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Underwater

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Jules Verne

Underwater explorers like me owe a lot to the novelist Jules Verne, who was born 183 years ago. Google honored him with one of their “doodles,” but in that doodle is a clue to Verne’s greatness – it’s an image that reminds you of the electric submarine, the Nautilus, from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

google verne 300x117 Jules Verne

When Verne’s words were published in 1869, electric submarines didn’t exist – they were just something out of his imagination. As National Geographic wrote, Verne also predicted that news wouldn’t just come from newspapers, but would be “spoken to subscribers,” in the way that radio and television news happens today. He thought of that in a story that was published nearly thirty years before the first radio broadcast.
The Verne list of firsts goes on. In 1865, in From the Earth the Moon, he thought there could be such a thing as a solar-powered spacecraft, and of course he wrote about traveling to the moon long before the first astronaut got there. He even thought of skywriting, videoconferencing, the Taser, and landing a spaceship in the ocean for a “splashdown.”
The mention of water brings us back to the ocean, and the visionary thoughts of Verne make it possible for me to do what I do today – explore the hidden depths and the distant lands that I want to share with you. Verne didn’t have any engineering training at all, just a lot of imagination. That’s all you need to come along on an adventure with me. My polar bear expedition to the high arctic has an April 17 departure and there are just two spaces left. Will you join me?
[If you would like to Join Amos on one of his Big Animal adventures, you can send Dive Mom a note or contact Amos directly.  Be sure to tell him that you read about his trips here.]

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New Truk Lagoon Dive Video Debut at Club Aquarius Meeting

Photo of Wreck in Chuuk
Inside Wreck Looking Out
Drew Trent, our scheduled speaker for our monthly Club Aquarius meeting was sick.  But, don’t worry, he has agreed to reschedule his presentation later in the year.
But as they say in show business, the show must go on.  I debuted a new video compilation of his photographs from past trips to Truk Lagoon.  The video featured photographs of the ships before the blast and then ones from the bottom.  It also had photographs of a number of the people that have joined me on previous trips. 
It was a fun video to put together and was well received by the audience.  If you missed the video, I posted it so you can see it.

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Preplanning a Scuba Diving Silhouette Photograph

Photograph by Eric Keibler - Penetration

Penetration

© Eric V. Keibler

Here is a natural light photograph taken in a cargo hold in Truk Lagoon.  While the shot may look completely natural, it was set-up prior to getting in the water.  Todd Emons and I decided to go in the water together to take some photographs of one another in various locations on the ship.

Todd works on the Odyssey so he is very familiar with the wrecks and had some ideas of what shots might look good in this wreck. This type of local knowledge helps you to capture photographs that you might otherwise miss.  Of course, you still have to do everything to take the image but setting up the shot can make things easier.  You need to discuss the general sight and then make a plan with your dive buddy.  It is easier to discuss what you want to do on the surface rather than underwater.  Working with a model can be quite challenging underwater and having a plan before you go in makes it much simplier.

To take this shot, I swam to the lower portion of the cargo hold.  While getting in position, it was important not to kick up the bottom or dislodge too much debris from the ceiling because the debris would ruin the shot.  I set the camera on manual and set the camera to properly capture the blue light throwing everything else into shadows.  After everything was set, I signaled Todd who was perched at the lip of the hold and he began to swim toward the camera being careful not to shine his light in the direction of the camera.  You can see just a small beam coming from the light but because the hold was so large, and the backlight so strong, his light had little effect in the final image.

Also notice that while Todd is the subject of the shot, he is not in the center of the image but rather is in the top third of the picture.  In general, it is more pleasing to the eye if the subject is not centered but rather offset into another quadrant.  We call this division the rule of thirds which is a compositional tool.  Look for a better discussion of this “Rule” in another post on composition.

Remember, when taking silhouette shots, it is important to make sure that you keep the meter reading set for the backlight and not let the camera adjust to the target swimming towards you. 

Camera Specifications: Canon 5D, fitted with a 17mm-40mm lens at 20mm, f4.0 at 1/25 sec, ISO 640

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Striped Marlin, Scuba Diving – an Underwater Photography Expedition

 
 
 
 

Half Dozen Marlins Chasing Bait Ball
Half a Dozen Marlins Chasing a Bait Ball

In the Company of Striped Marlin – an Underwater Expedition
The first year I led my Striped Marlin Expedition to Todos Santos in Mexico, it was splendid. Last year was almost a bust because we hardly saw any Striped Marlin. The reason for that was the water temperature rose to over 81 degrees, and that meant there were not many plankton and the sardines had nothing to feed on. The marlin somehow figured that out and almost totally avoided the normal pattern.
This year with support and reports from the University in La Paz and the local fisherman, I have understood that the marlin will show up, but later than last year. What you see below are images from the first two days here. The sea is placid, the wind very calm and water temperature is between 76 – 78 – just right for the plankton bloom, the sardine are feeding and … the marlin are here. Take a look:
Giant Bait Ball
Giant Bait Ball

