Castle beach dive & Sand lizards

Castle beach

I did a shallow dive along castle beach on monday not really knowing what to expect, having done numerous rockpool studies there is was interesting to find what lied just that little bit further

a few days later my other great love in photography, reptiles came to my attention as i went looking at my sand lizard site to see how many i could find. it was incredible with over 12 different sitings showing a healthy population.

Male sand Lizard

Male Common Lizard

Hints -

- When doing a shallow dive buoyancy is key so you dont stir up the bottom (i'll be the first to admit mine isn't perfect!) the 'backscatter' can really hinder a otherwise great image

- Try to visualise what your going to find, in this case a fisheye lens wasn't the best choice as most of the subjects were quite small but i made do with what i had.

- Timing is key! the lizards are super charged with energy by midday however in the morning they are slow and more accommodating the photograph!

www.jackperksphotography.co.uk

Stoney Cove Diving

Stoney cove is a large freshwater dive site located in Leicestershire that holds a few species of fish like pike, roach and perch as well as the endangered White clawed crayfish. i was looking to photographing mainly pike and crayfish although the water was 7 degrees so most of the smaller fish and crayfish had gone to deeper water waiting for hr shallows to warm up.  

This video is shot on a GoPro with a eye of mine housing of the dive and little bit of comedy to!

because of the sunshine and it being a sunday the lake was very busy this meant the water was quite crowded and bit murky so the photography side of things didn't go quite as well.

Hints-
- Try going mid week when their are less people in the water
- Sunny days are best to maximise the amount of natural light
- Approach the fish from below slowly for best results