Just ask Dr. Michael Palasz and his patients at Lititz Orthodontics.

For the last six years, Palasz has taken underwater photographs, which he uses to educate his patients about marine life.

His patients don't know what kind of sea life they will encounter on each visit. Palasz already has shown them photos of coral reefs, a chainlink moray, an orangutan crab, a pygmy seahorse, a lettuce sea slug, a giant manta and a barracuda.

"It's such an incredible environment that not many people get to visit. I want to document (marine life) so my patients get interested in oceans and how important (they are) for us," Palasz said. "My patients are learning (through viewing the photographs) about coral conservation -- that coral reefs are in danger of being wiped out -- that they might not have learned otherwise."

Besides showing the photographs, Palasz has "guess-the-fish" contests that focus on marine life such as sharks, turtles and the "Nemo"-type fish.

"Some patients go so far as to look them up online and put their scientific names down," Palasz' wife, Keri, said.

Palasz' photographs have won a number of awards. They were recognized online by professional underwater photographers at digitaldiver.net and wetpixel.com. The photos will be included in a 2006 product catalog dedicated to underwater-photography equipment.

Although he usually submits his photographs to underwater-photo contests, he submitted his latest photograph of a barracuda to a show of "topside" photos.

Palasz' barracuda was chosen out of 1,100 entries to be displayed with 144 other photographs in the 14th annual Phillips' Mill Photographic Exhibition in New Hope. The show -- which benefits Phillips' Mill, a nonprofit organization that promotes art in Pennsylvania -- is being held through Sunday.

Because of his interest in marine biology, Palasz and his wife started scuba diving together almost six years ago.

He began his hobby with a $10 disposable camera, and photographed anything in front of him in Key Largo, Fla. "I got a lot of fishtails. But that's not a good photo," Palasz said.

So Palasz took underwater-photography classes wherever they were held around the world.

His first class, held in the Cayman Islands, was a "good intro for us to try to take pictures of fish as they move around," Palasz said. "It's not easy to sneak up on a fish. You think you're being very, very quiet, but you're blowing bubbles and have a 'Darth Vader' type of breathing equipment. You have to pick a subject and watch it for a while."

When Palasz started taking underwater photographs, he just wanted to take a picture of any type of marine life. Now, he and his wife choose specific subjects and go looking for them in their own habitat. For instance, they went to Galapagos Islands to shoot whale sharks, the largest fish in the world at 40 to 50 feet long.

On his most recent trip to Key Largo, Palasz spent his vacation looking into the toothy grin of a 4-foot-long barracuda.

Palasz stayed underwater for an hour and took 100 shots. "There was nothing else to shoot that day. The barracuda was cooperating, and his teeth were not too bad," Palasz said.

He decided to shoot the barracuda head-on so he could get the best angle of its teeth, he said. "I thought he had great teeth."

Since he was hovering only 10 feet underwater, Palasz said he could get to the boat quickly if he needed to, because barracudas travel at "torpedo lightning speed. You don't know when they will attack."

Palasz had to revamp his camera system, making sure it was all black because barracudas are known to attack shiny objects, he said.

Palasz shoots with a Nikon D2X, a digital single-lens reflex camera housed in aluminum and accessorized with a series of lenses and external strobes.

Palasz also was challenged with the technicality of focusing his shot on the barracuda and not the water it was swimming in.

Because there was 75-foot visibility that day, Palasz had to get creative with his lighting so that the particulates in the water that reflect the light wouldn't be seen, he said.

Palasz said the most exotic marine life he has photographed are the mantis shrimp and pygmy seahorse in Bali, Indonesia. The colorful mantis shrimp is only 6 inches long, but it is deadly to people, packing the punch of a .22-caliber bullet, Palasz said. The pygmy seahorse is the size of a pinky fingernail and lives on a seafan, he said.

In October, Palasz and his wife plan to go to Guadalupe Island, Mexico, to document the behavior of great white sharks from inside a cage. "There will be two cages set up, and the sharks come to us," he said.

Palasz wants to photograph the sharks because he feels it won't be long before this type of interaction will be outlawed. "Sharks become accustomed to finding food around humans. That may be why there are a lot of shark attacks on humans," he said.

Because of the orthodontist in him, Palasz said he is hoping a great white shark leaves a tooth behind for a souvenir.

He is having a special camera made and fitted on a long pole, so that he can be on the boat as the sharks come to attack the "shishkebob" chum line and bring the camera right into the shark's mouth.

While Palasz is excited about the prospect of documenting the great white, Keri says she is scared and may not join her husband in the cage.

" I want to document (marine life) so my patients get interested in oceans and how important (they are) for us."

Dr. Michael Palasz