Hometown Snaps

At the start of the week I headed down to the SW of England to Devon (the county where I grew up) to see the folks and to get in a spot of diving. I am planning a trip to BC later in the year and the water temp in the UK at the moment is about what we expect in Canada in the summer. So it was a good chance to check I had appropriate insulation.

UK diving is also rather good this time of year as it is before the spring bloom. Although you need to be lucky with the weather. We were. Here is my "buddy" coming out of the water (I was still UW for another 20 mins) beautiful conditions:

http://www.yournews.itvlocal.com/Clip.aspx...8239395436EE3A1

I am still pretty green when it comes to UK diving and am still at the "getting over excited at all the new subjects" stage. But who wouldn't be with big spider crabs, catsharks (dogfish), mating cuttlefish, pipefish and more...

I am still working on my greenwater techniques - so these images are hardly world beaters - but pleasing enough. It is nice to be shooting and working on my photography without the pressure of shooting for publication. It is great to be learning, improving and shooting for myself:

Spider crab catches its reflection in the port:

Spotted catshark, confusingly called a dogfish in England:

Cuttlefish pair, male guarding female while she lays:

Sperm transfer.

Close up of above (17-70mm zoomed in):

Cool pipefish, big sucker - taken with the 10-17mm:

Decorated spider crab:

Alex

Hey cool! I never realized cuttle fish existed in cold waters. I've only ever seen pics of them from tropical locals.

I'd also like to say welcome to the world of cold water diving. I'm sure you'll find it very rewarding and you may have already noticed that the crowds aren't as large either My GF would argue that's because the rest of them know better, but I say... BAH what doe's she know!

When you come to BC, get up North Island to Port Hardy if you can. The diving up there is some of the better diving you'll find anywhere.

Cheers,

Mike

Alex,

I love the photos, especially the closeup of the cuttles....

But my fav - fav is Peter returning and being welcomed by the greeting party!!!

Thanks, love the unusual "stuff".

Best, Carol

Very interesting cuttle mating shots Alex and that pipefish looks massive.

Alex,

Stunning results and it looks like you are certainly ready for BC diving (some of the best in the world for colorful critters!)

A couple quick questions I'm sure all would be interested in if you would be so kind to share a few shooting details.....

1) Did you change lenses on dives as one says 17-70mm (I assume the popular Sigma 17-70mm?) and others says 10-17mm so I assume Tokina likely zoomed on on the big pipe fish?

2) For some if not all are you doing your "top lighting" pushing color into the background slightly behind the subject? Or one flash on top and one side strobe aiming?

3) Finally, in those temperate waters and not showing a spec of backscatter, are you pulling the strobes IN and then aiming them slightly OUT?

Just spectacular images......

Thanks!

dhaas

Wow. Looks like you have your green water technique down pretty good to me. I love the first spider crab.

Thanks for the comments guys. I agree there is not too much wrong with the shots - and these are just a small selection - but also nothing particularly special.

David, to answer your questions. I did 5 dives over 3 days using both the Tok 10-17 and Sig 17-70mm. I had a Nikon 60mm with me too, but never fancied using it. The pix are lit in different ways - some front, some top lit. Regarding backscatter - of course there are no snowstorms - but there are particles in the water on most of those shots. Only showing them at 500 pixels hides a lot of sins! I'd also say that some of them were taken in excellent viz 10-15m.

But the real key to avoiding backscatter is not strobe positioning, but has always been getting close and then closer still.

Many of these are taken with the Sigma 17-70mm. I use this lens in two configurations - and in low viz I only use part of its zoom range (about 18-38mm) with a small 4" dome, which allows me to focus and light right on the port. If you use the full zoom range - the compromises of housing this lens and the big port mean you can't make use of its very close focus at the wider end. So, I end up with a 18-38mm macro lens. Excellent in low viz.

Alex

"UK diving is also rather good this time of year as it is before the spring bloom. Although you need to be lucky with the weather. We were. Here is my "buddy" coming out of the water (I was still UW for another 20 mins) beautiful conditions:

http://www.yournews.itvlocal.com/Clip.aspx...5436EE3A1"

Ah, but what was our intrepid diver using to bribe the dogs? The sun may be out, but no self-respecting dog would be daft enough to enter the chilly channel!

And Alex: if you can get that close when you're struggling with a drysuit after the freedom of the tropics, what hope is there for the rest of us, who always hoped that our cold-water experience would at least count for something? We might retire on your "hardly world-beaters"!

And (squared): what about your intrepid buddy's images?

Tim

B)

Alex,

Thanks for sharing such an interesting mix of UK underwater life. Looks like you should be spending more time exploring those cool green home waters.

Quick question, how rich are the UK temperate waters? are subjects abundant or few and far between?

Regards

Nigel

Alex,

 

Thanks for sharing such an interesting mix of UK underwater life. Looks like you should be spending more time exploring those cool green home waters.

 

Quick question, how rich are the UK temperate waters? are subjects abundant or few and far between?

 

Regards

 

Nigel

Hi Nigel

Have a wee browse on WWW. arransealife.co.uk,

just a small corner of UK potential.

Cheers Bowman