb 2008 · pp. 32–37

Products mentioned: Nikon D100, Light and Motion Titan housing, Nikkor 105mm micro, Sigma 180mm macro, Inon Quad flash, Inon wet lens

The underwater world is blessed with a multitude of colourful and sometimes weird subjects to keep even the most avid of photographers happy. As wildlife photographers we shoot a lot of ‘portraits’ of marine life perhaps illustrating their habitat as well, or isolating them from the rest of the reef. An objective that we share with most land photographers is trying to capture the ‘character’ of a subject so that there is a sense of communication with the viewer. This can be a challenge with fish, but it can be done with certain subjects and judicious composition and often a large measure of patience. There are also other species on the reef which ooze natural character and some are only too willing to pose and perform for the camera. It helps to begin by identifying the species that may be willing to cooperate, which are likely to be those that predominantly sessile or territorial. Many …