How to Shoot Sea Slugs & Nudibranchs Part I

So you have seen a few stunning images of nudibranchs and sea slugs and are wondering how you can get in on the action. The truth of the matter is that they are ideal photo subjects that are highly photogenic and very easy to shoot. You can get close to them; they don’t tend to run away, and so forth. This makes sea slugs and nudibranchs a favorite subject for the underwater photographer. Couple that with absolutely stunning colors and patterns, as if they were tailor-made for underwater photographers.

Being so easy and beautiful to shoot, even novice photographers can produce excellent quality images. Although with a little bit of practice and skill, you can take your shots to the next level. Also, because you can get pretty close, you can use a variety of cameras to shoot nudibranchs, from a mirrorless DSLR in a housing costing thousands of dollars to your iPhone in its underwater case. Both can be used to produce high-quality images of Nudibranchs! So How to Shoot Sea Slugs & Nudibranchs?

Have Realistic Expectations

The first thing you need to keep in mind when shooting Nudibranch is to manage your expectations. You should be able to produce quality images very quickly. However, like anything in life, you will need time and practice to produce truly stunning images. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is through the following two images.

The first image below is a pretty regular image of Nudibranch. It is sharp in focus, and the background is a little blurry. Ultimately it is a good picture, although it is nothing to write home about nor something to be sneezed at. You should be able to take these kinds of pictures very quickly. In fact, it can be argued that once you get a grip on your camera focus, you should be able to snap this type of image on your first or second dive with some luck!

The next image of a flabellina affinis was taken on the same dive as above, not at night. It is a much better image with better composition and the control of light that brings the creature to the forefront of the pic, cutting out all the “noise.” Developing the technique and skill to shoot those kinds of images will take time and practice. Remember, there are no secrets; almost anyone can produce these types of pictures with a bit of time and effort!

Learn to Spot Nudibranchs

If you are after sea slugs and nudibranchs, you will have to tweak the way you dive a little to maximize your chances of spotting them. Bear in mind most of the time; you are looking for a creature that is around 1 or 2 inches long. Couple that with the fact they tend to live on coral, the sea floor, rocks, or even sea grass, and you have to change your dive habits.

The first thing you need to do is slow down; the slower you go, the more you can scan with your eyes, and the more likely you are to spot that elusive sea slug. Experienced Nudibranch hunters in, a target-rich environment can spend 15 minutes covering and are the size of a reasonably sized family living room. They explore every nook and cranny to ensure they don’t miss out on a nudibranch.

The second aspect you need to change is where you look. As divers, we tend to scan in the distance to get the big picture, occasionally glancing down for details. Somewhat like driving a car where most of your focus is in the distance on the road, and you occasionally glance down at your dashboard when nudibranch hunting, you need to reverse this habit. Most of your attention should be on the area closest to you while you occasionally glance in the distance. Since you need to make sure you are heading in the right direction, where everybody is, and you don’t bump into anything!

Focusing on the close by gives you the best chance of spotting the next star of your pictures. And yes, you may miss something big passing by in the blue water above, but that is the trade-off! Hopefully, one of you less nudibranch-occupied dive group members would give you a heads-up anyway.

For instance, if you are after one of the holy grails of the nudibranch world, your spotting skill must be fine-tuned to a razor edge. The legendary “Shaun the sheep,” formerly Costasiella kuroshimae is absolutely tiny. They range in size from 1-5 mm or 1/32 to 1/4 of an inch; finding them is as challenging as taking pictures of the legendary cute critters.

The Legendry Shaun The Sheep

So the next time you are diving around Bali, Lembeh, and other locations like that, and you spot a group of photographers checking out sea grass and the sea bed with magnifying glasses they have master spotting nudibranchs, and are taking it to the next level!

Know your Target

What are you looking for? Which Nudibranchs and Sea Slugs do you expect to see? How deep do they live? What kind of habitats do they live on? These are a few questions that every accomplished nudibranch photographer would know before every dive.

The bottom line is you need to know what you are looking for and who your target is. For instance, take the Flabellina affinis earlier in this article. If you are trying to find it in the Red Sea or Thailand, you will be searching for a very long time. The species only lives in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

It is not only a matter of which species live where and what to expect; if you are at a specific site, knowing which species you are likely to encounter is good. Also, at what depth are these species more commonly found? Are you looking for them at the beginning of the dive during the deeper portion or later on when you come to a shallower depth?

The key here is awareness and knowledge. Before hitting the water, you should have a rough idea of what you can expect to see. Although, as many a diver will tell you, that is no guarantee you will find what you are looking for. Finally, just like the military gathers intelligence, you should do the same. Ask local guides etc., if there are specific sites of interest. You may get information like a certain pinnacle is packed with some species. Or keep an eye out over the sea grass in the shallows. So, you should always know your target before getting in the water!

Composition is key

When it comes to Nudibranchs and Sea Slugs, the composition is key to a great image. Sure, they are stunningly beautiful creatures, but composing your images correctly turns a good picture into a great one with a WOW factor!

The first thing to know about framing nudibranchs is to try to shoot them from the same level and head-on. Capturing the head and Rhinophores (the two antennae that stick up from the animal's head) is the essence of a nudibranch, even if the rest of the body is a little out of focus.

Take, for instance, the following two pictures of a Tricolor Doris. The first is a great shot of two animals. You can see the whole body, and the image is sharp and in focus. It is a perfectly adequate picture of a couple of critters, for all intents and purposes. While you can argue about whether it's a great photo or not, it definitely does not reach out and grab you.

On the other hand, the second image of a Tricolor Doris (the image of one of the same creatures taken a few minutes later) is entirely different.

The entire focus if on the head of the creature; it is sharp and in focus, and you can see the detail of the striations on the rhinophores. In fact, the image has a shallow depth of field, so as your eyes move back from the face, it starts to blur. This creates more intensity in the images by focusing it on a small detail of an already tiny creature.

Top-down images or those shot from slightly behind the animal are not ideal ways to capture nudibranchs and sea slugs. For instance, the following image of a flabellina species.

The truth is that it is not a great image; no point of focus draws your eyes. The image feels more like a science image of what this critter should look like, as if you are looking in some Nudibranch identification book. Without a point of focus, the image loses a lot of its attraction and beauty and becomes "just another picture" as opposed to that is a great pic!

Practice On land

Practice makes perfect, the old saying says, and that is the case with taking images of Nudibranchs and sea slugs. Fortunately, you don’t always have to practice in the water. Ultimately this is a form of macro photography (more about that in part 2), and you can practice from the comfort of your own garden or any garden for that matter.

Insects and flowers make a perfect substitute for nudibranchs and sea slugs. You can spend take your time and really dial in your composition skills, as well as understand your camera and configuration. Ideally, place your camera or phone in its underwater housing and shoot with it that way. This will improve your comfort with it in its housing and set you up for success underwater.

The key point here is the more you practice and the more comfortable you are with your equipment, the better your images will be underwater!

Final Thoughts

So far, we have only scratched the surface of learning how to effectively shoot stunning images of Nudibranchs. Mastering images of Nudis is a journey that takes time and patience but is one heck of a ride and lots of fun. So stay tuned for the next part in How to Shoot Sea Slugs & Nudibranchs, which will walk you through more aspects of nudibranch photography.