ScubaSapiens

This week, the revolutionary Lytro camera starts shipping in the U.S. It offers mindboggling re-focusing possibilities and a whole new take on photography. Will it also lead to a re-think of underwater photography? With the Lytro camera, you don't have to worry about getting your focus right - you can re-focus the image as many times as you like after you have shot it! Not only does this offer a whole new way of shooting images - it challenges the concept of photography. The Lytro is called a light-field camera, and is hailed as one of the greatest revolutions in photography and camera technology. It works by capturing the color, intensity and direction of light on a modified sensor. Instead of just capturing a single plane of light like a traditional camera does, the Lytro captures the entire light field, which is all the light travelling in every direction in every point in space. Lytro doesn't even classify its camera by the familiar megapixel measure. Instead, the company says their "living images" has a resolution of 11 megarays - in other words, it can capture 11 million light rays. In the trenches defending old-school photography In a recent post on Wetpixel called Time For A Major Philosophy Change?, I (and many others) commented on Alex Mustard's questions and thoughts about how new technology impacts photography. I realized I was quite the traditionalist, and felt I had to defend traditional photography in the sense that getting it all right in the camera before shooting the image was the superior way of doing things. This somehow made me feel unconfortable, and I was annoyed and surprised that the notion of doing things differently made me dig trenches. I wanted to embrace the new ideas, but felt like I couldn't - it was in way like dismissing all my knowledge and admitting it was not good enough. But then I realized how I've gotten to where I am today - by learning new things. Shouldn't new technology propel me forward instead of making me feel like I'm part of the Jurassic Park lizard line-up? Posting the whole thing here might prove a little long, so please continue reading on Scubapixel

Well, this is a tough but pertinent question. Emerging technologies will always make you question what you have been doing up to the point when it becomes available, and will always tempt you with astonishing new possibilities. The Lytro offers some pretty unique features, as do HDR, high ISO and almost unlimited megapixels - to me, some of it almost seem like magic. But is it magic I want? Yes, it certainly is. But I want my magic to come true when I shoot the image, not when I'm sitting in front of my computer. As underwater photographers, I still think we should emphasize on "photography" rather than "creating images", if you see the difference. No matter how many hours I spend in front of my computer working on an image it can never re-create the magic of an image shot to perfection, as and when it happened. To me, photography is largely about capturing moments, not just capturing images. The image as such can be created later on, and in this PhotoShop-day-and-age almost anyone can do it. They don't even have to be very good at it - it will just take more time if they're not. Time can help you create great images, but when the available time is only 1/100 a second photograpic skill is what you need - because it is within this timeframe photography happens. Photoshopping is not a craft, it's a science. It has little to do with understanding how light works under water, knowing where and how to find your subjects, or creating a pleasing composition. Photography is defintely not a science, and maybe not even a craft - many consider it to be a form of art. Underwater photography adds to normal photography in that you have to be a good diver, you have to have some knownledge about what you're shooting (or at least it is a big advantage) and you have to bag the shots within a limited space of time. If you can't do this and have to rely on computer mumbo-jumbo you're not a photographer - you're a "photoshopper". It's a little like giving the painter credit for your house looking so good, while it is the carpenter that actually should have credit for building a nice house. He created the foundation upon which the painter could build. It is the same thing with photography: Any "magical", computer-based technique will always rely on the image at hand, and can never be better than this foundation allows. Yes, you can create some astonishing images from something that looks like crap. But when photographing, you can change how the very foundation is built - how reality is captured in your camera. Thus you are actually creating something, while the photoshopper only enhances that foundation. Photoshopping is a bit like cosmetic surgery (which it often replaces in commercial photography!) but the "Flip Fish" PhotoShop filter has yet to be invented. This means it does matter how the image is shot to begin with, and therefore this is where the emphasis should be put, in my opinion. I think both philosophies will be valid in the future. We will have people adhering to the traditional way of thinking about photography, while other embrace all the new possibilities without the boundaries of yesteryear. I will always envy the HDR photographer his or her astonishing wreck images like the one you posted above Alex - and I will certainly envy the Lytro photographer the ability to refocus and get super-sharp macro images. But I think they will also (at least secretly) admire my skill and handicraft when I can do the same in-camera, without artificial post-shooting trickery. /Chris

