Bonaire

Hi Everyone,

Well I finally got my underwater camera equipment wet last week in Bonaire. This was my first real life use of my underwater digital camera, and my first "real" underwater camera. Before I would just rent a Sea & Sea with a dedicated flash. Just point and shoot for the most part. Despite using an SLR on land for many years now, I still have A LOT to learn about u/w photography. One of the first things I need to learn is to turn my strobes on! Yes, I actually forgot to turn my strobes on during a couple of dives, remembering to do so 1/2 to 3/4 through my air! Many blue shots were the result of that blunder. I kept wondering why I had to dial the shutter speed down to properly expose the pictures, duh. Anyway, I put the pictures up at my website for those of you that are interested in taking a gander.

http://www.chris-kristin.com/bonaire/

Some of the pics I converted to b&w because I was didn't like the blue cast from forgetting to turn the strobes on, or I had the strobes angled poorly, or I was too far away, etc.

I welcome any comments or suggestions. I have the dive sites we visited written down, so if any one has a question on where a photo was taken at, I can probably figure it out. Also, I welcome any questions people might have about Bonaire in general.

Regards,

Chris

One more thing. The pictures I post on my website are kind of big (90 - 120k) for full size (the link is to thumbnail images), so if you don't have broadband it might be painfully slow. If you really want to see my pictures, you can go to the Ofoto link here to view their compressed images.[

Those shots are pretty darn good for a first time out Chris. Nice job. You certainly show the diversity of life in Bonaire. I liked some of the head on fish shots - nice perspective. One thing I would suggest for that next time is not to shoot looking down so much. Hard to do since we are usually looking down at everything! But u/w photos have much more impact if you are at eye level or shoot at an upward angle.

Thanks Mark. I agree the head on shots would be better, but there were few situations where I thought I could easily get down to "eye level" without being endanger of bumping into something. Maybe with more practice I will get more comfortable maneuvering around with all of the equipment.

I also need to teach the fish to stay still. The shutter lag of the Oly is definitely there (esp. when compared to my DSLR), but it is not something that can't be managed.

Practice makes perfect.

Thanks,

Chris