5th Place Macro
Hakan Basar
“Flamboyant in Space”
The Story: This photo was taken during the training dives at the Shootout Photography competition in Anilao, 2017. The subject is a juvenile Flamboyant Cuttlefish (approximately 6-7cm) which I encountered around depth of 14-16 meters at Secret Bay dive spot. Secret bay is one of my favorite dive spots in Anilao. It was curious and sometimes approached the front of the diopter and then walked away quickly, the shot was taken during that time. This is rare bevaviour of this species and I never seen this motion on another flamboyant cuttlefish before. I adjusted my both flashes (Inon z240s) to an inward position to get a black background, because it moves fast, it creates lots of backscatter around it.
Location: Secret Bay – Anilao, Batangas, Philippines
Equipment Used: Nikon D800E Camera, Nikon 105mm VR Lens, Nauticam Housing, Dual Inon Z-240 Strobes, Subsee +5 Diopter
Camera Settings: 1/250 sec, F32, ISO 200
