Had a great trip to the Galapagos aboard the Galapagos Aggressor II over Christmas. I brought along my D300 and this was my first effort at u/w photography with a DSLR. I chronically underexposed everything (overreliance on LCD vs. histogram or laptop) and that, combined with awful visibility, overcast skies, and a flooded strobe led to some issues. I Learned a lot (will never do this without bringing along the laptop again) and saw some amazing things despite it being the off season -- I'm very eager to go back in the future.
I did manage a few pictures and would be grateful to get some feedback/comments from you more seasoned veterans.. A few of my favorites are below, and the full set of u/w shots is here and (a topside set is here).
Thanks!
Todd
WOW, awesome shots.
those are spectacular.
Nice; looks you had decent viz.
Congrats Todd, please post the whaleshark shot here for everyone. Awesome shot. Please feel free to post your stuff on the Wetpixel Flickr group page. I agree with you about bringing along the laptop. It really helps to learn what's working during the trip as opposed to when you get home. Too bad about the stobe. Do you know what caused the problem?
Cheers,
Steve
Thanks!
I'm not sure what exactly caused the strobe flood. I think there are two possible explanations: 1) I was tightening the cap too tight -- there is a little indent on the cap and the strobe case that you're supposed to line up - I was tightening it 1/8 turn past this point where it naturally stops (so much for reading instructions). I was doing the same thing with the other strobe and it never flooded. 2) Could have been the exhaust o-ring. We dismantled the exhaust/over pressure valve (took forever to reassemple -- some very tiny peices) and replaced the o-ring in there because it looked like it was too small. I bought these strobes used, so who knows. I initially just tried replacing the main casing o-ring and reseating everything, but that only wound up destroying one of my backup batteries. Kudos to the YS-250 though, once I tried with a looser cap and a new o-ring in the exhaust, it didn't flood again and worked for the last couple dives.
Here is the whale shark. I've very curious as to what cut him/her up below the gills?
1) I was tightening the cap too tight -- there is a little indent on the cap and the strobe case that you're supposed to line up - I was tightening it 1/8 turn past this point where it naturally stops (so much for reading instructions).
That could have done it. You wouldn't be the first.