This is the most beautiful adventure of 2012 - the annual Nudibranch Safari at Gulen Dive Resort on the norwegian west coast. Join us for this great nudibranch workshop with emphasis on both underwater photography and marine biology. Award-winning underwater photographer Christian Skauge and former World Champion Espen Rekdal will be there, and the "scientific" part of the workshop will be led by Norwegian Univeristy of Science and Technology (NTNU) scientist and nudibranch experts Jussi Evertsen and Torkild Bakken. Together, we can offer fantastic nudibranch diving on the house reef of Gulen Dive resort, just north of Bergen on the Norwegian west coast. Last year we found a sensational 49 species of nudibranchs in just 4 days - join us to help find even more in 2012. We will find, identify, collect and photograph nudibranchs 'til we drop - unlimited house reef diving is included! Workshop dates: March 20-25 or 22-25, 2012. » Read more and check out the pictures: www.scubapixel.com/nudisafari2012

I'm selling my Sea&Sea TTL type III converter. Unused; was not compatible with my Nexus housing. Price USD 400,-. Read more at my homepage. Cheers, Chris

Where can I see it?

We work our asses off up here in the frigid waters of the arctic all winter photocopying little critters and gobies, and you think we do it for the money?? No way jose, we'd be up on here doin' it 'cause we're masochistic. Ain't no one gonna pay us anything for gobies anyway... but they sometimes do well in competitions :-) Sorry, you just seem a little jealoux, if you ask me. I thought you we're gonna end your reply with something more like this: "...allow the names on this magazine to go underwater in poor places 2 weeks a year, and they will still come up with great images". I actually was astounded you didn't end it like that, because that's what great photographers do - they work with what they have and get the results in the end. I know, not all of those names would have made it, but you can be pretty sure several of them would. /Chris

Hi, I'm looking for a Nexus housing for the Nikon D200. Got one to spare? Please get in touch :-) Best regards, Chris

CONGRATULATIONS ESPEN! We're alle really proud now. Well deserved :-) Chris

I can, with appreciation, report a significant increase in speed/loading time from Norway as well This voids one of my main reasons for not using the forum as often as I'd like... /Chris

More images from the easter trip can be found at www.scubapixel.com/gulen09 Got some nice, really small (and quite rare) nudibranchs and one wonderful fish portrait... :-) /Chris

Hi everyone, I just got back from our easter holiday at Gulen Dive Resort, and just have to share this image showing the visibility on the house reef this morning. We easily had 30+ meters viz! I can't promise the same thing the first week of June, but usually the conditions are good that time of the year. The image was shot at about 30 meters depth, with the model at around 22 meters, some 15-20 meters away. Nikon D200, 10,5 mm fisheye, 1/20, f/2.8, ISO 100. Hope to see you there! /Chris

The Aplysia that won the POTW last week was not taken at Gulen, but at a dive site quite close to where the workshop is to be held. There should be lots of them in June :-) Thanks to everyone for voting for my image! /Chris

Hi everyone, we're all looking very much forward to finally getting you up here The workshop is gonna be so much fun, and hopefully a great learning experience for all the participants, yours truly included. My part in this will mainly be macro photography, which is my passion and great interest. I have been diving in the Gulen area for several years, and know the house reef pretty well. I also know where most of the critters live Like Alex promised, I'll be adding some images from Gulen over the next few days. To start off, I'd like to show you the wreck of the Frankenwald, a WWII wreck 127 meters in lenght, deck at about 27 -28 meters. She's a real treat and in excellent condition upright on the bottom. Also, here are some macro samples just to let you all know what you might expect: For those impatient to see more images, please check out www.scubapixel.com, and search for 'gulen'. More images will follow in this thread as well. /Chris

Hi Duncan, you must have more to go on with the image than what you told Ralphy? Your format is not 3:2, it's more like 3:1,68. Or does the fish fill the frame that much to begin with? I took the liberty of some quick cloning to show what it might have looked like Sometimes, there's only so much you can do in PhotoShop afterwards... sometimes, it has to be done before you press the shutter... /chris

Tha site is now reachable through the new domain name - www.scubapixel.com. In all I have added more than 650 images and a cool, new polaroid image gallery well worth a look: http://www.scubapixel.com/index.php?option...w&gallery=1 /Chris