Nöbetçi Eczaneler
A review and extract from Czech photographer Michal Štros’ beautiful new book, accompanied by some of his stunning and artistic photography
Review by Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell, text and images by Michal Štros
Michal Štros comes from an extensive scientific background. Having earned a PhD in molecular biology, his postdoctoral research focused on the fundamental properties of DNA and proteins.
More recently he specialised in stem cell research for cancer treatment, and developed methods for rapid virus detection during the pandemic.
He started diving in the late 1990s, during a holiday to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Already a land photographer with a lifelong interest in the visual arts, diving and underwater photography quickly became a long-term hobby.
When travel during the pandemic wasn’t possible, he decided to creatively enhance previously taken photographs, and experimented extensively with the use of underwater vintage lenses – as published in DIVE’s Summer 2023 magazine.
In 2024 he hung up his lab coat to focus on photography, and it’s very clear that he has brought the intricacies of his scientific career with him.
His new book, Underwater Magic, published as a bilingual coffee-table hardback, is simply stunning.
The book is divided into five luminous chapters, Macro (the largest, with 15 subsections each dedicated to a particular critter or location), Underwater Art, Vintage Lenses and Natural Textures, each featuring some perfectly lit and extraordinarily detailed photographs.
A fifth, Magic Tools, covers the use of magic tubes and creative filters, and an extensive appendix details the equipment and techniques he utilises to create his extraordinary work.
These few short pages extracted from the three first chapters can’t do justice to the 168-page hardback, but will certainly whet the appetite of interested readers. Highly recommended.
Underwater Magic is currently available from Michal’s website,
priced €32 + shipping at michalstros.cz/new-book/
Macro dive sites
Macro dive sites are some of the weirdest places in the world. Twenty-five years ago, few people would have chosen to dive in shallow, trash-filled sandy areas instead of colourful coral reefs, However, these ‘muck’ sites have become a worldwide phenomenon, attracting amateur and professional underwater photographers eager to photograph unusual, tiny creatures.
At these sites, masked fish often mimic sponges, rocks, or waving sea grass. Instead of swimming, they walk on the seabed. Some of these mini monsters look really scary, others are beautiful and colourful.
I recommend using a snoot that allows the strobe to illuminate only the subject as the sandy bottom is usually distracting in photographs. You can also blur the background by using a wide aperture, or use artificial backgrounds illuminated with white or coloured light to enhance the creativity of underwater images.
Collages
Photography offerss a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious underwater world. However, the background around the main subject can sometimes be uninteresting or distracting, such as a monotonous sandy seabed which is, however, home to many amazing and rare marine creatures.
With a graphics editor, distracting backgrounds can easily be replaced with ones that better suit the artist’s vision. The result is a series of dreamlike collages. In some of them, I tried to connect the underwater world with the universe.
Vintage lenses
Not all underwater creatures are suitable subjects for modified vintage lenses. Fast-moving fish are difficult to capture because modified vintage lenses lack autofocus and have a preset focus distance.
However, photographing mantis shrimp, boxfish, lionfish, ornate ghost pipefish, sea slugs, and feather stars against a colourful coral reef background can produce beautiful images.
Underwater Magic is currently available from Michal’s website,
priced €32 + shipping at michalstros.cz/new-book/
The post Underwater Magic – an extract from Michal Štros’ new book appeared first on DIVE Magazine.
