UPY 2025

UPY  Macro - Third
'Green Fire'
Hannes Klostermann

I took this image on a dive off the dock of the dive centre I work at in La Paz, Mexico. This is not actually a dive site, as there’s really not much to see, but I sometimes go anyway to look for macro subjects and play with different techniques. On this particular dive I was lucky to come across this signal blenny, my favourite macro subject of the area. As its home was surrounded by pretty unattractive looking algae I decided to use a slow shutter speed and snoot to blur out the background, which resulted in this image. For me it just goes to show that you don’t always have to go to the best dive sites to get good images. You just need to be in the water somewhere.

Judge's comment: An increasingly common technique, but used here particularly well to allow the long exposure to capture the rhythms of the sea around the blenny. - Alex Mustard