Underwater Photography and Videography, News, Forums, Trips, Photo Contests :: Wetpixel.com

DAN has announced the winners of the 2012 Ocean Views competition on their Alert Diver online site. Deano Cook took first place with his split level image of a lemon shark in the Bahamas. He says of the image:

"As the sun was setting, I wanted to capture a quiet moment with one of the lemon sharks we had been photographing that afternoon. This particular shark was just as curious as I was, and what an amazing moment I was able to capture! His eye above the surface stares back at me, as if to show me he's watching, too. Below the surface his mouth was just slightly open, showing off his sharp teeth."

There is a full slide show of all the winning images, as well as a "bonus gallery" of other images from the contest. Hearty congratulations to all the photographers in the results, and especially to the many Wetpixel members featured.

GoPro has recently announced the release of an underwater housing with a flat lens for its HERO POV cams. One of the issues that has been identified with this is that it is unable to take filters for color correction. Backscatter has announced that they have a product due for imminent release that will address this. The Flip-Up Color Correction Filter can be user installed and does not vignette in any camera lens angle mode. In changeable light conditions, the filter can be raised to allow more ambient light, and lowered to get the color correction.

It is due to ship in late June and the price is still to be confirmed.

Paul Watson, founder of the environmental organization Sea Shepherd, was arrested at Frankfurt Airport, Germany on 12 May, pending extradition to Costa Rica. This was carried out due to a warrant that had been issued in Costa Rica relating to events in Guatemalan waters in 2002 when Watson's boat, the Farley Mowat, encountered an illegal shark-finning operation run by a Costa Rican ship, the Varadero. Crew on the Varadero accused Watson of attempting to ram their boat and Watson was charged by Costa Rican authorities with attempted murder. The events were captured on video, and subsequently formed a part of the film Sharkwater.

This video evidence led to the charges being dropped, however it would seem that they have been re-investigated by a newly appointed prosecutor, and this has led to the arrest. Support for the campaigner has flooding in, and an online petition has been set up to call for his release. UPDATE. It looks like Germany will extradite Paul Watson to Costa Rica. Sea Shepherd are calling for people to contact the German authorities and ask them not to do so.

stltoday.com reports that Bill HB4119 was passed today by the Illinois state legislature. This will make the possession or distribution of shark fins illegal in the state. State Sen. Antonio Munoz said the bill's purpose is to prevent shark finning, which is the removal of the shark's fin followed by releasing the shark back into the water. Although shark finning is illegal in U.S. waters, the possession of shark fins is only prohibited in several coastal states. The bill passed both the House and Senate by a large margin and will be sent to the governor’s desk for ratification.

Dennis Kutchera has presented a review of the color grading options that were available at NAB this year in the Creative Cow magazine. He looks at Dream Systems, DaVinci Resolve, Smoke for Mac, Avid (DS and Symphony), Assimilate Scratch and Adobe Speedgrade. He notes in his conclusion:

"It is a far bigger challenge to fake your way through complex color grading than it is to pose as an editor. This is not just art, it is also science, so you need a deep understanding of video processing and calibration. You also need a very high-end monitor and external scopes in a room that is color neutral. And of course you need the magic eyes for color grading."

The May issue of Pacific Northwest Diver magazine is now available for download. In the magazine this month are portfolios from Vancouver BC videographer Roy Mulder, free diver Dennis Howie from Anacortes, and Laura Tesler from Portland while the featured photographer is Jens Tröger with his macro/super-macro images.

In addition, dive travel to Grand Bahama, La Paz and aboard the Nautilus Swell are featured as well as a round-up of new features in Lightroom 4 and Adobe CS6. Pacific Northwest Diver is free to download in a pdf format.

GoPro has announced the release of their own-branded underwater housing today. The GoPro HERO range of POV cams has revolutionized many areas of filmmaking, but their potential to do so underwater has been somewhat limited by the lack of housings with flat ports that allowed the camera to focus. Wetpixel Publisher, Eric Cheng, presents a round-up of available options for using a GoPro underwater.

A paper has been published in the Public Library of Science ONE (PLoS ONE) journal detailing the movements of Giant manta rays (Manta birostris). The research team from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Exeter (UK), and the Government of Mexico attached satellite transmitters to manta rays off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula over a 13-day period. The tracking devices were attached to the backs of six individuals —four females, one male, and one juvenile.The results show that:

"The satellite tag data revealed that some of the rays traveled more than 1,100 kilometers during the study period," said Dr. Matthew Witt of the University of Exeter. "The rays spent most of their time traversing coastal areas plentiful in zooplankton and fish eggs from spawning events."

As promised, Wetpixel's in-depth review of the new Nikon D800 has started. We took delivery of a housing last Thursday, and have have dived it Friday and Saturday. As was somewhat to be expected, the D800 seems to have an amazing tonal range, and the recovery of detail in any shadows seems amazing. The testing will be going on over the next few weeks, with a full report hopefully here on the front page by the end of May.

In the meantime, images taken during the testing process are being published in the forum, please feel free to add you comments, and also any suggestions you might have for specific points for review.

Wetpixel Publisher, Eric Cheng, will be speaking tonight (Friday 11 May) at the monthly Northern California Underwater Photographic Society (NCUPS) meeting. He will present a "double dose" of goodness (!) with the first half of his talk devoted to Lytro, and during the second half, will be regaling the audience with tales from the Wetpixel Ultimate Indonesia trips from earlier this year.

The talks will start at 7.15 and will be held at New Vision United Methodist Church (Gymnasium), 450 Chadbourne Avenue, Millbrae.