Hello from Spain

Hi!

As I've won this week's POTW I think it's fair to present myself here in the forum

I live in the north of Spain and here, in the Bay of Biscay, we don't have the best conditions for diving and underwater photography. Half of the year the visibility is reduced to a few meters and the water is quite cold (11 to 14ºC) but in this murky and cold waters we can find colourful animals different from others we find in more hot waters and personally, I really like diving here

My equipment is pretty basic: a compact camera, E900 and a flash, D2000 which I use in manual mode. I also have 2 wet macro lenses. With this equipment and considering that where I dive there is not good visibility, 90% of my photos are macro shots.

Here are some photos:

P. pilicornis

P. gattorugine

Mola mola

Serranus cabrilla

Fabellina babai

Janolus cristatus

An octopus

Sea urchin

A different one

Corynactis viridis

I hope you like them!!

Ahh! My name is Mikel

Hi Mike, welcome to the forum! Your POTW photo is great, but I can't see any of the photos that you posted above... Maybe your server doesn't allow linking? All I see is "IPB Image".

Luiz

Thanks Luiz!

I have re-uploaded the photos. I hope now to be OK.

BTW, your photos are fantastic!

Hi Mikel, Great photo's. Do you have a website with more of yoru shots?

Hi Mikel,

Did you realize your name is an anagram of like 'm

Oh and to answer your question regarding your shots, yes I do like 'm very much. Some even seem to good to be true. Great work!

Bart

Love the pose you got in that first one. The fish seems to be talking to you! ...

Gary

Hello Mikeeeeel!!! and welcome!

Congratulations for your POTW!! I think I had already seen most of these great pics "somewhere else"

Very good selection of images, impressive entrance!

Hy Mikel!!

Congratulations!!!

I've seen this pictures before and you know that I like it!

Thanks to all!

Hi Mikel, Great photo's. Do you have a website with more of yoru shots?

Not yet. But if you want to see some more, I regularly upload photos to www.photo.net. My gallery is www.photo.net/photos/Mikel

At this moment I do not have PS so I can't show new images. In any case, most of them are similar; macro shots.

Hi Mikel,

 

Did you realize your name is an anagram of like 'm

 

Bart

Not until now! . My languages are basque and spanish; english is just my 3rd language!

BTW, Mikel is Michael in basque.

Mikel, your photographs are wonderful. I am particularly impressed by the clarity and vibrant color. Could you tell us a little about your technique, equipment, post-processing. I cannot see any EXIF data anywhere.

Thanks

Sorry, I saw you did post regarding your equipment, what PS post processing is generally done.

Mikel, your photographs are wonderful. I am particularly impressed by the clarity and vibrant color. Could you tell us a little about your technique, equipment, post-processing. I cannot see any EXIF data anywhere.

Thanks

 

Sorry, I saw you did post regarding your equipment, what PS post processing is generally done.

Hello loftus, thanks for your words,

I explain a little bit...

The camera is E900 with Ikelite housing (it's the unique for this model) and I use a D2000 flash in manual mode. Nothing more. Normally I shot in RAW so I have to wait 8 seconds between each shot.

The colours are due to Fuji, I like them but I think some people might think are over-saturated. It's just a matter of taste.

I do not do a lot of post-procesing. Just to adjust contrast and brightness in ACR.

What annoys me more about the E900 is the "purple fringing", it is really obvious. There is a plug-in to reduce it but the process it is slow and I don't use it. You can see the purple in almost all the photos I've put in the post.

Ah! To take the macros I use 1 or 2 macro lenses attached to the housing, normally with the closest diaphragm. In my case f8. I think it is because of that, that the "purple finge" appears.

Sorry for my english

I'd like to have a D200!

Thank you. I think one flash, correctly positioned as you have really provides nice depth to the pics.

Hi Mikel,

Great shots!!!! I'm really jealous with your mola mola..... ..... i saw the same one but with me it didn't come close at all. I was in Harribolas in the beginning of august and i'm sure we met there. I think you arrived together with your friend every morning around 9.30... I was there camping with my girlfriend in the orange mobile home (VW). Anyway, i was in this diving spot last year as well and this year it seemed that it had much more fish and better visibility then last year. The gorgonians also grew a lot in one year. Also the water temperature wasn't that cold: i had 22 degrees celsius on my computer. Wish i had a home diving spot like you have without many divers..... jealous again.. ..... i think i'm going to live in the Basque Country, i like it a lot there........ Probabaly we come there next year in spring so see lots of nudibranches.... Are the mola molas present all year around?

cheers, Udo

Mikel,

I like your photos!

