Photographer: © 2014-2016 Dave Waselle · All Rights Reserved.
Coral Crab | Maldives
I was shooting a flatworm booking along the bottom edge of a reef when, as it passed a dark small cluster of gorgonian coral, I noticed some unusual movement. What gave this fellow away was his lightly colored claws and eyes.
I don’t honestly know if you are simply blessed with this or if it’s something you can train yourself to do, having sharp, aware peripheral vision. I’ll be honest with you, I feel blessed. I never trained my eye for this but yet it seems like a skill I always had. But you certainly have more to gain than loose by checking your immediate area out before you leave it. There may be that “once in a lifetime photo op” lurking in the shadows.
Getting back to this guy, he was so appropriately colored for his surroundings. I needed to separate him from his background. He wasn’t leaving his “cover”, so I shot about 6 pictures, moving the strobe around as well as changing camera angles. Shooting the flatworm, I already had the right equipment for the job. As I saw what was revealed with the strobe flashes, I thought my best result for separation from background was the light source directly over the lense with a slight right-of-center lense position. I like the way it turned out. Today, using a digital camera, I would take a minimum of 20 shots.
