Australia - GBR June 2005

I have finally gotten around to uploading a couple of my images from a recent trip to Australia.

Located here: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?act=m..._album&album=85

We ran into Dwarf Minke Whales on 3 of 5 dive days! Comments welcome.

Equipment: Oly5050z in Ikelite housing with (in some) ds50 full manual mode.

Great photo!

I'm sure you are allready kicking yourself for this one. But If only you hadn't cut of the tip of his tail....The tail also looks a litte overexposed.

Besides that tiny detail, that is a great shot. I've never seen a picture of one from this angle. It really shows of how strange its face is. Its eyes are in the wierdest spot on the side of its head and the shape of its mouth makes him look like he is swimming upside down.

Thanks!

Yes, its very unfortunate on the very slight cropping of the tail tip. Its extremely difficult to get good shots hovering on a float line in the chop.

For this shot, I actually dove down about 6-8', blew out my air to get pretty much neutral and aimed the camera at this guy. As I slowly floated up, I quickly took the shot... and the whale investigated me with its 'sound' (its not technically sonar). I felt my chest vibrating in a most unnatural way! But, its curiousity had it following me up in a head on position which was great.

As for the blowing out of the brightness, its real. It was incredibly difficult taking images in 10' of water (you can see the particulate too!) of a subject which was a mixture of dark grey and white. I hated the fact that I can't afford to house my d70 and had to use the 5050. Exposure control was pitiful.

There... done whining now. I did manage to get some nice shots, even if sections are a bit blown IMO.

Thanks for the comments!

Wade

Really nice

What boat did you go on?

Mike

We went out with Nimrod Explorer (Explorer Ventures) to Ribbons 10/9, Osprey Reef, and Ribbons 6/5. We saw the whales at both of the ribbon sites, as many as 12 the last day between 5 and 6!

Great operation, loved every minute of it (that I wasn't sleeping)!