Light Marlins Bait Ball
Light Marlins Bait Ball

Malin Feeding
Malin Feeding

My TeamMy Team of Guests

Chris and Jerry were with me last year – they understood very well what was happening with the water temperature and feeding patterns. We did all that was humanly possible to show them a good time and we succeeded to a limited level. Both were so impressed by the effort they have joined me again and they are here with us and they are so happy that they counted on my research. I am so proud to be able to deliver to such loyal guests, pictured above.
Every day we leave at 6:30 am along the western cost of Baja (on the Pacific side) and stay out till 5pm – watching the Frigate birds feeding action and formation. It’s the birds who actually give us information about the marlin. When a formation of two dozen or more Frigates is tight and close over the water I know the birds are feeding on sardines below – and the marlin are in pursuit.
All day we jump in and out of the water. The encounters last from just one minute up to sometimes 20 minutes. It’s a dance among the birds and fish. The “bait ball” of sardines, the Striped Marlin below, and the birds above all work in opposite directions from each other. The sardines run for their life but they are not much of a match for the quantity and skills of the birds up above and the marlin under the water. Both the flying and swimming predators are relentless and work the bait ball till it is consumed. It’s dramatic and exciting, especially when visibility ranges from 80 to 150 feet plus … next year we will come back in December. There will be room for only four people to join in the adventure, to be in the company of the ocean giants like the Striped Marlin.
Eric Keibler is putting together one of these trips with me.  Remember, there are only 4 spaces so you need to call him quickly!

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Creating Exciting Photographic Scenics

Rainbow Reef
Rainbow in Fiji

One of the central tenants of Buddhism is to be here in the moment and to experience the moment fully.  When you get behind the camera, it is important no to get too wrapped up in the technical side of photography but rather experience the beauty that is all around you at that moment.
Try and capture what you are seeing and experiencing.  Digital photography makes it easy to experiment.  Look at how the sun  plays off the leaves, trees, bark, water droplets; see how it illuminates the spider web or causes the water to shimmer.
When the sun is hidden behind a flat white sky, look for textures and contrasts.
In his article about landscape photography (PhotoSecrets.com), Mark Fenwick encourages his readers to look for:

  • Light -shadows and highlights,
  • Shapes – round and angular,
  • Colour – harmony and discord,
  • Texture – rough and smooth,
  • Composition – strong and weak,
  • Tones – light and dark
  • Patterns – even and odd,
  • Mystery.

 While you are exploring, move around your subject.  Look for alternate vantage points and angles.  If you can, try it at different times of the day.  By mneung around and exploring a site at different times, the landscape will reveal more to you.
You can also try using different lens apertures.  Ansell Adams is well known for shooting everything at f22 in order to capture all of the detail in his scenes.  You can also use that depth of field to your advantage by blurring an unattractive or distracting foreground while keeping the remainder of the scene in sharp focus.
You can always start with the standard shot of an area but then start experimenting.  Move around, lay on the ground, climb a tree, blur the foreground, or frame the image with a tree of bush.   You can change the perspective by switching from a wide angle lens to a telephoto lens or have a little fin and try a fish eye lens.  
Enjoy your photographic safaris or walks and learn to see what is happening at the moment you are there.  Don’t settle for a standard shot, experiment and try something different.

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In the Company of Big Animals

I want to introduce you to Amos Nachoum, a self-proclaimed Ambassador of the Big Animals. He is an award winning photographer who has publised photographs in magazines around the world including National Geographic. In a presentation Amos made top the Explorer’s Club in New York City, he said “to live up to that ambassador role I’ll be in the city, presenting my best stories and information about some of the most fragile regions of the underwater world. I’ll be showing and discussing photographs from my expeditions around the world and will probably include a few “classics” from the hundreds of my images that have appeared in National Geographic, Time, Life, The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Le Figaro, and Der Spiegel. You can also see more of my images on my website, plus news about my latest expeditions. It’s all part of spreading my message that only through observation and interaction with these animals can people understand and respect some of the most impressive citizens of our planet. In a few words, “you have to go there and experience this firsthand.” Amos recorded a presentation for Google entitled “In the Company of Big Animals.” You will hear Amos and he talks about his expeditions and shos his photographs. Sit back, pour yourself a cocktail and be prepared to be wowed…