This award-winning shot remains the most gratifying photo I have ever taken. Perhaps when you hear about what it took to get the image, you will understand.
A yellow-headed jawfish with eggs was one of my bucket-list shots for quite some time. We had a field of these fish in our backyard reef at Sunset House in Grand Cayman. On a Saturday afternoon, one of our customers at Cathy Church's Photo Centre came in and said they had seen one not too far from the mermaid.
So I made it my mission to find this fish the next day and get a photo. The sandy bottom near the mermaid is at around 60 feet, so I grabbed a Nitrox tank (for increased bottom-time) and set out. It took around 20 minutes to find the fish, but he was a little shy (as jawfish tend to be) and only poked his head out of the hole. If one waits long enough, this type of fish will usually become accustomed to your presence, come out and swim around; however, I wasn't sure if a father brooding a batch of eggs (yes, it's the male) would be so bold. I settled myself on the bottom, took some shots of just his head in the hole to get the right exposure and make sure my strobes were in the right position, and I waited.
I slowly moved closer and closer to his hole. About the time I got really close, my dive computer started beeping at me and I had to return to shore. After a minimum surface interval, I went back in and found him immediately. It didn't take very long for him to get comfortable with my presence, and he started to ease his way out of the hole. Eventually, he completely ignored me and was free-swimming along the bottom. Then, for the briefest of moments, I saw him spit out those eggs and suck them back into his mouth. I said through my regulator, THAT's the shot I want. He did it once or twice more, but I wasn't in the right position, and then my dive computer screamed at me again to get out. Although I was getting a bit chilled, I was determined to give it one more try. I went ashore, grabbed something to eat & drink at My Bar, laid in the sun for a bit, and went back in.
This round, it took no time at all for him to resume his normal activities; and I waited, while saying a little prayer to the dive gods that I would be in the right position when he did it again. I waited some more, and then BOOM...there it was! I reviewed and magnified the image in the camera's LCD screen and was ecstatic to see that the critical parts were in focus. As I swam back to shore, I kept shouting Yes, Yes, Yes through my regulator.
So, how do YOU get a shot like this? The more you know about the behavior of your subject, the better your odds. I highly recommend Ned DeLoach's book Reef Fish Behavior. You must be REALLY patient and persistent (I shot 113 pictures of this fish). I was fortunate in this situation because buoyancy control was not an issue--I could just lay on the bottom. Lastly, you just need a little bit of luck.
Camera: Nikon D300 in Subal housing
Lens: Nikkor 105mm f2.8
2 Inon Z-240 strobes
f18, 1/250, ISO 200
