Photographer: © 2014-2016 Dave Waselle · All Rights Reserved.
Christmas Tree Coral | Palau, Micronesia
You really, almost always, have just one chance at this kind of shot. As soon as the strobe fires, this little critter darts into it’s hole burrowed in hard coral at the speed of light. They are almost that fast as that was a slight exaggeration. It is in the blink of an eye. It’s very rare they come back out right away. I have spent a good 5 minutes of dive time waiting for one to come back out and wasted that much of the dive in the process. It was obviously a “no show”. Then I wised up a little bit. I would leave to shoot something else and then come back for “round 2”.
Still, sometimes you don’t even get the shot. They sense the movement or a quick change of light and it will dart into the hard coral for self protection. These guys require very patient photographers. You come to appreciate good pictures of these critters as you become more familiar with them and the photographic process.
