Underwater Images, Post them here.

[zack10]

Jim,

This large female(500lbs.) just had to come over to us to say hello, we were at 90'. The bubbles are from a friend's regulator that was under her.

GT

[Donald]

Now we're into a whole new ball game here on C in C.

I think you're the only person on here doing underwater work (I haven't seen any others). This is going to be an education for all of us. Keep 'em coming.

[Jim B.]

GT,
Outstanding! Bet the views at that depth are stunning!
One from my last trip to St. Croix.....you can laugh...taken at 12'

[zack10]

Jim great shot of the anemone. I guess your in tune to how hard it is to keep the camera still! Anyway as soon as I get more proficient with editing to Dave's recommendations more images will "soon come". Donald I'm glad you like something different, thanks. The major problem shooting in water is most subjects that don't stay still. Hence my bad habbit of Just snapping.

Enjoy, GT

[timo2]

I had a large turtle swim up to me the other week, we swam together for a good ten minutes, impressive beast. I took a camera the next few days but didn’t see her again, a few days later, a three foot long inquisitive bass swam right up to me!

Here’s an attempt at a seascape

[Peter Ryan]

As Donald says - great to see some new stuff.

Maybe you could tell us a bit about the gear you use. I understand the red rays fall off quickly underwater and you are left with mainly blues and some greens (I think). I assume then you are using some underwater housing for your camera and an underwater flash to get the colour.

I have admired works I have seen from divers on the Great Barrier Reef so keep it coming.

[Donald]

Tim

There you go - that's another concept that I'd never thought about. If I'd been asked what underwater photography is about, I think I would have replied that it was about marine life or specific features (rocks, etc). The idea of an underwater seascape, in the same way as a land-bound landscape, would never have occured to me. This is excellent. The light is amazing.

[Klickit]

I am a little bit in awe of people who take underwater photos, as I'm not really a swimming person. Used to be in my youth, but that is many moons and then some ago. I do know that the technicalities of underwater photography are very different from land based photos and keeping still is something I hadn't really considered. I really like the turtle photo - she is looking straight at you with a "What the ...?" look in her eye. And seascapes - beautiful! Looking forwards to more...

[zack10]

Both of these were shot in 25' of water. More soon come.

[Donald]

Brilliant. Simply brilliant!

[Jim B.]

GT,
Absolutely stunning! Especially the angel.

[zack10]

Donald & Jim,
Thanks, I guess I should have put a space between the BB codes. These two were already at 8 bit so after resizing I only used 45% for both light and dark contours in output sharpen, I don't think I over did it, looks good on my monitor.

GT

[zack10]

Hi Peter,
I use a Canon G9 and housing with a D2000 Inon flash and .5 white diffuser to soften the strobe. The flash is triggered by the preflash from the cameras built in flash through an optical cable. The strobe's output can be controlled automatically by the light sensor on the flash or manually in 1/2 stop increments. This combination is great for tight spaces in the reef because it's compact. The colour you loose first is red then yellow. This starts at about 15' and by 30' blues/green is predominant.

GT

[Jim B.]

GT,

They look good on my monitor.Sharpening looks fine.

[zack10]

Ok, thanks.

[Shadowman]

Jim great shot of the anemone. I guess your in tune to how hard it is to keep the camera still! Anyway as soon as I get more proficient with editing to Dave's recommendations more images will "soon come". Donald I'm glad you like something different, thanks. The major problem shooting in water is most subjects that don't stay still. Hence my bad habbit of Just snapping.

Enjoy, GT

I'm wondering how you keep the camera still, what with the currents. Do you use weights on your wrists?

[timo2]

I only snorkel and shoot in relatively shallow water so colour drop off isn’t such a problem but because I’m not using flash, stability becomes an issue because there is no way to keep the camera still.

I either shoot with a small Olympus waterproof camera (old mu 720) or an SLR/DLSR in a ewa-marine flexible housing

http://www.ewa-marine.com/

Because I like landscapes, I try to shoot seascapes. This was from a D80 in the ewa-marine last month




(lovely fish Zack)

[timo2]

This is a scan from a print taken on a Nikon FE in the ewa-marine a couple of years ago


I followed this young turtle for over half an hour but every time I got really close, she would shoot ahead of me. I eventually gave up the chase and found I was a very long way out to sea and couldn’t see the bottom; I couldn’t even make out people on the beach I’d set out from and it took me a good half hour to swim back.

[zack10]

Hi John,
One of my past obession's was "Sporting Clays", shooting clay targets with a shotgun and to be good at the game you must learn how to point and shoot not aim, as aiming induces constant correction so any acurracy is lost. This method applies to the conditions UW because you and everything else is constantly moving in some direction. When snorkling point & shoot is very efective, diving the motion problem isn't as bad when you get past the shore and get into rocks and coral the sea surge diminishes and sometimes it gets real still. I don't use weights on my wrists but the camera/housing is weighted to make it neutrally bouyant, so you don't have to keep pulling it down.

GT

[zack10]

Hi Tim,
Great shot! The sand bottom is a good background for the light reflections coming from the surface. It looks like you were facing away from shore as the ripples in the sand would indicate. Isn't chasing images a real pain in the b--t? It usually happens to me when everything that you encounter doesn't want it's picture taken. Where do you snorkle, the conditions look pretty good, good viz?

GT