The Wharf II was the place to be. I had asked the people at Backscatter the day before and that is what they told me. But being unfamiliar with beach diving in Monterey (all mine there have been boat, kayak or Pt Lobos) I went to the one place I was familiar with: breakwater. Big mistake. Most of the winning shots appeared to be from the Wharf II. Clearly site selection is a key to this contest. I took shots similar to a number of shots that won at the contest. But there was so much debris in the water they were unusable. Even the macro shots I did select had too much debris to be given serious consideration.
About the contest. there were 22 digital entries. Though digital photogs had only 2 categories, the odds of winning a nice trip were pretty good. I would have loved to have won Herb's prize. If you live close enough to Monterey it is definitely worth your while to enter.
About the contest.
1, They ought to let digital photogs enter other categories. Meaning humorous and topside.
2, Allow Tiff files. Jpeg files clearly discriminate against some cameras that have lessor Jpeg algorithms. This may not be possible as the files may be too large logistically for the contest staff to deal with.
3, Allow site registration the night before. Too much of a crowd the morning of the contest. A lot of people could get it out of the way and make an early start the next day.
4, Let digital participants know the tech details of the projector that will be used to view and judge the entrants. Knowing the color space of the projector, ect. might make a difference in what camera settings you use.
5, Have the drop off set up so that the participants can select their contest images away from the download computer. If they then have only the images they want to submit on their card it will be a lot easier and quicker to download them. Get a firewire reader for the download computer.
6, Devise some way that participants who don't have a winning image can know that their images were judged. It is hard to escape the feeling that maybe your image file was somehow deleted and your images were not judged.
NOTE. I realize that this is the first time they have had a digital category. These are not complaints but are suggestions on how the contest might work better.
A few thoughts on how to participate in the contest. First; LOCATION, LOCATION. LOCATION. This seems to me to be the most important factor in the contest. Looking at the various winners, and having talked with a number of the participants clearly the Wharf II was the place to go. A lot of people like me go to the Breakwater as it is the easiest and best known. But I've been there twice for the contest and the conditions just haven't been good. If I can get back next year I will arrive a day early and dive the Wharf that day to check out the conditions. Clearly inside info and advanced scouting are an excellent idea. You can always ask at Backscatter.
Practice with your camera with the file format allowed for the contest. With no PS it is a good idea to determine what settings give the best out of camera images. Many, like myself always use PS. Out of camera digital shooting is a different skill. You need to determine what settings you need to set in your cameras menu for the conditions at the dive location.
Make sure your camera is working properly. As mentioned by the judges I saw a number of people with cameras or strobes that were not working properly or were having leaks/floods.
Bring a Laptop to review your images. Much easier to pick your best if you have the time to do it carefully. It would be best to view them on the same source that they would be judged on if possible. In this case they used a digital projector. What source you view the image on can make a big different on how they look. If they are going to look at them on a TV select your images on a TV.
I do a lot of live aboard dive trips to the channel islands. I'm use to doing 4 to 6 dives a day and can usually outlast most of the divers on the trip. But I did 3 dives for this contest and was exhausted be the third. The first 2 dives I used my drysuit and due to the long hike to the water and long swim in it was actually too hot. For the third dive I stripped out all excess weight and gear and switched to a wetsuit. With the new wetsuit designs you can stay fairly warm and the diving is a lot easier. The film shooters get one roll of film so this isn't a big deal. They probably will make only two dives. But with digital, especially if you have to shoot Jpeg, you can shoot all day and make 3 or 4 dives. Go as light as you can.
