I am just back from a three week trip in Thailand. Very productive. The trip was mainly on a liveaboard charter organised by top cameraman Peter Scoones. Peter style of diving is simply to tie the boat up on a great reef and then have "pool is open" diving for day after day. There were only 8 of us on board and we all dived alone, going in when we wanted (for light or fish behaviour reasons). On this trip we dived mostly at East Of Eden in the Similans and Richelieu Rock.
Continually diving on the same site is very productive photographically. It allows you to watch and learn the patterns of behaviour and light. To discover where critters live and plan dives and optimise camera equipment around specific shots. It is an excellent style of diving for behaviour photography and for working on new creative techniques.
I shot much behaviour. These two started off looking as though they were mating and then ended up fighting. I presumed it was 2 males? I photographed the rejected male cuddling himself for reassurance a few minutes later (see the gallery).
Other behaviours I was pleased to capture included courtship of flame anthias, where the males swims below the females (note this is a different species to the one you usually see Indonesia - P. ignitus vs P. dispar)
And I shot plenty of cleaning too. Visually I like this shot of a cleaner wrasse in the gills of a map puffer.
With loads of time on the same reef and knowing where all the critters live (OK everyone knows where this eel lives on East Of Eden) made fish portraits really productive. This was shot with the Sigma 150mm and 500D dioptre.
I also continued my experiments with off camera strobes and finally started to get some pleasing images (rather than just photos of the effect). This one is perhaps the most obvious use. I like some of the subtler applications even more. (Article coming soon).
For ages I have been trying to make use of the Magic Filter to capture movement in a way you can't with flash. Finally I got the image I wanted with the reef sharp and the fish blurred. I like this shot (because I have been trying to get it for so long!) I hope others do too.
Another technique I tried on the trip was double exposures. This technique used to be popular on film, but nobody does it on digital because "it would be easier in photoshop". Actually trying the technique in camera made me realise some advantages to doing in Photoshop. Again article written, coming soon. This image was done entirely in camera:
As a minor point. I have also been using top lighting more and more. Especially good for subjects such as these Indian Ocean A. ephippium - where you want better strobe light penetration into the frame (so that you have even light and colour on both the foreground and mid-ground).
I also forced myself to shoot some wide angle without the fisheyes! Grrr. I hate it. I love my fisheyes. But I accept it is good for the diversity of my portfolio. Throughout the trip, much of the wideangle I was shooting was reef scenes with coral trout groupers and also glassfish. Here is one from the 12-24mm, I almost like it:
Finally I also tried a domeport designed by Peter Scoones for the Nikon 10.5mm fisheye (and almost flooded my camera when I tried to use it with the 10-17mm!). The port is really interesting, but I will have to check with Peter if he minds me writing about his innovations. Here is a photo I took with it and the 10.5mm fisheye (very, very close):
Anyway, the rest of the images can be seen here:
http://www.amustard.com/?page=thai08_gal_temp
Alex
caught my attention
caught my attention
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