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Dwarf minke whales, Ribbon Reefs, northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
Itai Grisaru is a marine biology student, dive instructor and underwater photographer based in Israel. He first learned to scuba dive in the Red Sea more than a decade ago, but it wasn’t until four years ago that he first dived with a camera and discovered his passion for underwater photography.
After learning the basics and purchasing his first camera system, Itai soon realized that his main interest was macro photography. He loves the challenge of finding elusive subjects, and owns a selection of super macro lenses and other tools that enable him to shoot juvenile fish, tiny crustaceans and nudibranchs no larger than a thumbnail. Most of these images utilize a low f-stop and shallow depth of field to create perfectly blurred bokeh, and he often uses wet lens attachments to greatly enhance this effect. His images of an underwater ladybug and a juvenile horned cowfish are great examples of this technique, and they combine nicely with his more conventional macro images taken with a higher f-stop resulting in black backgrounds.
As you can see in the captions below, Itai has traveled extensively with his camera equipment, and his portfolio features famous critters from Australia, Indonesia, Tanzania and closer to home in Eilat. When not searching for the small stuff, he swaps his macro lens for a fisheye, and takes pictures of sharks and whales instead. As an avid shark diver, my favorite image in his collection is the circular shot of a dusky shark in the sand captured in Hadera, and I hope to one day visit Israel and see this annual aggregation for myself. Until then, I will have to settle for admiring Itai’s work, and follow his progress as an up-and-coming underwater photographer to keep an eye on in the future.
Ladybug amphipod, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
Spotted jellyfish, Mafia Island, Tanzania
Dusky shark, Hadera, Mediterranean Sea, Israel
Juvenile horned cowfish, Mafia Island, Tanzania
Donut nudibranch, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
Sheep nudibranch, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
Leafy seadragon, Wool Bay, South Australia
Vampire nudibranch, Mafia Island, Tanzania
Bubble coral shrimp, Eilat, Red Sea, Israel
Pyjama squid, Edithburgh Jetty, South Australia
Hairy shrimp, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
Pygmy seahorse, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
Young Itai with his macro setup at the ready
For more of Itai’s eye-popping images, head over to his excellent Instagram page and find out what he’s up to via Facebook.