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The first-ever Wetpixel Google+ live video hangout
Wetpixel will be hosting its first Google+ live video hangout on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 9am PST / 12pm EST / 5pm BST. Joining us on the hangout will be Eric Cheng, Adam Hanlon, Alex Mustard, Berkley White (Backscatter), and Ryan Canon (Reef Photo & Video). We’ll chat about exciting new camera gear that photographers are using underwater (some of which we are in the process of reviewing), and get everyone’s opinions about the hottest dive destinations of 2012.
Check the front page of Wetpixel at 9am PST on June 5, and you’ll see a link to the live broadcast, as well as a place where you can ask questions in real-time. Questions will be pulled from the comment stream on the hangout page, so you’ll need to be logged into your Google+ account. See you on Tuesday!
Thresher shark images on Wetpixel Facebook group
Alex Stoyda (homepage in Russian) has posted this fantastic image of thresher sharks (Alopias vulpinus) taken at Monad Shoal, Malpascua, Philippines in the Wetpixel Facebook group. He reports that photographic conditions were challenging as he was shooting using ambient light only at ISOs from 640 to 3200. The sharks were encountered at depths of 30m (90’) and the lack of light made focusing very difficult. Alex says that he was forced to pre-focus at 2-3m and let the sharks swim into his focus range. However, on each early morning dive of all 5 days of his stay, Alex saw between 2-7 sharks simultaneously. (Image © Alex Stoyda).
Norbert Wu on oceanic whitetip sharks
Norbert Wu has posted a comprehensive illustrated report of a recent expedition that he has undertaken to Cat Island, Bahamas in search of oceanic whitetip sharks (Carcharhinus longimanus) on to his blog. During the trip, Norbert and his party were “buzzed” by a 800lb (363kg) marlin whose arrival provoked the whitetips into a feeding behavior, with one actually tasting Norb’s strobe. He concludes:
“Our second and final day of diving with the sharks was a tremendous success. We had six hours of diving with sharks until we called it a day. Being able to dive in clear, blue, oceanic water like this is always a treat, but being able to dive in this oceanic water with oceanic whitetip sharks (not to mention a blue marlin and silky sharks) was a rare present.”
Brian Skerry to talk at WildPhotos 2012
WildPhotos has announced that the keynote speaker for the 2012 event will be underwater photographer and photojournalist Brian Skerry. His talk is entitled “Creativity, Communication and Conservation, an Underwater View”. The event is being held at the Royal Geographical Society, London, UK on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 October 2012. Other speakers include wildlife photographers Pete Cairns, Tui de Roy, Jasper Doest and Vincent Munier, amongst others.
Tickets to WildPhotos 2012 are on sale now.
Late availability: Wetpixel Ultimate Whale Sharks
Due to late cancellations, we now have three slots available for the Wetpixel Ultimate Whale Sharks Expedition from July 31 to Aug 4 this year. The trip is based around Isla Mujeres, Cancun, Mexico, and is being led by Alex Mustard. If you have ever wanted to see whale sharks, this is your opportunity. To quote Wetpixel Publisher Eric Cheng:
“There’s no other way to put it: Our first day of photographing the whale shark aggregation was absolutely epic. Within an hour of leaving port, we found a group of over 300 whale sharks”.
If that sounds like something you would like to do, these last-minute spaces may be just the thing for you. Please contact Dan Baldocchi via email
Deep water remote video camera footage published
The Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Cape Eluthera Institute in collaboration with Dr Edith Widder from the Ocean Research and Conservation Association has posted some amazing footage of sharpnose sevengill sharks and other creatures taken by a deep water baited video camera known as The Medusa in the Exuma Sound, Bahama. The Medusa is designed for in-situ non-invasive video documentation of creatures and water quality parameters, at a depth of 2000m. It records video in ultra-low light conditions with a highly sensitive camera and DVR recording system, lit by epoxy encapsulated LED arrays that give “far red” illumination at a wavelength of 690 nanometers. At the same time, the unit’s data logger records conductivity, salinity, temperature, pressure, depth, and photosynthetically active radiation. Upon completion of its 72 hour filming operation, a weight is dropped via acoustic release and the Medusa returns to the surface.
Wetpixel Ultimate Indonesia 2012
Wetpixel is returning to Indonesia for a series of ultimate expeditions aboard MSY Damai in 2012. Three back-to-back trips will be staged between 25 November and 2 January 2013, with itineraries from Ambon to Kaimana, Kaimana to Sorong and Sorong returning to Sorong. All three of these will visit some of the world’s most healthy reefs, teeming with fascinating critters and fish life and located amidst some amazing topside scenery. Damai II is an up-to-date and super comfortable liveaboard and each trip is limited to 8-10 divers (plus trip leader) to ensure that there is no crowding on dive sites.
The first trip, from 25 November to 7 December is being led by Wetpixel Publisher, Eric Cheng, with the trips from 8 to 19 December and then from 21 December to 2 January being led by underwater photographer and journalist, Douglas Seifert. Spaces are already limited, so if you would like more information or to book a place, please contact Dan Baldocchi via email, or on +1-773-564-9579 soon.
Adobe releases Lightroom and Camera RAW updates
As expected, Adobe has today released updates for Lightroom 4 and Camera RAW. There has been release candidate versions of both these updates in existence for some time. Version 4.1 of Lightroom has added support for the Nikon D4/D800/D800E, Canon 5D Mark III and Olympus OM-D-M5 amongst others. Perhaps most critically, the updates add support for new defringeing controls in the edit menu. Camera RAW 7.1 adds similar camera support and controls.
Lightroom 4.1 (for mac) and (for Windows)and Camera RAW 7.1 (for Mac) and (for Windows) are all available from the Adobe download site.