Freckled Hawkfish on his perch

[Bruce Enns]

Hi all, This is a Freckled Hawkfish from the Roma reef near Wakatobi dive resort in Sulawesi Indonesia. They are called Hawkfish because of their habit of perching on the edge of coral formations and scanning for prey. The background of this image required considerable clean up because of lots of little dead coral fingers (which turn very white) and are quite distracting if not dealt with in PP. I like the colours and the attitude of this fish. This would have been a more compelling image if the dark background had been dark blue water rather than empty black space...i.e. more of a fill flash and less of a flash as main light exposure.

Canon Rebel XT in Ikelite housing with DS125 and DS50 strobes in E-TTL mode, Canon EF-S 60mm macro, AV mode, ISO 100, 1/200s, f/16

Comments and critiques are welcome and much appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Cheers!
Bruce

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Awesome catch Bruce I love all aspects. Great colors, that's why I always loved the u/w world!
Please tell me you also have the Long-nose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus) in your collection! Those are my personal favorites.

[Bruce Enns]

Hi Akos, Me too...great colours and a new subject every few feet on good reefs! Unfortunately, no, the Longnose (also one of my favorites) was on my wanted list, but I never saw one for the whole trip in Bali or Wakatobi...I don't think they are particularly common there.

Psst. Pygmy over in macro

Cheers!
Bruce

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Gotcha buddy! Query already to Australian Museum Ichthyologist mate re: ID of the Hippocampus sp. ;) I am quick you know?

[Robert Amoruso]

Big in the frame and very imposing Bruce. His habitat accentuates him well.

I suggest a reverse s-curve to lower contrast, tame highlights and open up shadows. More here http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434.

[Alfred Forns]

Big Time impressive Love the in your face look !!

Agree on the suggestion Robert For these fish we use flash as main or strong fill flash, much more than you would on land. Since there are no colors you need the light !! Whites are particularly problematic since they are also reflective !!!

[Bruce Enns]

Thanks Robert and Alfred for the suggestion to lower the contrast...it was a bit over the top. Here is a reposted image with a reverse curves contrast reduction. Does this go far enough?

Cheers!
Bruce

[Robert Amoruso]

I like it Bruce.