Shooting this fish portrait

Shooting a fish portrait is often a matter of patience. And arm cramps...

Location
This photo was taken at Swanee Rock in the sea of Cortez in Mexico, also called the Gulf of California. It was my entry for the fish portrait category in the CMAS world championship underwater photography 2017 in La Paz. The blenny is a very small fish: the head is only a few millimeters wide. Nevertheless, it is very photogenic and colorful. Very occasionally it opens its mouth for a fraction of a second, so you get to see the bright red inside. Exactly that moment I wanted to capture. The sight during the dive was not great, a little milky, but fine for macro and close-up shots. There was little flow at this depth of up to 10 meters.

Camera
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II (micro 4/3 sensor), 60mm macro lens, Nauticam underwater housing with a flat port and 2 INON Z-240 strobes with a Flipsnoot Pro (a snoot is a tube that you put on the strobe to reduce the angle of light, you can fold it away when not needed).

Position of strobes
2 strobes, almost at maximum power with Flipsnoots left and right, just below the middle so both eyes were well exposed. I did not use extra lamps.

 Illustration: Ron Offermans (my buddy during the World Championship)

No photo editing
I did not edit the photo in Photoshop.  That is not allowed during the World Championship. This is a JPG straight from the camera.
Like to see more photos taken by Marco Heesbeen? See www.marcoheesbeen.com
Marco is the managing director of UWCamerastore.com.

EXIF data File type:
JPG File size: 7.31Mb
Date and time: November 25, 2017 (11:30)
Lighting: 1/250 at f11
Exposure program: Manual
Light sensitivity: ISO 200
Focal length: 60mm
White balance: Manual