Coolpix 5000 - 1st UW Photos from Flowergardens Trip

Hi Folks,

Full Gallery is now posted at www.reefpix.org/flowergardens/index.htm

These first shots were taken using the Inon macro lens on a "rigdive":

Tesselated Blenny:

Orange cup coral (Tubastraes sp.):

Cheers

James Wiseman

[Edited on 4-18-2002 by jamesw]

Some nice stuff there James! What white balance did you use? What mode? Aperature priority or manual? What aperture? Thanks.

Dave:)

Manual exposure or TTL?

Okay! Now I'm definitely going to the Flower Gardens waaaayy before August. Damn it James!

Very nice photos, James. One question though... Why would you use the Inon macro lens if the Nikon already has 3/4 inch macro capability?.. You hoping for electron microscope capabilities on your Nikon?

The variety of sea life on that trip is amazing.. Hammerhead shark, Tesselated blenny, orange cup coral... A M A Z I N G ! ! !

So when are you going again? I'll be there like a bear!

I agree with Laz. That's an amazing variety of critters you shot in one weekend. Beautiful shots!

Herb

Very sweet shots James. Looks like nice conditions, clear water. Love the cup corals.

How are these shot & processed?

Great fun, ain't it!!?? Good work.

Don

Good morning,

Oh, that's nothing guys...wait till I post the pictures of the 20+ silky sharks swimming around that deepwater offshore platform...

All of my shots were taken using Aperture Priority and Auto white balance. I would have liked to experiment with presetting the white balance and MANY other things, but this was my first time out with the camera system so I could only try so much. Not to mention that the Flower Gardens is a very "challenging" diving and photography environment. Every dive was below 80 feet...try doing 5 of those in a day.

Almost all of the shots posted were taken using TTL. The exception being the Macro shots w/ the Inon lens. Digital camera's are MUCH more sensitive to light than film, and my trusty Nikon SB102 just cannot quench fast enough to get a good macro exposure. So I had to shoot it in manual or turn it off. A couple of those shots were taken w/ the Nikon strobe turned off and the YS90DX stopped down to almost minimal power.

I bet I looked funny with one strobe right up in front (YS90) and the other strobe (SB102) back up over my shoulder...lol!

The reason I like the Inon macro is that while the camera can focus at 3/4", I have trouble aiming my strobes to properly illuminate the subject when I am that close. The Inon lets me back out a bit and still get the same full-frame shot.

Oh...no night dive pictures from this trip. There was a tiger shark under the boat when we came up from the evening dive so the divemasters wouldn't let us go back in the water...

What you guys haven't seen yet is the coral coverage at the Flower Gardens. It is almost 100%!!!!! I'm serioud. There is literally NO PLACE to set down on the bottom to work on the camera, reposition strobes, etc...you have to have very good buoyancy control.

I would really encourage everyone who is interested to come on over. The diving just gets better and better as the season progresses. Seas during the summer are usually less than 2 feet. Lots of turtles and mantas...etc. Maybe we should all try to go on a trip together?

Cheers

James

[Edited on 4-17-2002 by jamesw]

[Edited on 4-17-2002 by jamesw]

Hey James.

How is your camera set for color saturation, contrast, etc? How much post processing have you found needed?

Are all these shots straight from the camera, or???

Yeah, the flower gardens sounds like a great place to dive.

Hi Don,

I left the camera on the default settings for "in-camera" contrast control and saturation control.

I'm getting to the point now that if I have to monkey with a photo in photoshop to "make it look good" then that really isn't a good photo to begin with. Now that I have proper control (almost) of my lighting, I'm getting the color I want. If the background blue isn't right...that's my fault, and it's really not something I want to try to correct later.

What I'm getting at is that if I hit Autolevels in Photoshop and the picture doesn't change much - I consider that a good shot... I'm not trying to put down the uses of post processing with this comment - I'm merely saying that I prefer to not spend the time monkeying with it if I can help it.

The shots posted are some of the "cream" so I didn't have to post process them much. I think I lightened a few. I did do a few crops (blenny and arrow crab) but that is so that I can post the photos at 600 pixels wide. In reality, they are over 2500 pixels wide!!! The tubastraea picture is NOT cropped at all. That one is a wallhanger, in my honest (and very biased) opinion.

Cheers

James

[Edited on 4-17-2002 by jamesw]

I saw somebody in our photo club with what he claims to be a -2 stops

diffuser made out of a piece of plastic for his Ike200 strobe.

He rigged it up with bungy cords so it's easy to put on and stays attached

to the strobe when it's not in use.

Looks like a simple thing to do.

I hate to see you give the little fish a bad case of sunburn.

Herb

Hey James,

you really did a great job on the pictures!! I am very impressed. Two questions: As a former, Nikon Coolpix 990 user, did you feel that there is a big quality difference in the automatic-whitebalance if you compare the two cameras?

Question Number two: where is this lovely dive site located? Sorry, but I am from Europe ;-)

Go on! post more of that beautiful drug...

cheers andi

Hi James,

very impressive !!!!

I just returned from a liveaboard tour in the southern Red Sea but i didn't see half of the sharks you had in one day (not to mention the photos i didn't shoot, but that's another story).

Where is that Flowergarden place ????

What is the best visiting time ?

If you can arrange a trip for interested forum members, maybe i'll pack my things and come too (although it's probably a long way from Germany)

To Andi the shisha smoker: Seems to be even better than Egypt :cool:

Sabine

Superb shots James. Fabulous color! We'll definitely have to dive the Flower Gardens when we get down there sometime.

Originally posted by snoack

Hi James,

 

[...]

 

To Andi the shisha smoker: Seems to be even better than Egypt :cool:

 

Sabine

Hi Sabine...

It depends of course "where" and "when" you are diving. You cannot order anything down there. I mean - common - it is not a supermarket! But my comment on sharks: I experienced once something similar like James in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. It was the best thing I ever encountered there, a group of 6 blacktip-reefsharks and a few days before a 8m long whaleshark (the first shark I ever saw in my life). Sorry, for not posting a selfmade picture of him, but I was not a uw-photographer that time. So since I bought a Nikon Coolpix 990 I am waiting to meet a decent shark again and then steal his soul with my camera.

Here is the whaleshark (picture taken by Janet Wedler with a Sea&Sea):

But after having done more than 100 dives in northern Red Sea area. I have only encountered 2 more sharks (a white-tip and a hammerhead on the same dive, but I was guiding a group, so no pictures again ). After this statistic, I have the theory that they got used to the heavy diving business around Sharm el Sheikh. So usually they come back to certain places after all the daily boats have left.

So always try to make it for a 3rd dive before sunset! Concerning the colors, I think the National Park of Ras Mohammed can surely compete. Just take a look at this recent photo:

But all in all I have to agree with you, Sabine. I want to go that place near Texas in the Mexican Gulf! The oil rig and everything looks really thrillingl. So I really would love to join you on a trip, also to meet James & Co. ...

Read you soon - Andi

You guys really crack me up! I'll tell you what...I'll trade you the Flower Gardens for the Red Sea. Deal?

The Flower Gardens are a unique place and it has its on special appeal, but compared to other reefs, it has a low diversity. One thing you'll notice is there are no shots of soft corals or gorgonians...because there aren't any there. Low species diversity doesn't mean it has small biomass though. It has HUGE biomass, as you can see from the pictures.

Another nice thing about it is that I can catch a boat within an hour drive from my house. About a 2 hr drive from the Houston International Airport. You guys are all welcome. I can fit 5 ppl AND their gear in my Landcruiser.

Cheers

James