Pygmy Seahorses are one of the critters that put Lembeh on the map. You can come here and be guaranteed sightings…
..but Pygmy Seahorses are very frustrating critters to photograph or video. First off they are, of course, tiny!! And they are hidden in their seafans making them difficult to get a clear shot of…and they like nothing more than to turn their heads away from you…
On top of all that, I love trying to get as close a shot as I can with my macro lens and that means stability for video. So I have to find a seafan that is low enough to the sand or bottom to get my short tripod’s legs (or leg) onto and try to get everything steady and in focus…
So I film a lot of pygmyies, usually very badly…
Occasionally I get a nice surprise though. This clip starts off with a Pygmy showing me it’s back..but then it popped out of the side of the seafan and let me get some nice shots from head on..you can see the progression..
And, very luckily, right at the end of the short clip, it does something incredibly cute…it yawns!! The clip is all filmed in real time, no slow motion..when the Pygmy yawns it almost seems as if the whole world pauses and slows down, just to appreciate the moment….it’s definitely worth watching this full-screen…
