Niue Island

Hi guys,

Just want to share our recent trip to Niue of Polynesia. We have a good time with the humpback whale and dolphin. Hope you all don't mind my home video production.

Well thanks edmund, I guess the secret is out now. Although the viz on your video wasn't as good as I've seen... the rays actually added a lot of atmosphere to the shots. Looks like you had nice encounters. What camera were you using?

Btw I like the comment about the airport security.

500th post.... my god I spend too much time on WP...

Thanks for the video, I had never heard of Niue Island before, and just looked at flights from Sydney.... very affordable and it looks awesome. Is the Whale season August to Oct?

Cheers

Jon

500th post.... my god I spend too much time on WP...

 

Thanks for the video, I had never heard of Niue Island before, and just looked at flights from Sydney.... very affordable and it looks awesome. Is the Whale season August to Oct?

 

Cheers

 

Jon

Whale season is from Mid July to September.

Well thanks edmund, I guess the secret is out now. Although the viz on your video wasn't as good as I've seen... the rays actually added a lot of atmosphere to the shots. Looks like you had nice encounters. What camera were you using?

Btw I like the comment about the airport security.

Hey, Drew you understand Cantanese, what a surprise !

In fact the viz of Niue is perfect, but the whale rest underwater in the morning and come up for breathing every 15 minutes. We stay on top of them and the sun ray is passing right in between me and the whale. I have tried let the sun behind me but it doesn't help much and it is really difficult to find a good position as the whale like to move arround.

I have problem with white balance and focusing when I shot the whale. The water is deep blue, we need to move fast and no time for white balancing , I just let auto control the WB.

The whale is merging into the deep blue and my Sony HC-9 in Aditech housing do not respond well to the limited contrast. Also, there are always small bubbles attached to my Fathom WP80 wide angle, either come from my jump or from my buddy's fin. The auto focus actully lock at the dome. And it is too late to do anything since the whale swim away already.

So I switch to manual focus, but I was wrong to set it infinity at the first beginning. Later on, I zoom in and set focus on my buddy about 3-5M away,I lock the focus and then zoom back. The shot become sharper. But sometime the whale swim toward us and so curious about the small creature "human being" . So the focusing problem appear again.

Some shots were taken by Olympus EP-1 with the waterproof casing.

I think I need to practice more and learn more how to shot whale.

Anyway, can you advice me how can I shot better with such a condition ??

Thank you.

More about Niue, enjoy

Thanks for the video, I had never heard of Niue Island before, and just looked at flights from Sydney.... very affordable and it looks awesome. Is the Whale season August to Oct?

It WAS a secret once.

Anyway, can you advice me how can I shot better with such a condition ??

Thank you.

With the HC9, just focus to 1m and let the small sensor DoF take care of everything.

Niue was featured in an SD magazine issue along with Kiribati as two hidden gems.

Not too easy to get to for us Yanks. About two years after the article, a cyclone or typhoon hit it. I guess it's all back to normal?

I enjoyed the footage. Well done!

With the HC9, just focus to 1m and let the small sensor DoF take care of everything.

Thank you, will try it !!