Question Muck/Macro Diving - Why do you like it?

[MaxBottomtime]

These are really stunning. Is this all done in post or is it volcanic rock / sand? The contrast/background.

The black background is made by looking up and using a low f/stop like F22-f45.

 

[Damselfish]

@NauticalNick have we converted you yet?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Agree with all who posted about the fun of the hunt finding the small stuff. In looking for the small stuff, I have become a better diver. My buoyancy is better, air consumption is way down as I force myself to go slow and relax. It's a lot harder to maintain proper buoyancy when in a stationary position than it is to keep moving.
Then there is the hunt. Looking for things. Turn over rocks (yeah, I'm a rock flipper, but never if I see that it is a home ), go slow, watch the fish reappear...sometimes inquisitive like the seaweed blenny, which, really isn't that small.. but you'll never see one if you're 10ft off the bottom chasing a big fish...

 

[cgills]

Early on in my diving career, way before I ever toted a camera, I was very fortunate to be diving with some very skilled and experienced divers. The one thing they all hammered into me, was, it wasn't the distance covered, but what you found in the shortest distance. Hence it eventually leads to less air consumption, and longer dives, a win win in my book. It doesn't take any skill to see the occasional fly byes by the turtles, rays, and sharks, but if your dive is dependent on seeing them, prepare for a number of disappointing dives. On the other hand, learn habitat, behavior, spawning cycles etc, and it opens the door to never having a boring dive. The smaller the creature, the greater the skill in it's discovery and sharing that discovery with others, well that is the icing on the cake.!!

Cindy

 

[living4experiences]

I really wasn't interested in small stuff until the last few years. It was more of an evolution and adaptation to the post-COVID world of overfishing, poor reef health, and accelerating global warming. If you can't see pretty tropical fish or a colorful reef or turtles, eels, sharks, then you're left to start digging in the sand and crevices to make the dive enjoyable. With more experience, you start looking for ways to keep the diving fun and exciting. I picked up photography, and now I enjoy finding the critters and honing my photography skills and becoming a better diver overall with good air consumption and buoyancy. I'm still a colorful reef and tropical fish kind of diver, and I would get bored with my head in the sand for an entire dive, but it's a good mix on occasion.

 

[NauticalNick]

@NauticalNick have we converted you yet?

It definitely seems interesting for all of the reasons mentioned. I'll start looking a bit more and would certainly be open to trying it out.