Your mola is really cool and has a different sort of "look" or "expression" than others I've seen... (if you understand my english).

Yes, Mikel, with those wet lenses, especially stacked there is all kinds of fringing issues. I use them on almost every shot I take with the Fuji F810. I found a manual fix on a bird photography site and I use that, no plug ins. But it does take some time in PS and you have to be smart to target the proper colors in the fringing and not the general colors in the shot.

If your plug in works I'd use it, even if it takes a little time your photos are very good so it would be worth the time investment.

My solution for the fringing issues with the Inon wet lenses and the fuji is to get a new DSLR in a couple of months as I've had enough of it. The higher quality lenses will fix about 85% of the fringing issues, I know I've shot my Fuji and a D70 at the same subject back to back and an enormous difference in the fringing issues. I think it is the lower quality of the wet lenses that causes it, not as much the exposure or flash placement in my experience.

Just FYI. Still your photos are GREAT!!

Best, Carol B)

Hi Mikel,

Great shots!!!! I'm really jealous with your mola mola..... ..... i saw the same one but with me it didn't come close at all. I was in Harribolas in the beginning of august and i'm sure we met there. I think you arrived together with your friend every morning around 9.30... I was there camping with my girlfriend in the orange mobile home (VW). Anyway, i was in this diving spot last year as well and this year it seemed that it had much more fish and better visibility then last year. The gorgonians also grew a lot in one year. Also the water temperature wasn't that cold: i had 22 degrees celsius on my computer. Wish i had a home diving spot like you have without many divers..... jealous again.. ..... i think i'm going to live in the Basque Country, i like it a lot there........ Probabaly we come there next year in spring so see lots of nudibranches.... Are the mola molas present all year around?

 

cheers, Udo

Hi Udo!!

Yes, you are right, I'm the tall one!!

To come here to dive is a little bit risky, you can find a really poor visibility or just not to be able to dive because of the bad weather. Even if you don't believe it, in july we had for more than a week no more than 2 metres of visibility in the same spot you were.

In any case, we have had a really good august with a lot of Mola mola, fish and different species, for me the best dive in summer was when we saw sea-cucumbers spawning http://www.afotos.net/public/albunes/920/DSCF2781.jpg

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4255/dscf2780fj4.jpg

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/8086/dscf2786tp1.jpg

Sunfish in Harribolas are not during all the year, but if you go with a boat you might see them in other dive points. Most of the sunfish we normally saw were really fast, it was like to see sharks in Maldives or the South of the Red Sea, but some of them wanted to be cleaned, and thus the photos I took

http://www.wetpixel.com/competition/index....try&id=1653

http://www.afotos.net/public/albunes/920/DSCF2746.jpg

If you come here in spring, send me a message before. What you probably find is much poor visibility (5-10 if you are lucky), not sunny days but many nudibranchs, some really beautiful fish (like Labrus bimaculatus), and more vegetation. Here are some photos of my collegue, he takes better photos than me:D All of them taken this spring.

http://www.forobuceo.com/phpBB2/viewtopic....&highlight=

http://www.forobuceo.com/phpBB2/viewtopic....&highlight=

Cheers.

Mikel,

 

My solution for the fringing issues with the Inon wet lenses and the fuji is to get a new DSLR in a couple of months as I've had enough of it. The higher quality lenses will fix about 85% of the fringing issues, I know I've shot my Fuji and a D70 at the same subject back to back and an enormous difference in the fringing issues. I think it is the lower quality of the wet lenses that causes it, not as much the exposure or flash placement in my experience.

 

Just FYI. Still your photos are GREAT!!

 

Best, Carol B)

Yes, I agree. That is the solution!

Nice stuff. Were those shot in Spain? Those are similar cold water species as here in California. I'm supposed to get out diving today but the Santa Ana winds might blow us to the bar instead.

Here are some photos of my collegue, he takes better photos than me

i don't agree with you on that...

BTW, 2 m of visibility isn't that bad. Here in the netherlands we're happy with that you know, the only problem might be the swell but harribolas is around a corner that makes diving very often possible i was told and otherwise we still can dive in the Elantxobe harbour isn't it? Me and my girlfriend got somewhat addicted to diving in the BC, but we should stop talking about diving there.... i like it quit over there....

cheers, udo

Bienvenidos, Mikel.

I wouldn't worry about the D200. Some of your shots are better than stuff I've seen from a D2X. Sometimes, actually a lot of times, it's not the camera but the photographer.

Sometimes, actually a lot of times, it's not the camera but the photographer.

... i would say: it's always the person behind the camera who does the job. BTW, with a D200 or D2X you can do more but you can also screw it up more...