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Dave H

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Posts posted by Dave H

  2. Posted

    Thanks for all the comments guys – its always good for the ego to get positive feedback! :)

     

    In regards to a couple of the questions:

    Bob – You were spot on. Both Leafies were about 20 – 30cm’s. As they were hanging out together one would assume that one was a male and one was a female but unfortunately it’s very difficult to tell unless the male is carrying eggs.

     

    Karl – The camera settings were ISO 100, matrix metering, F8 and I varied the shutter speed from 1/500 to 1/1000. I had both strobes set to 1/4 power

     

    Davephdv – I completely agree with you – they are impossible to find unless you know where to look and also what to look for. Without our excellent guide (ABowie) I don't think we would have found them. Now that I have finally seen them I can say that they are without a doubt one of the best things to see in the ocean.

     

    I managed to get quite a few shots with both of them – I was fortunate enough that I stayed together whilst 3 of us took turns taking shots from different positions. I think I took about 40 shots in total – I’ve only put the black background pics up as I like the contrast.

     

    Cheers,

    Dave

  4. Posted

    I have always wanted to see a Leafy Seadragon - I had seen the pics but I had never been down to South Australia to look for them.

     

    So last week a fellow CP5000 user (Aengus M from wetpixel) and myself drove 3500 kms in 6 days to get some Leafy Seadragon shots. We dived at Rapid Bay Jetty - one of the better shore dives in Australia.

     

    Was it worth... well I think so :)

    And we were fortunate enough to find two Leafy's together (thanks to some excellent spotting by Mr A Bowie from wetpixel).

     

    All the below pics were taken with a CP5000 with the Nikon 19mm wide angle lens on Jan 26th (Australia Day).

     

    Leafy_Seadragon1.jpg

     

    Leafy_Seadragon2.jpg

  8. Posted

    I recently purchased the Inon UCL-165 Macro Lens for use with my CP5000. I was frustrated that I couldn't get enough magnification on subjects less than 2 cm.

     

    Anyway, I found the macro lens to be excellent and has filled the 'gap' for small macro subjects.

     

    Here's a couple of images that were taken yesterday with the macro lens. It attachs easily underwater as it screws into the front of the Ike port. I generally carry it in my BC pocket until I find something small enough.

     

    This cowrie Primovula species was about 1-2 cm.

  9. Posted

    Okay,

     

    Here's a site that may assist people's needs for identifying species:

    Marine Species Pages

     

    Click on the "Marine Index" link.

     

    I'm currently working on it and the plan is to have 500 species up by the end of next year. Species will include fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, syngnathids, plants, nudibranchs, corals and sponges. The species will eventually have a search function so that users can search by common name, scientific name, family, order etc...

     

    cheers,

    Dave

     

    also, other good websites:

     

    For Fish Species Australian Museum Fish Website

     

    For Nudibranchs - The Sea Slug Forum

  11. Posted

    BTW: Is the diver in the black coral/coral tree shots wearing a drysuit? I don't recall ever seeing anyone dive dry around BrizVegas (though it was often cold enough that I felt like you should).

     

    Yeah, he's wearing a drysuit. Water temp was about 21 degrees... some people are just soft! :lol:

     

    We did a lot of wreck dives during the trip. A couple of dives on the St Paul, curtain artifical reef, the cementco and the wreck of the Aarhus. The Aarhus is one of the best dives I've done in a long time - heaps of macro and unusual criiters. And Qld Groper the size of small VW's!

  12. Posted

    About 2 weeks ago I did a 3 day liveaboard on the Esperance Star around Moreton Bay, located off Brisbane - Australia. Who says you need to go to the Great Barrier Reef to see cool stuff! :lol:

     

    I've put together a quick little collection of some of my shots. I actually used Jalbum for the first time to create the gallery - Jalbum is a very handy little program! :D

     

    Pics can be seen here:

    http://members.iinet.net.au/~diving/esperancestar/index.html

     

    And below are a couple of examples:

     

    Porcelain Crab Feeding - I actually got a couple of nice shots of this fella

    porcelaincrab1.jpg

     

    Wobbygong shark and parrotfish having a little snooze together

    wobby&parrotfish.jpg

     

    Diver looking at a black coral tree at 42m's on the wreck of the St Paul.

    ST_Paul2.jpg

  13. Posted

    I know this topic has gone dead but I have to put a plug in for the Sporasub Variants. :D

     

    I did a review on them last year and at the completion of the review I immediately purchased a pair and put my quatro's on the shelf. The only fins I use whilst diving from a boat is my Sporasubs, they are the best fins I have EVER used and I've tested about 10 different types.

     

    The review can be found here:

    Diveoz Gear Reviews

  14. Posted

    Ummmmmm, can someone please explain to me how you can tell if a pygmy seahorse is pregnant???

     

    As with other species of hippocampus (seahorses), some of these species have natural bulging bellies. A good example is hippocampus bleekeri & H. abdominalis. I would think that a bulging belly is defiently not a sign of a pregnant pygmy seahorse. Additionally, if they were pregnant, they would be males and you should be able to see a pouch on the pygymy's belly - I can't see a pouch in any of the pics posted.

