Octopus, West Palm Beach

The Blue Heron Bridge is considered one of the best, if not the best macro photography site in the USA.  The diving is not that deep but the concentration of life is abundant.  You do not have to go very far to see a lot in one dive.  The dives under the bridge are only to 35 feet but you can stay under for a long time at that depth.  I had on a large tank so I was prepared for a two-hour dive.  Octopus are always a great find and this one was posing for me.  This octopus was as big as a dinner plate.  He was in a hole and came out a little to see what was going on.  I slowly approached him so he felt comfortable staying in one spot.  My goal is to always be as close as possible before taking any photos.  With the octopus stationary and settled, I wanted to try to get a slight black background around his body.  To do this I need the strobes to bounce light off the water.  If the light has nothing to bounce back to, the camera will pick up a black background.  I aimed the strobes up slightly towards the water surface.  The slight angle was enough.   When I take photos of octopus sometimes, I feel like they know what I am doing and they pose for the camera.  Personality to a photo makes it more unique.  In this photo, I like that he has just one tentacle up in the air, it brings more attention to him and gives the photo some character.  After I took this shot, I turned around not too long after, to head back shore.