Five Subjects to Focus Your Camera On While Snorkeling

As our snorkeling safaris take place in some of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems, home to creatures that are colorful, beautiful, and unique—many of which you’ve never seen before —it can be overwhelming to know where to point your camera. Of course, you can opt for the spray-and-pray method, where you swim around snapping photos of everything you come across, a bit like a golden retriever in a room full of tennis balls. With this method, you’ll surely capture some images of unique creatures, you might even garner the attention of your snorkeling friends on Facebook, awarding you momentary fame amongst the snorkeling digital community.

However, to maximize your SD card’s potential, reduce post-processing time, and capture the attention of your peers outside the snorkeling community with stunning snaps, we suggest being a bit more disciplined in your underwater imaging mission. With so many underwater subjects to choose from, it’s hard to know which ones to focus on for the best result. To make life easier, here’s a quick list of some subjects our photographically inclined snorkeling guests opt for.

Nemo

Anemone fish can be found on just about every single reef within in the Coral Triangle, and in all shapes, sizes, and colors. A cooperative anemone fish will offer you endless options for different compositions. If the anemone fish you are trying to photograph is shy, don’t waste your time; you can move on to the next one several meters down.

Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish are a little bit hard to find, but once you find one, and if it’s patient, you can spend hours taking photos of them. Like the anemone fish, there are so many different ways to photograph one, close-ups of the eyes, portraits, or reefscapes with the cuttlefish as part of the shot are all instant winners!

Tunicates

Tunicates are a great subject to photograph with your camera. They are everywhere, don’t move, come in about a zillion different kinds, and they’re all beautiful!

Coral Abstracts

Coral abstracts are always a winner. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of different types of corals, each with its own unique pattern, texture, and color. Just make sure you fill the frame with the patterns, or don’t, it’s abstract photography, so let the creativity flow!

Juvenile Batfish

On most of our snorkeling safaris, we’ll try to spend a bit of time around a jetty. One of the great things about jetties is that they’re where juvenile batfish like to hang out. They can be a bit shy, but if you are patient, they’ll usually approach you after a while, allowing you to get some beautiful pics of these curious fish.

There are, of course, many other fantastic creatures that offer you equal opportunities for outstanding photographs, this is just a quick sample to help give you an idea of what to look for. In general, a good subject will be patient, at a depth you can easily access, up in the water column or just above the reef and not wedged in-between the corals, and allow you to approach it from multiple different angles and perspectives.