Ever wonder where ideas for monsters in the movies come from? I think a lot of them are modeled after creatures of the sea. Even though moray eels look menacing they are not much of a threat to divers. First they are not aggressive at all. And while their behavior of opening and closing their mouths, showing off their long sharp teeth, may look threatening; they are only forcing water over their gills–they are breathing.
In both of these images it may look like the eel is on a ledge and is being shot horizontally. But that’s not what is really going on. I’m above the sponge the eel is calling home for the night and shooting straight down into the sponge.
The shooting metadata for both of these images is:
D200 with 105 macro lens
1/100 sec @ f/8 ISO 100 Ex Comp 0
Matrix, Manual, 2 strobes normal sync (In fact you can see the two catch lights in the eye)