Jenna’s Feather Dusters

Technique: To take this picture, I used a 35 MM lens mounted on a 3:1 extension attached to a Nikonis III camera. The strobe, fired on low power, was directly centered over the lens about 5"-6" away from the subject. Camera angle is slightly above an even plane with these tubeworms.

Summary: This is a cluster of Feather Dusters, sometimes called tube worms, photo taken off Rum Cay, Bahamas. It is a segmented worm, cousin to the earth worm. It makes a crusty tube around it's body for protection and the feather-like tentacles trap plankton and send it to it's mouth for digestion. A friend and fan of mine likes my U/W photography and this image is dedicated to her.

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Tube Worm Cluster | Rum Cay, Bahamas

When it comes to tubeworms, they exist in all oceans. They aren’t that difficult to find but it’s not like they’re all over the bottom either. The trick is to find them in an area with a “great supporting cast”. In other words, surrounded by interesting forms of algae plant life or other corals or sponge life. They are so elegant to watch just flowing, reacting to the slight currents they like that supply them with food. In some areas, they can get quite large, up to 5″ in diameter. This diameter of one of these in this cluster is about the size of a nickel.

When shooting these, bracket. With an abundance of ambient light, definitely bracket. You need to fire the strobe to bring out those colors. But you may have to play with the distance.

Move the camera around to get a different perspective of these critters. Shoot down, shoot up. If the surrounding area allows it, do the whole 360. These make great photo subjects and enjoyable to look at because of their elegance.

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