Under the sea at Kurnell in Sydney's south, Matty Smith positioned himself beside a football-sized orange octopus, and prepared to take the ultimate underwater adventurer's selfie.

But the octopus was having none of it. Normally nocturnal, the creature had risen early on Sunday in the mating season, and Smith's expensive camera gear seemed to be making him all … hands-y.

Little sucker: An octopus gives an unexpected close-up while grappling with photographer Matty Smith's camera. Credit:Matty Smith

"They can be quite boisterous at this time of year and this one was actually trying to wrestle my camera out of my hands," Smith, 40, of Stanwell Park, north of Wollongong, told the Illwarra Mercury.

"All the suckers you can see are on the glass [housing] of my camera."