Some photographers undergo months of preparations to capture amazing images of underwater creatures. Seattle-based photographer Todd Bretl’s stunning photos of colorful bobtail squids at a shipping pier in the Philippines happened all by chance.
When Bretl went on a night shoot in Anilao, Batangas, Philippines, he hoped to find squadrons of the more common reef squid. Instead, he discovered a bobtail squid swimming around.
“As it got closer, it began making these beautiful poses – likely some form of defensive/aggressive posturing,” he explained in an interview with Weather.com. “The port of my underwater camera housing is very reflective, and it’s possible he was reacting to his reflection.”
He went back to the dive site to recapture the species and after a couple of two-to-three-hour dives, he was able to find another one swimming around.
Bretl explains heavy winds, storms and lighting are all things that can cause problems on his underwater shoots. When he was shooting the bobtail squids the harbor provided for calm water.
“These were taken in very shallow water, about 10 feet deep, in a sheltered harbor so there wasn’t much current, wind, or anything to worry about,” he said. “It was mostly a matter of maintain neutral buoyancy so I could float level with the squid in the water column.”
In addition to avoiding strong currents and storms, Bretl prefers clear skies and sunny days to provide lots of natural light.
“Light is a big issue in underwater photography – it starts to disappear pretty quickly as you get deeper. So a bright sunny day definitely makes things better,” Bretl explained. “Calm surface conditions are also ideal because more light gets through and it creates the opportunity to capture better images of the sun’s rays as well as split over/under shots.”
Bretl has shot in many locations, but his favorite place to shoot is at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas. The photographer spent a good amount of his childhood on the Caribbean island and it was where he first learned to scuba dive.
But Bretl doesn’t love shooting there just for nostalgia’s sake, he also enjoys capturing tiger sharks.
“They generally get a very bad rap in the press, and I love showing people that they are actually pretty harmless and incredibly majestic,” he stated.
To see more of Bretl’s underwater photography visit his website.
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