Adams River Salmon Run

Hi Folks

It's been a LONG time since I've shot a housing in anger As a few of you know, takes a lot to raise a kid. But I guess my wife finally got tired of me gazing wistfully at WP and www.aquatica.ca (full disclosure, I am now an authorized dealer) and told me to shut up or put out. Man I love her! Anyways, in a month's time, I'll be heading to the Philippines for 2 weeks of warm water bliss and will be taking the Aquatica 7D and 5dmk2 housings with a full complement of lenses.

But, for practice, I applied for a permit with Canada's Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans to be allowed to shoot the Adams River Salmon Run at Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park. Luckily I was granted to shoot in the water with them and thought I'd share a couple of images.

First one taken with the 7D and the Tokina behind a 6" Aquatica Dome

Next, taken with the 5dmk2 with the EF16-35L ver 1, behind the Aquatica 8" Dome

Luckily the die off wasn't at it's peak yet and the smell, while there, wasn't objectionable. It will be much worse in a few weeks.

Shooting both systems obviously allowed me to compare ergonomics & IQ. For sheer ease of use, the 7D wins, especially coupled with the Tokina 10-17. For IQ, given the rather turbid conditions, you can't really tell which camera took which. Noise at 100-200 ISO is non-existent in both camera. The 6" dome and shorter extension was easier to handle in the rather strong current we experienced. The bigger dome was plain unwieldy.

Next month...whalesharks! (I hope!)

cheers

Stu

Wonderful Stu! That first image with the 7D seriously rocks! Crazy good partner, thanks for sharing it.

Cheers,

Steve

The first shot is really great Stewart!

Alltough the farther UW part could allso use some light IMO, but it stills rocks!

Good Luck on You'r upcoming trip!

Cheers

Karel

Thanks Guys. All shot with available light, the fish were easily spooked and the current was stronger than we liked. I can try to lighten it up in post a bit more but the fish start to look washed out.

S.

Hi Stu,

Great to see you've back in the water! Even if it was cold fresh water :-P I've been doing a bit of the same...

I too LOVE that first shot - just incredible composition/timing and what a beautiful day.

I'd recommend selecting the underwater portion of the photo in Photoshop and try tweaking it to a bit cooler WB. There is just such a cool crisp look to the above water but a golden (streetlight) look to the underwater.

Cheers

James

Hi James

Here's the reworked image, re-WB'd the underwater half and merged the files. It does look much better. =)

Here's another shot showing how much muck was floating in the water.

Stu

IMHO I prefered the first version.

The first photo is probably one of the best salmon photo i ever seen. We can see the complete landscape and the fish...fantastic shot!

i prefer first version, probably the middle way is the perfect one :-)

Wow...I really like the first shot. The sky portion is just exquiste. And I of the two versions, the first one is my favorite.

Thanks for sharing - even though I get cold just thinking about the water temp.

DiverPam

Very cool stuff and comparisons of the cameras. Like the over/under. Still trying to figure out which version, but I think I like the first one a bit more (and would be happy to have taken any version myself )

I like the under shots also, but did not look like that much muck to me

Great shots. I really like the original over under shot

Looks like salmon photos are popular this season.

I was able to jump into the local stream and try my luck... which wasn't really on my side. Water was 6-8 ' deep, Cold and only had a about 3 feet of visibility!!

Hi All,

Was also recently at the Adams River. In my shoot I tried to show the "Run" as it was. I never thought shooting in a fresh water river environment would so challenging and it took a lot of inventive thinking to get these shots! I hope you like them.

Robert

Nice Rob, I like the second image.

I cant find adams river on google maps. Only adams lake.

I'm wondering how far of a drive it is from seattle. Can you point me in a good town/ to see the spawning?

=========================

Never mind looks like its a 7 hour drive. I was hoping it was closer to Vancouver

Thank You Derek. And please note, its totally worth the drive. Google map to Chase BC, when you pass Chase, you see the signs for Adams River. Good hotel is http://www.jade-mountain-motel.com/, very close to the river. ($70 a night) Weekends will probably require a reservation. My advice is not to go to the main parking lot, but the next one a mile or so down the road.

Robert

Nice shots. Please note, to photograph the salmon in the water, you must have a permit from Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Canada AND Parks British Columbia. You cannot just jump in and snap away.

Stu

Alex Mustard and I also were at Adams River and probably missed running into Stu and Jett by a few hours. Next time

I can say it was not only one of my most exhausting shoots but also one on the most amazing things to witness. Great week of shooting.

Cheers

Todd