First images from Kona, HI

[Gus_Smedstad 0]

Here are some thumbnails of my first dive photos, taken near Kona, Hawaii, diving from the Kona Aggressor II. Click for larger images. Any and all comments / suggestions welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Gus

[Steve Williams 0]

Any and all comments / suggestions welcome.

 

- Gus

Hi Gus, looks like you had a great trip! Very nice images, especially for your first time with the camera. What lenses were you using with the XT? Did you shoot them in RAW? I noticed some variation on exposure, a couple, like the nudibrach is just a little overcooked to my eye. Is you still have the RAW file you could bring them back a little. The nudi is my favorite of the bunch, very nice image. A couple, like the scorpionfish look a tad under exposed. The dark subjects suck up the light and TTL will end up a little under. Did you shoot manual and adjust or use the ttl? TTL will do that to you, especially in Hawaii or anywhere the background varies (bright rock will be over). If your shooting TTL for macro try using the exposure dial to adjust for the subject and background. I am impressed with your ability to get the eyes in nice sharp focus, you got them all except for the Manta. That's understandable, I damned near drowned myself when I saw my first one with a camera in my hand. Forgot to breath much less focus. But now that your an old hand at it next time you might try to get the eye in focus. Very tough to do sometimes, and a tough shot to get with all the food in the water. Heck of a shot anyway. All of this is just one guys opinion, there are lots more experienced folks here with the XT who can help. Glad you had a great time. Print some of them up, especially the nudibrach and show your friends in Boston what they're missing. Thanks for sharing!

 

Steve

Edited January 29, 2008 by williamshs

[Gus_Smedstad 0]

Many thanks for the kind words!

 

The turtle was taken with an EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 at 22mm. The rest (including the manta) are all with a the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens.

 

I shot everything RAW + JPG, and these are my re-processed versions, not the JPGs that came out of the camera. Despite a long history of photography, I've never done much post-processing, so I may have gotten the adjusted exposures off a tad.

 

I tried TTL, but gave up on it early because the flash wasn't firing or wasn't firing enough, even when the photo was clearly 3-4 stops underexposed. Most of my images are manual exposure and manual flash, with trial and error to get the exposure. As a result I have a lot of slightly to greatly underexposed images, and a few overexposed ones.

 

If I got the composition right, it's due to 36 years of taking land photographs. The manta was an exception mainly because I having a horrendous time with autofocus. It was a night dive, of course, and the lens kept hunting when I pressed the shutter button. I was experiencing 1-2 second shutter lag. I was pretty calm for this dive, because I felt I had plenty of time and little surge.

 

Still, I despite taking 60 exposures of the manta on that dive, I think only about 8 of them are any good at all. The others have problems with exposure, junk in the water, or simple composition.

 

Underwater photography really improved my trip a great deal. I think I would have been quite disappointed with the trip if I hadn't decided to try this. These were dives 71-96 for me, and while the two manta dives and the turtle dive were quite spectacular, most of the other dives felt somewhat barren compared to the Caribbean. Taking the camera along not only had me busy doing things, it made me look at everything differently. I probably wouldn't have seen those tiny crabs hiding in the coral or the nudibranches otherwise. And beyond that, I got to see detail on things like the hermit crab that aren't easy visible to the unaided eye.

 

- Gus

Edited January 29, 2008 by Gus_Smedstad

[Steve Williams 0]

Taking the camera along not only had me busy doing things, it made me look at everything differently. I probably wouldn't have seen those tiny crabs hiding in the coral or the nudibranches otherwise. And beyond that, I got to see detail on things like the hermit crab that aren't easy visible to the unaided eye.

- Gus

 

Bingo! Welcome to the club. It's hard to explain to someone until they do it. I'm sorry to have to tell you but you're hooked now. You will never again be able to enjoy diving unless you have a camera. Don't worry there will always be the support group here for you.

 

I'd guess most folks shoot manual for wide angle. One approach for a night dive with a known subject like the manta dive is to set up a shot on the boat or when you first hit the water you can take shots of your buddy until you get the exposure close for a known distance. Focus distance 3 ft or so, F-5.6 or so depending on your strobes and the water clarity and leave it alone. Then swim to the set focus distance or let them come to you. One less thing to worry about at night. Something to try next time. Have fun playing with the images in RAW and Photoshop.

 

Steve

[james 0]

Don't beat yourself up about the manta night dive Gus - it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to get a good shot on that dive. What w/ all the divers kicking up the bottom, shrimp/plankton everywhere, etc.

 

Cheers

James

[Gus_Smedstad 0]

Don't beat yourself up about the manta night dive Gus - it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to get a good shot on that dive. What w/ all the divers kicking up the bottom, shrimp/plankton everywhere, etc.

At the Mantaville site, I agree. I have a lot of exposures from there, and none of them are great. I was having a lot of trouble on that dive because my mask started leaking steadily, as in I'd purge it, and 30 seconds later I'd have half an inch of water in my mask again. After a while I overloaded and aborted the dive.

 

However, the image I linked above was from a night dive at the Amphitheater. No one was expecting mantas, which is why I had a 60mm macro attached rather than the 10-22mm, and there were only 4 divers, including the dive master. There was plankton in the water of course (otherwise we wouldn't have a manta swooping around), but no interference from other divers or silt kicked up from the bottom.

 

- Gus