47 replies to this topic

[diggy]

Ohhhhh Man ..stunning, beautiful ++++++++++

Thanks for posting.....

Cheers,

Diggy

[sharky1961]

hello Drew,

really perfect pictures Drew especially the firts one.
I am going to the sardinrun this year. I own a nikon D300 with the tokina 10-17mm FE the tokina 12-24mm and the nikon 17-55mm. Witch lens would you use the mostfor the baitbal with dolphins??, is the tokina 10-17mm too wide?? hope you can give me a tip


Rob

[Drew]

Rob
I only know the ocean safari.

I'm not sure I'm the guy to ask. I shot stills last year and in 2003 only (and that was one dive). To me, it all depends on the look you want and the conditions. The crappier the viz the wider the lens for me so I can get shots like that sunball silhouette and also wider predation shots. The 10-17 will give you some flexibility in that. Powerful strobes help but there's usually so much junk in the water (scales, bubbles) However, I like being able to get tighter shots of predators. I'd start out with the 12-24 and then go to the 10-17 once you get the tighter shots. Watch out for glare on the 10-17.
Dolphins are all you are going to get if you have more than 3-4 divers on the boat. The sharks don't hang around long once a gang of divers crowd in. Only time they do hang around despite divers is during 'force 5 feeding mode' baitball (like my new name for it, Alex? ). Those are pretty rare but a decent example is :
http://www.earth-tou...ast-on-sardines
Note that video was shot with ONLY one diver on the baitball. I saw the sharks and decided not to take shots as I'd interfere with the video. As you can see, Barry got the sh*t good!
enjoy!

[meister]

Stunning pictures. Fabulous video clip. Thanks for posting!

[sharky1961]

Hi Drew,

thanks for answering so quick.
I have another question. You shot all the pictures without strobes?? in ambient light do you also underexposure for 1 1/4 stop as I would do with strobes?? could you also use magic filter for this shooting or is the los of 1 1/2 stop of light too much for this action???


Rob

[RickM]

Outstanding pictures from everyone! I can't imagine how cool it was to be floating underwater with all that action unfolding right in front of you! Thanks for making us all jealous!

[Drew]

No, some of mine had strobes but they were not powerful enough to light the predators. The other problem is that herring/sardines reflect like hell and they usually scatter towards the camera ( away from the predator). The wider shots would've benefitted from a bit of fill but matching the strobe temp to ambient to get the right look would've been difficult with the action scenes changing so rapidly. So I turned my strobes off. Just a choice I made for the type of shots I wanted. I shoot at -2/3 for Ec and f8-11 on the strobes in manual. My strobes were not powerful enough to do the job anyhow.
It's best to compare some of my shots to Alex's and Colins as they were from the same baitball (similar conditions). You'll have to ask Alex and Colin for their settings.


Here is a ambient shot with someone else's strobe firing somewhere else. This pic was pushed 2.5 stops as it was a dud. I just did this to show you what shooting down without strobes can do.


Similar shot with strobe. Cleaner and clearer. but the ambient background is a little lost.


This was done with a filter (one dive only). I gave up as it sucked too much light and conditions weren't right for filters.

[pats0n]

Well Drew, I assumed everyone is annoyed already enough with my pics

I like last set of your doplhins a lot - even if you had to push exposure adjustment. They look absolutely great.

Here is few of my dolphin shots from the event - I did my shooting with 2xYS-250 and last day I did YS-110 + YS-250 coz one of my YS-250 was flooded ;(







Enjoy !

[loftus]

I think this is one of the most magnificent collection of images I have ever seen. Alex, that first dolphin image is spectacular, but so are all those posted.

[Drew]

Alex, you better think that particular dolphin shot was great... that was your damn strobe firing to the right of me! I will apologize now because I did curse your strobe at that moment and the curse seemed to work.
Dje Belic?

[pats0n]

Alex, you better think that particular dolphin shot was great... that was your damn strobe firing to the right of me! I will apologize now because I did curse your strobe at that moment and the curse seemed to work.
Dje Belic?

Propal Belic, netu.

Well, your curse was not powerful enough since I replaced strobe upon return to Tokyo free of charge But in Galapagos one of my YS-250 abandoned me again - this time battery refused to charge, so I had to fall back AGAIN to YS-110 + YS-250. Seems like it destiny...

[The Octopus]

great stuff, not sure I would have the courage to swim in a baitball with feeding sharks.

[Drew]

Opps I've just been told off... it's:
Gde je Belic?
And to reply: Da, Belic lenj. LOL

Actually, I count only 5 dolphins head on. There were 6 charging at you... propal Alex.

[pats0n]

Opps I've just been told off... it's:
Gde je Belic?
And to reply: Da, Belic lenj. LOL

Actually, I count only 5 dolphins head on. There were 6 charging at you... propal Alex.

I knew I will not escape this question from you, Drew. Well, at least now it is coming to closure - frankly I could not sleep normally at nights thinking about this moment, moment of counting dolphins... I fully realize how deep is shit that I'm in ;(

[pats0n]

I think this is one of the most magnificent collection of images I have ever seen. Alex, that first dolphin image is spectacular, but so are all those posted.

Thank you - it is difficult to end up with no dolphin pictures while diving in that area during event One day we had 20m viz and best pics are from that single dive - they just invalidated whole collection which I did on previous days

[Drew]

I knew I will not escape this question from you, Drew. Well, at least now it is coming to closure - frankly I could not sleep normally at nights thinking about this moment, moment of counting dolphins... I fully realize how deep is shit that I'm in ;(

Well considering how hours I spent screaming instructions at you from my throne, you'd better lose sleep!

Thank you - it is difficult to end up with no dolphin pictures while diving in that area during event One day we had 20m viz and best pics are from that single dive - they just invalidated whole collection which I did on previous days

Oh you newbies. If you only knew how many days happen like that.

Btw I don't have your pic with the big shark with me. And the shark you didn't see was IN FRONT of you not behind your head!

[pats0n]

Well considering how hours I spent screaming instructions at you from my throne, you'd better lose sleep!

I'm worthless ! Please don't curse my strobes ! I will post more pics !

Oh you newbies. If you only knew how many days happen like that.

Yeah, but I think anyday (well unless you can't launch) you can snorkel with dolphins ! Isn't it right ?

Btw I don't have your pic with the big shark with me. And the shark you didn't see was IN FRONT of you not behind your head!

Andrej gave pic of shark in front of me - and yes, I'm looking into viewfinder somewhere above without noticing it:

[Drew]

I have the whole sequence (out of focus of course!) because I thought I'd get a shot of your camera being mauled by the Brachyurus.

[pats0n]

I have the whole sequence (out of focus of course!) because I thought I'd get a shot of your camera being mauled by the Brachyurus.

Can you send me this sequence, pleeeease ?

[Drew]

I told you I don't have it with me here. It's on the server and I'll have to access on a slow line. I'll send it to you sometime when I get home.