How to Take Fish Face Photos

Stare into the ocean. That's what we divers do! What makes it really fun is most of the time it stares back! With underwater photos we can convey that intimate eye to eye contact with the right kind of photos. Fish are best at that.

How can we best create these stunning fish face photos? A few tips and techniques will help you bring home those killer shots that stare right back at you. First, you're going to need to get close.

START EASY
Some fish are easy to approach, others not so. Start with the easy ones. In California the sedentary bottom fish are a good start. Rockfish and glass-eyed gobies are great for beginners. If you approach slowly, they basically just sit there, but they will look at you and your camera. Other California ocean fish in the "easy to approach, yet sit still" category are painted greenlings, small lingcod, and island kelp fish. The next easy level up would be fish that are easy to approach but don't sit still. These include garibaldi, señoritas, sheephead and, in some cases, calico bass (when they are small or in a preserve).

KNOW YOUR FISH
What excites your fish? What relaxes them? What food do they seek? Where can you find them and at what time of year? These are all details important to knowing just how and when to approach fish and, more importantly, how to get them to react to you in the way you want. A good fish guide will not only help you identify fish, but tell you something about their behavior as well.

Garibaldi, for example, have a nesting behavior displayed spring and summer. They are fiercely territorial during this time and challenge any intruders. I use an orange glove on my left hand, waving like a challenging garibaldi, to pose my fish at just the right position. Ling cod also have a nesting time when they are easier to approach. Sheephead and blacksmith sleep in the reef at night.

YOUR BEHAVIOR
Your behavior is also important on how close you can approach a fish - so relax. Fish sense uptight divers. Keep your breathing slow, rhythmic, natural. Never chase a fish as it doesn't work, especially in trying to get fish face photos. Stay low and approach slowly. Try not to cast your shadow on the fish. And it sounds funny but it is true, fish DO know when you are looking at them! Your mask looks like one or two giant eyeballs. Look off to the side a bit, then turn your eyes to look over your subject. The camera lens will also look like a giant eyeball, but by that time, hopefully, your subject will be more comfortable with you. Give them time. Some fish just need time to get use to you being there.

THE RIGHT CAMERA RIG
The best fish face photos come from those cameras equipped for close up or "macro" photography. These create truly "in your face" kinds of photos. Macro rigs, however, generally require you get close to your subject, something that most fish simply do not like. Worse yet, many macro rigs come with awful things known as "framers." While framers help you get sharp photos of snails and stars, fish will rarely sit still for a wire framer less than inches from their faces. You can get fish face photos with this kind of rig, but it will not be easy.

Much better is a SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera in a housing. With the SLR camera you actually see the image that will be going onto the film, a big plus with this kind of photography. There is no need for a framer to tell you when an image is in focus. The lens is just as important as the camera. Go for the 100mm macro. The moderate telephoto lens will allow you to get great photos but at a greater distance from your subject. Smaller fish can be photographed from one to two feet away.

It is only with this kind of rig you can hope to photograph some of the more challenging small fish like the Catalina blue banded goby. These fish drive me crazy! They are one to two inches long, intensely colorful, and abundant at Catalina and other Channel Islands. They are not too hard to spot, or even get within four, or even three, feet, but not quite close enough for photos for their tiny toothed faces. Any closer and most run for cover. Patience and a 100mm macro on a housed SLR camera can bring you within one to two feet, close enough for great photos. Back off on the focus and this rig also works great for face photos of medium-sized fish at three to four feet away. Again, the greater distance from the fish allows the fish to be more comfortable and act naturally.

WIDE-ANGLE FISH FACES
Wide-angle lenses, 15 to 28mm, can also be used, with greater difficulty, but different, sometimes better results. Wide-angle lenses are only effective with medium to large fish. Wide-angle lenses lend themselves to ease of composition. They also have a wide depth of field (range of which the subject is in focus). You'll want to fill the frame with the fish. You are going to need to get close, in some cases, real close. Properly expose so as to bring in the background, but keep in mind that you'll most likely want maximum depth of field. To do this, get low and shoot up.

When we show our photos, we want to show an intimate portrait of the ocean. The best way to do that is to show the many faces of the sea, especially fish.

Dale Sheckler is editor of California Diving News, coauthor of the book Southern California's Best Beach Dives, and producer of the largest consumer dive expo in the western U.S., SCUBA Show 2000, June 3 & 4 at the Long Beach Convention Center.