Solomon Islands

Just back from a couple of weeks at the Solomon Islands. Great Place!

It'll take awhile for me to sort through the > 2000 shots I took.

I'll post a few here to start.

Herb

[Edited on 6-2-2002 by herbko]

I like most the Nudybranch - great shot.

What equipment you use?

Hi Herb,

Welcome back. It looks like you had a blast diving the Solomon Islands.

Excellent shot of the Nudi. BTW, did you use the INON UCL-330 macro lens on the Nudi shot? If you did, care to share your exposure and setting?

Regards,

Allan C.

http://www.underwaterdigital.net

Thanks. I'm a little surprised that you like the Nudibranch shot more than the others.

I think as the photographer I'm biased by how hard the shots were.

The nudi shot was relatively simple once my dive buddy pointed the critter

out to me. The wide angle shots were much harder to the get background and

strobe exposure right and wait for the critters to line up.

It's good to get other's opinion. Thanks.

Equipment:

Olympus C4040

PT-010 housing

Inon lenses, both the wide angle and the macro

2 Sea&Sea YS90DX strobes

Herb

[Edited on 5-28-2002 by herbko]

Allen, I'm at work and my photo files are at home,

so I can't be sure until I check this evening.

I took most shots on this trip with either the macro or wide angle

lens on. This critter was big for a nudi, about 3 inches so the macro

lens was not necessary, but I think I had it on and used it.

On all macro shots the aperture was set to F/10;

the shutter speed set to 1/800 except on a few where I tried to get

a blue background. I bracket the exposure with the strobe power setting.

On a subject this size, it was probably -4 or -5 on the two YS90DX's.

Herb

Herb,

Thanks for the tip and looking forward to see your updated Digital Gallery.

Regards,

Allan C.

Mr. Herb,

What can I say about these shots...simply [in a French accent] FAN-TAS-TIQUE!

The first WA shot of the lionfish and the coral with the sunburst behind it is superb. It looks surreal! The way the lionfish is lit gives it a very 3-dimensional feel. How in the world did you light that fish in such a manner? On top of all this you got the silo of the diver in the background. Way to go!

The nudibranch is nice, but I agree with you. I find photographs that show that you were at the right place, at the right time, and you were thinking 1/2 second in advance in order to get that perfect composition the type of photograph that really shines through. Magnifique!

I see the TTE (Through The Eye) function is working really well. Your photos are well exposed--at least to my liking. Isn't it odd how you have to shoot at such an odd shutter speed? For macro shots, if it wasn't for the 12 level adjustment of the YS90's it would be hard to not blow out the highlights in a lot of photos. The Oly cameras could be even better if they made them with an even faster shutter speeds and a smaller aperture IMO.

Can't wait to see the rest of your shots. Stop teasing and post them already! That is, if you can finish those paint-by-number photographs fast enough.

[Edited on 5-29-2002 by laz217]

Thanks Laz. I didn't do anything special on lighting the lionfish. I think it's just that the bodies of these fish reflects more light than their fins. The area around their eyes are the most reflective of all. They really make great subjects.

My plane landed on Monday and I have work at the office and more than 2000 shots to sort out. The rest will take a few days. Besides, I'm low on crayon.

Herb

I like most the nudybranch because the good composition of the pic.

The Lionfish is also a good shot, the only problem is that the subject( the lionfish if I got it write ) is darker than the object in the left, so its not sticking out.

The fins of the lionfish are partly transparent so the reflect less light.

I want to see the other 1997+ pics, so hurry up please !!!

Sabine

some greeat shots , the solomons look great !!!

Herb,

As usual, your photos are tremendous! Whenever you post I

realize just how much I have to learn. I'm amazed at how well

you control composition and lighting underwater.

I have one very simple newbie question. You mentioned

using both the wide angle and the macro. Do you choose

which to use before the dive or do you find you can switch

during the dive? I often find myself wishing I could switch during the dive but

I have yet to try carrying both and switching.

Thanks Lanier. Since you're at Stanford, go to a Northern California Underwater Photographic Society ( http://www.ncups.org ) meeting and see some real pros in action. They are mostly film users, but I'm starting to convert them one-by-one.

I usually choose one or the other before the dive, but have no trouble switching if I change my mind or see something really worth shooting. On one dive at the Solomons I shot things ranging from a wreck to a nudibranch. That's the case in warm water. For the few dives that I've done at Monterey with a camera, I usually go in with no lens attached, and carry the two in pockets. So far, I've not found vis good enough to use the WA lens there.

Herb

Herb, your pix are gorgeous! The Solomon's are a wonderful place for photography of any kind, but I had a great time trying out my Tetra/3030/4040 combo. I'm not having much luck attaching the jpegs to this post , but I've posted them at:

http://homepage.mac.com/erinquigley/Personal.html

Erin, Nice shots. I really like the Crocodile fish.

I found a couple of them on my trip also, but my shots did not come out

as interesting as yours.

Herb

[Edited on 5-30-2002 by herbko]

Thanks, Herb. I look forward to seeing more of your shots.