For shark photographers...

[EBdiver]

Hey guys.

I have a question for you shark photographers out there.

When you take pictures of sharks, and I mean close-up face-to-face shots, what is their reaction to the flash? When I say sharks, I mean the ones that can and have attacked humans a few times in the past, meaning there is a record of their attacks, eg. Great white, Blue, Nurse, Hammerhead, etc... Is there a chance that the shark will react negatively after you give them the flash?

I've only dove with little harmless sharks, but when I dive with big and aggressive ones, I'd like to capture the moment, just not get bitten doing so.

________________

Tonberry Diver
http://www.ebdiver.com/

 

[AquaTec]

EBdiver once bubbled...
Hey guys.

I have a question for you shark photographers out there.

When you take pictures of sharks, and I mean close-up shots, what is their reaction to the flash? When I say sharks, I mean the ones that can and have attacked humans a few times in the past, meaning there is a record of their attacks, eg. Great white, Blue, Nurse, Hammerhead, etc... Is there a chance that the shark will react negatively after you give them the flash?

I've only dove with little harmless sharks, but when I dive with big and aggressive ones, I'd like to capture the moment, just not get bitten doing so.

________________

Tonberry Diver
http://www.ebdiver.com/

 

[AquaTec]

shark

 

[clive francis]

AquaTec once bubbled...

those pictures are as old as the hills, if you watch discovery the program comes around every couple of months.

get a tele lens then you will not have to get so close.

they normal bite you not because of the flash, but more that you are invading their space.

my mate has some excellent shots of a large group of bulls in Bahamas (walkers kay i think), they were more interested in getting the fish his wife was chucking in, saying that though a grey reef was there as well and that ate the neoprene cover to his camera, off the lanyard that was attached to his wrist, but he reckons that was mistaken identity

 

[luvdiving]

Hi again EBDiver

I have had literally hundreds of dives with sharks. We see a shark on almost every dive, both Galapagos and Grey Reef sharks. I also take photos when I can.

If I can get it to work right, the attached shot is of a Grey Reef during a dive to about 60 ft outside the reef on Johnston Atoll.

They don't seem to mind the strobes except during night dives.:boom:

 

[EBdiver]

Great. coz I'd be freaked out if a shark turned to look at me after I took a close up shot of it. Their eyes really freak me out.

________________

Tonberry Diver
http://www.ebdiver.com/

 

[luvdiving]

Vis wasn't that good.

 

[scorpionfish]

I have lots of shark photos, but I have no scanner, so you will have to take me at my word. My word!

I have not gotten close enough to a Hammerhead to take a good photo: the only one I ever got close to saw me and made maximum steam in the opposite direction. Great Whites? Only on National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. However, Black Tips, White Tips, Oceanic White Tips, Grey, Bull, Nurse, Leopard and Lemon Sharks, and a few others were all very nonchalant about strobes firing off.

Caribbean Black Tips of ca. 11-12 ft nosed right up to me to check out my strobe, which had a white diffuser on it, twice. It may have looked like a fish of interest to them??? Off Maui, once, a Black Tip seemed to be making a warning gesture when I blocked off, inadvertantly, his egress from a cave. But, when I backed off, he just swam by me.

Once on Coz, I was at the front of "swim-through" taking a photo of rather large Nurse Shark and she just posed for me as I flashed away. Then, two guys finned upon her from the back of the tunnel, startling her. However, she just pushed me aside and made for quieter climes. That Nurse was ca. 7 ft. long and her "prop wash" was very impressive!

So, my answer is: "So far, so good!" But the guy who fell off a 12-story building said the same thing around the 4th floor.

Scorpionfish

 

[clive francis]

the shark that ate my friends neoprene case is in his photo album, well a macro shot of its mouth and teeth are, he said it was a panic reaction shot, he ducked and put his arms up and pressed the button, hey presto, macro shot of the grey reef just before it ate his case.

you could see in the photo's before that it was eyeing him up though, and he said there was something funny about the shark, it kept looking at him head on and then it came at him.

i think he said that when the mouth and teeth cleared his arms the water got very murky!

 

[o2 clean]

Clive, this picture is too cool!