First Ocean Photos with 20D Housing

3 friends and I went on a road trip from Lincoln, Nebraska down to Key Largo Florida to do some diving and free-diving as well for lobsters. This was the first time I've used my housing in the ocean, I had only shot with it one time before in murky Nebraska waters. I was trying my best to not get backscatter in photos when using a flash, because I never really mastered that technique on the 2 or 3 dives I made with my Nikonos setup.

Let me know what you guys think I should do better for next time. I know the composition and photo content is lacking in most because I was so worried about having somewhat decent lighting. All photos with a 20D in ikelite housing with a Nikonos SB105 shot manually.

Spotted spiny. Taken while free-diving.

School of fish around a Brain Coral at French Reef, Key Largo. This was taken while actually diving.

This is one of the swim throughs on our French Reef dive. It was pretty cool. Being my first dive in the ocean, I was excited to do some different stuff like that. This is 2 of the 3 friends I went with on the trip.

Any comments/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks a lot guys.

Tyler

This is one of the swim throughs on our French Reef dive. It was pretty cool. Being my first dive in the ocean, I was excited to do some different stuff like that.

Way to go Tyler! First ocean dive and you come home with good pictures to show your friends and family, nicely done. Congrats too on completing the initiation to the ocean world. Your life will never be the same again. For our friends around the world, Nebraska is just about as far from an ocean as you can get in the northern hemisphere. The only reason to wear a mask there is to keep the mud out of your eyes. You brought back a rush of memories for me Tyler with your post. I made a similar road trip from a little town in Missouri to the Keys in 1972. Four friends, sleeping in a station wagon, first sight of the ocean, first taste of saltwater. We were so green we covered up the shiny parts of our regulators with electrical tape because we'd read that barracuda struck shiny things. Now 36 years and 4000+ dives later, I still remember those dives like it was yesterday. Hang on to those pictures Tyler, put copies in a safe place. Trust me when I tell you that someday they will mean even more to you than they do now.

You don't mention what lens you were using on the 20D, looks like it might be a tad long, my favorite is the shot under the overhang, the next time you're in that situation you might try using the strobe to light the fish on the right. Balancing the strobe lit subjects and ambient light is fun to try and work on. But I'm nitpicking, first ocean dive, with a camera. Great job!

Steve

Way to go Tyler! First ocean dive and you come home with good pictures to show your friends and family, nicely done. Congrats too on completing the initiation to the ocean world. Your life will never be the same again. For our friends around the world Nebraska is just about as far from an ocean as you can get in the northern hemisphere. The only reason to wear a mast there is to keep the mud out of your eyes. You brought back a rush of memories for me Tyler with your post. I made a similar road trip from a little town in Missouri to the Keys in 1972. Four friends, sleeping in a station wagon, first sight of the ocean, first taste of saltwater. We were so green we covered up the shiny parts of our regulators with electrical tape because we'd read that barracuda struck shiny things. Now 36 years and 4000+ dives later, I still remember those dives like it was yesterday. Hang on to those pictures Tyler, put copies in a safe place. Trust me when I tell you that someday they will mean even more to you than they do now.

You don't mention what lens you were using on the 20D, looks like it might be a tad long, my favorite is the shot under the overhang, the next time you're in that situation you might try using the strobe to light the fish on the right. Balancing the strobe lit subjects and ambient light is fun to try and work on. But I'm nitpicking, first ocean dive, with a camera. Great job!

Steve

Thanks a lot for the comments and suggestions. We actually took an old Subaru station wagon, and we got the chance to break down in the small town of Odessa Missouri on the way down there (only about 5 hours into the 28 hour long trip- which was 14 hours longer because of the breakdown). A very nice local resident offered to fix our car, and we ended up making it down in time for all of our dives still.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to make it out again soon for photos and for great dives.

Oh, and the lens was a sigma 18-50mm. I wouldn't mind using a wider lens next time, and I used the 50mm to do close up portraits of of small things like christmas tree worms and such. I don't know if this is a common way to do things, a True macro would have probably been better for that.

I was having problems having the photos in focus when I was at 50mm shooting smaller subjects, but I think it might have been a problem with my buoyancy, and holding still long enough for focusing. More practice will help I guess.

we got the chance to break down in the small town of Odessa Missouri on the way down there (only about 5 hours into the 28 hour long trip- which was 14 hours longer because of the breakdown). A very nice local resident offered to fix our car, and we ended up making it down in time for all of our dives still.

That's funny, I grew up in a little town about 8 miles down the road from Odessa. Our station wagon made it clear to Florida before it broke.

"I was having problems having the photos in focus when I was at 50mm shooting smaller subjects, but I think it might have been a problem with my buoyancy, and holding still long enough for focusing. More practice will help I guess."

Yep, number one, most important underwater photography skill is bouyancy control. Most folks making there first trip to the ocean from cold water country carry too much weight. You'll get it. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Steve