mzdkTV

A friend of mine is currently researching the Sri Lankan blue whales and has had good coverage in the media (at least in Australia). I would think that any movement of shipping lanes would need a scientific basis with a realistic and effective alternative shipping route. Jumping up and down too much prior to having the science in place may discredit the cause.
http://www.research....ofile/1/id/2087

Indeed, the situation is more complex and grim than initially thought. Change of shipping lanes isn't going to happen (anytime soon). Apparently, it may not even solve the problem. Still, I disagree with the notion that no action should be taken now. Compared to the long ocean journeys these container ships take, the blue whale hot spots are small and I don't see why one couldn't at least slow the ships down in these areas to reduce mortality:

http://blogs.indepen...must-slow-down/

Please do not underestimate the seriousness of this problem. They find quite a few dead ones every year and there are likely many more that are not recovered. For right whales, researchers worked out that only ~20% of whales killed by ship strike are found. Recovery rate in SL could be lower. The status quo is unacceptable. There are only two parameters that you can tweak: shipping route and speed. Research isn't going to show that ships need to go closer to shore or faster. So why not give the whales the benefit of doubt and act now?

Everyone has made their point so I won't belabor it.  Do not use your UR filter above 30ft and you will avoid the red saturation.  Use lights, white balanced, below that depth.

Agree, I really need to look into lighting. It seems to be very well spend money. Always wondered if video lights can be used for photography?

Trying to emulate Steve Irwin?

with a better ending, I hope. Diving is a reasonably new thing to me (~5 years). I grew up thinking the ocean is a terribly hostile place because of all the bs I saw on TV. Irrational fear for wildlife keeps a lot of people out of the water and in the case of Niue even from visiting. Even the locals are scared of snakes, sharks, whales preventing them to make the most of their marine heritage. I think the stuff Steve Irwin, Manny Puig, Andre Hartman, etc do is important no matter what the wildlife aristocracy thinks...

A 45 second opening shot, even the creative rotation of it, was way too long imo.

that was actually the main reason why I shared it. I thought letting go of my camera worked rather well.

Some real color problems especially in the shallow areas probably due to your UR filter and grabbing of the sea snakes by their tails is really considered harassement and should be avoided.  There seemed to be plenty of them around so grabbing them should have been completely unnecessary.
Steve

I have not found a robust way of color correction for videos/pics (unless they are raw files) yet and welcome any suggestions. Using the red filter is indeed a bit tricky. Videos come out too red when I'm too shallow and it cost me too much light when I dive deep. Keep in mind that this was filmed with entry-level video camera and a m43 photo camera. I know I don't do the animals a favor by tickling them. I try to make up for it by discouraging the use of scuba gear and disturbance with air bubbles.  Look, half my diving friends say I'm a bad person for not exclusively feeding on seaweed, the other calls me gay for having swapped my speargun for a camera. I'm quite comfortable with where I am.

Why was the puffer swimming along the surface already puffed up?  That doesn't seem natural behaviour.

I have puffed a bunch of puffers over the years but that's not the story in this case. It's easy to tell from the video: First thing a puffed blowfish does is to rotate away from you and then to make a run. I was surprised to see this one come my way (probably to seek protection). In fact, I kept swimming away from it because it was too close to my camera... It's very rare to see starry toado here in NZ but our fish seem to know that they are easy prey and go for them hard. I know of at least two more accounts of exactly the same thing. Here's the only other video that I'm aware of:

https://www.facebook...?v=348870161162
http://diving.co.nz/...ble_at_trevors/