     

    My guess is that some pygmy seahorse species have a natural bulging belly...

     

    If anyone else is in the know please feel free to enlighten us! :D

  15. Posted

    along the same sort of lines, I've recently discovered a bit of an issue with the CP5000 whilst shooting at quick shutter speeds at f8.

     

    I've recently been practising shooting subjects at f/8, ISO 100 and 1/1000 with the intention of achivieng a 'black' water background. My single DS125 is set to 1/8 power and I position it directly on top of the camera. Therefore I'm only shooting with little light with the intention of just catching enough light on the subject to make it stand out from the background

     

    What I have been finding is that after I have taken a shot and checked it on the LCD it appears to be exposed correctly. However, once I've checked it on the computer at home I have discovered it's under exposed, probably by about 1 shutter speed level.

     

    So I have now turned down my LCD brightness to -1. I tried it out yesterday and I found that it appears to be moe accurate when shooting with low light.

     

    Anyone else tried this?

  16. Posted

    A brand new online underwater digital photo competition has just commenced.

     

    DiveOz-Tusa Photocomp

     

    This new digital only photo comp is open to all Australian Amateur digital photographers and runs for 6 months from October 2003 through to the end of March 2004.

     

    There are 3 categories in this competition:

     

    MACRO: Closeups taken no more than 30cm away from the subject.

     

    WIDE-ANGLE: Wide shots - sea scapes, over and unders etc.

     

    CREATIVE: Post processing allowed and encouraged, montages etc.

     

    Prizes include a drysuit, liveaboard dive trip, regulators, sony digital cameras and each month there were be a prize package for the best shot.

     

    Good luck to all.

     

    Note: This is only open to Australian residents.

  17. Posted

    this relates to a mate of mine and it was an absolute ripper.

     

    Diving off a liveaboard we reached the bottom in 25m when he started pointing to his Nexus housing with his F80... well he would have pointed to his F80 if it was in there!!!

     

    He had left it on the boat after changing films on previous dive... :)

     

    He will never ever live that one down... :D

     

    I had an awesome night dive earlier this year in PNG where I took pics of harlequin ghost pipefish and flambouyant cuttlefish and when checking them later they were all out of foucs. I forgot to press the 'macro' button...

  19. Posted

    Dave,

    You haven't said why you prefer the first Lionfish?

     

    I think I like Lionfish 1 because it's different. The Lionfish in image 2 is in a 'standard' lionfish pose, I like the way it is placed in Image 1 as it looks unusual with it's head down and appears to be just drifting around (it actually was just drifiting back and forth with the surge).

     

    I also like image 1 as it provides some perspective with the boulders in the background, I think the background adds to the image.

     

    Overall, it's the unusual pose of lionfish 1 that draws me to this pic... :)

     

    But, I'm no judge! It just makes me think that when it comes down to photo comps it really depends on what the judges are looking for and what they personally like.

     

    By the way, thanks to all for their comments.

  20. Posted

    Okay, so everyone likes the 2nd Lionfish more than the first, I think I might use that in a photo comp over here. However I think I still prefer the first one... :)

     

    In regards to manipulation, I've cropped the bottom of the 2nd Lionfish shot and around the Blue Devilfish. I also increased the red on the first lion fish shot.

     

    ReyeR, in regards to who I was diving with, I was actually doing a work shark survey so I was diving off the work boat up there. I love the Solitary Islands, so much to see.

     

    Here's one of the macro shots from up there. I've just ordered my 2nd DS125 from the states so I shouldn't have any shadow problems anymore.

     

    christmastreeworms.jpg

  21. Posted

    Karl,

     

    All shots were taken in manual mode. Camera settings are as follows:

     

    Lionfish:

    Camera Settings: 19mm Nikon lens, ISO 100, f6.7, 1/250 Shutter speed, WB: Auto

    Strobe Settings: 1/4 Power

     

    Blue Devil Fish: 19mm Nikon lens, ISO 100, f5.4, 1/125 Shutter speed, WB: Auto

    Strobe Settings: 1/2 Power

     

    Grey Nurse Shark:

    Camera Settings: 19mm Nikon lens, ISO 100, f4, 1/60 Shutter speed, WB: Auto

    Strobe Settings: 1/2 Power

     

    Thanks for the comments on the Lionfish. I personally prefer the 1st shot because I like the background and the pose of the lionfish but the pose on the 2nd shot is probably more 'natural'.

  23. Posted

    Last week I had a great dive in the Solitary Islands Marine Park - Australia. The following 4 shots were all taken on the 1 diveusing a CP5000 with 19mm lens and a single DS125.

     

    Of these two Lionfish photo's below, which pic would you prefer? I prefer the first shot myself but most other people I've shown like the 2nd shot more...

     

    lionfish1.jpg

     

    and

     

    lionfish2.jpg

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