While everyone loves snorkeling over pristine reefs with all the colorful fish that explode out of it, there's still nothing quite like schools of big fish. Despite what movies and wildlife documentaries might covey with their their careful selection of images, big fish can be tricker to find than you might imagine. For example, on a five kilometer stretch of reef full of what look like the perfect habitat for big fish there may be one point or ridge where the big fish collect, or you may see a lot of big fish but they are deep and well out of snorkeling range. If you've spent any amount of time snorkeling in the tropics you will surely understand what I'm talking about. So, with all of this in mind, here are a few tips for finding the big fish! Depth Depth does play a small role in being able to find big fish in that you need to be snorkeling in an area that has access to deeper water. What I mean by this is that if you are snorkeling right up in the shallow reef flats you are not likely to encounter many big fish. However, if you swim to the point in the reef where it turns into a wall or starts to slope off, then you'll increase your odds of finding big fish as they like to have unlimited access to the open blue water. Current Current plays a big part in where big fish congregate and when. Generally speaking, when the tide is slack—that time between rising tide and falling tide where there is no current—most big fish will sort of just scatter into the blue water away from the reef. When the current starts to run again the fish will come back into their schooling
While everyone loves snorkeling over pristine reefs with all the colorful fish that explode out of it, there’s still nothing quite like schools of big fish. Despite what movies and wildlife documentaries might covey with their their careful selection of images, big fish can be tricker to find than you might imagine. For example, on
The over-under or split shot, where in a single image the photographer has managed to photograph something underwater while also capturing what's happening above the water, is a real crowd pleaser. These types of photos look incredibly difficult to do, but actually they are quite simple if you follow a few simple steps. 5. Large Dome Port In order to capture what's going on above and below the water we not only need a wide angle lens, but also a larger dome port to provide maximum surface area were we can really get that division of land and underwater. If you are using a smaller compact camera where the lens surface areas is about an inch in diameter the chances of capturing a split shot are not very good. However, if are using a camera housing that allows for a larger dome port than you just need to follow the next steps. 4. Shallow subject The best results will be when you have a subject in shallow shallow water, anywhere from a few inches in depth to a couple feet. Anything deeper than four feet or so makes it difficult to capture the subject in nice natural light, but also makes it challenging to include both the topside and underwater subject in the same frame. 3. Balancing the Natural Light Light is key for this type of photo as we rapidly run short of light underwater, even in just a few feet. If we want to have balanced light throughout the photo, where the topside and underwater subject share a similar exposure, we need a nice sunny day and also to remember to keep the sun behind us. If we start facing into the sun or shooting too early in the day or too late in the afternoon where the
The over-under or split shot, where in a single image the photographer has managed to photograph something underwater while also capturing what’s happening above the water, is a real crowd pleaser. These types of photos look incredibly difficult to do, but actually they are quite simple if you follow a few simple steps. 5. Large
