Houston's Premier Scuba and Dive Shop Oceanic Ventures Inc.

(713) 523-3483 (dive)
5808 Newcastle Drive
Houston, TX 77401

Photography

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SeaLife at Oceanic Ventures

“Freeze Frame…strike a pose…” It was photo night at #OceanicVentures with the crew from #SeaLife Cameras and Lighting dropping in for a backyard BarBQ to meet divers, discuss underwater photography and to help create better underwater images. Oh hand were Karl Schuster and Eric Peterson as well as two bags of photo equipment!

Karl and Eric ran around answering questions and showing how adding a light or a lens might improve your photo experiences. Meanwhile, Eric and the staff made sure everyone was fed with grilled chicken tacos and grilled vegetables along with the usual adult and night diving beverages.

Thanks Karl and Eric for a fun evening and helping everyone get ready for the #OceanicVenturesPhotographyContest!. Now it is time for more #OVIDiving to capture those moments….

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Photo Tip – Keep Calm on Your Approach

By Tobias Friedrich

When you’re taking photos or video of fish that are easily frightened like this Monkfish, try to approach as slowly and calmly as possible. While composing the shot, try not to photograph only the fish, but also the surrounding environment as well as some blue water above the subject. If possible, capture the scene with other fish and wildlife in the background.

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Equipment: SeaLife Micro 3.0 with Micro Wide Angle Dome Lens and Sea Dragon 3000F

Settings: Shallow White Balance

Micro Wide Angle Dome Lens

SL052 The SeaLife Micro Wide Angle Dome Lensincreases the camera’s field of view by 43% and allows for 3x closer shooting distance. For the SeaLife Micro 3.0, the lens angle is increased from 100° to 143° and shooting distance is reduced from 15”/38cm to 5”/13cm. The 0.7x dome lens high-grade optical design improves overall image quality and edge sharpness. Fits all SeaLife Micro-series and ReefMaster RM-4K camera models.

Micro 3.0 Pro 3000 Set

SL552Ideal for colorful, sharp stills and videos, the Micro 3.0 Pro 3000 Set includes the Sea Dragon 3000F Photo-Video Light, Micro 3.0 Camera, Flex-Connect Single Tray and Grip for optimal stability and handling. The SeaLife Micro 3.0 camera offers easy set-up with automatic and manual image setting options. The Sea Dragon 3000F Light has a Color Rendering Index of 80, with a 5000k color temperature to simulate natural sunlight. Sea Dragon Photo/Video Lights reveal beautiful colors in underwater photos and videos.

If you’d like a copy of the above underwater image, please email: lindsay@pioneer-research.com

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Using Lights to Capture Best Color

It’s very important when underwater to compensate for the missing illumination from the sun. Using high-performance underwater lighting like the Sea Dragon lights, the powerful and color-friendly lights will illuminate the missing red and orange colors from the beautiful reefs for your eyes and your camera. The closer you are to the corals, the better the colors will come out. [Tobias Friedrich]

Equipment: SeaLife Micro 3.0, Sea Dragon 3000F

Settings: Deep Water White Balance

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Photography Tips – Underwater Composition Tips

If you have not looked on the SeaLife website lately, you may have missed this video from Brent Durand.

Brent has five tips for improving your underwater composition. Specifically his five tips are:

  1. Fill the frame with your subject
  2. Face your subject
  3. Eye Contact
  4. Swim Space
  5. Review your images

Now it is your turn to try this with your photographs. Remember, you don’t have to wait to go on your next big dive trip, you can practice around your house or at one of our local lakes. We have a group diving most weekends.

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Local Diving It is Not the Caribbean but It Can Still Be Fun

On the east coast they say boating and watersports season runs from Memorial Day to Labor day. After that you put your boats and equipment away and get ready for your winter activities. There may be some practical reason for this up north becasue traditionally in September the cold winds start to blow and the temperatures begin to drop. But, we live in the South! Here the temperatures merely moderate and in fact it is just pleasent outside. Sailors all know that this is one of the better times for sailing becasue the winds blow steadier and it is not as hot on the water.

Divers too find that the weather makes being at the lake more enjoyable. The temperatures mean the barbq grills can come out again and sitting and talking during the surface intervals are more relaxing. The water temperatures remain warm so diving in lighter suits is still possible. Of course with cooler nights, the water temperature will drop but until November, you can add some layers to your wetsuit and keep diving. (I am a little bit of a wimp these days and when the temperature drops below 76-78 degrees I switch to a drysuit).

This past Sunday, Joe Henry, Zac Gay and Naomi decided it was time to get wet and go diving. I haven’t been in a rebreather for a while so it was a good opportunity to test the new cells and jump back into silent diving. Zac brought his rebreather as well and we both made Joe jealous (he is going to put his together and get some new cells now.) Diving in a Texas lake is definitely not the Caribbean, but it is wet and there are fish. We had about 8-10 feet of visibility which was not too bad considering we had some rain recently.

The thing about diving locally is you have the opportunity to work on your buoyancy and trim instead of fighting with it on your vacation. You can also try out different equipment configurations or even different equipment! Budding photographers can practice with their cameras and try new of different techniques. It is a good opportunity to practice gunning lines or running navigation courses. Remember, what you work on locally makes your next trip more enjoyable and your diving better.

So, I would encourage you to head out and go diving! Join us for a local dive or just pick a lake that is close and go for a day or choose one a little further away and make a weekend out if it. Your diving will improve and your attitude will also improve.