Landing the perfect underwater macro shot isn't easy: light behaves differently beneath the waves, and flitting fishes aren't always willing subjects. But with a bit of practice and a lot of patience, closeup photography can bring the hidden lives of the ocean's smaller inhabitants into focus.
During a recent workshop in Lembeh, Indonesia, our friends at WetPixel set off to accomplish this feat – and the resulting images are beyond beautiful.
An iridescent polychaete worm cruises over coral. Image:
WetPixel Full Frame/used with permission
The workshop was taught by renowned photographer Alex Mustard, who led participants on a few dives each day during the event. "The pace was quite tough!" says the WetPixel team. "However, as the images below show, the results were outstanding. They are a visual feast!"
From colourful cuttlefish to well-camouflaged pygmy seahorses, the crew managed to capture some of the most vibrant marine life that Indonesia has to offer.
Smaller than a paperclip, pygmy seahorses
are so well camouflaged that they weren't discovered by scientists until their coralline homes were brought into a lab in 1969. This pink and white morph is found exclusively on the coral Muricella plectra. Image:
WetPixel Full Frame/used with permission
Yellow seahorses with orange tubercles that prefer to hang around the similarly coloured Muricella paraplectana. Image:
WetPixel Full Frame/used with permission
Top header image: WetPixel
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Film and Photo
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