"Magic!"

Today I finally found the time and inclination to use my "Magic" gel filter. This is a coloured gel that fits on the front of the lens (I use a screw in UV filter to hold it in place.) The particular hue of orange-red was designed by Alex Mustard to restore the colours lost to absorption of light in the water column.

Water absorbs reds first, and blue-violet last, resulting in a washed out appearance with increasing depth. Typically underwater photographers use strobes to create balance, white light at depth, but while this works well for some subjects, large objects become impossible to light in this way. The best you can do with strobes is to carefully select what part of the scene to light.

Sea Viking wreck, foreground illuminated by strobe.

The magic filter uses a different technique to restore colour. Instead of adding balanced light to restore colour, it filters out the blue light, reducing it to the same level as the red light that has already been filtered by the water, resulting in an overall balance. Its not an exact match, and some of the balance has to be done by the camera's white balance function, but the results can be dramatic.

Sea Viking, this time shot using ambient light and Magic filter.

Needless to say, no solution is perfect. Some subjects benefit greatly from the controlled lighting strobes provide, a strobe is just as bright at 100ft as it is at 30ft, and doesn't suffer from cloudy days. When exposure relies on ambient light making its way through a significant depth of water, and then a filter, I start struggling with shutter speeds falling and motion blur, still, for some subjects, it can be a startling difference.

Shark Cage with Strobe.



Shark Cage using filter.

These Horse-eye Jacks are almost impossible to photograph using a strobe thanks to their reflective bodies. Here the filter let me get close and show them as a diver would see them.

Update from Nassau

Well, it's been a couple months, and I've finally found some time to update the blog. So much has happened since my last entry I'd need to write a novel to get it all in, but here, at least, are some of the highlights.

Since my arrival I've been training up on the various procedures we live by in the photo lab, as well as learning to shoot video. I arrived in a pretty chaotic moment for Fin Photo, our manager, a 7-year veteran, was let go, our two most experienced staff left not long after, and our sales systems were changing every other day. It made for quite the learning curve!



Colleague Lorna is on the clock (I wasn't)

By mid January I was a more-or-less fully functioning member of the team, and was getting comfortable conducting the shark dives. Amazing the things that become routine! I now find myself pulling on chainmail at least every other day to shoot the shark video, or shark stills, or both! The shark dives are, of course, the best parts of my day, week, month, etc. No two are alike, and being inside a churning ball of reef sharks is an experience that doesn't get old. Today we had unusually aggressive behaviour from the sharks, which is a good way to get the blood flowing. Indeed, for Rupert (the feeder) a few pointed teeth managed to go into his chainmail far enough today that blood truly was flowing. In spite of this risk, it's hard to hide the joy I feel when I'm being shoved, bumped and otherwise beaten up by a bunch of sharks. Does that make me nuts? Open question I guess.



A crowd of my favourite toothy companions.

I've moved into a new house as of February 1st, the staff house I'd been put up in till now was getting pretty damn old, not to mention crowded (there were 5 of us at one point, in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house). I'm living with Janine and Lee, both coworkers at Fin Photo, and both of whom only recently arrived on island, though Janine had worked here previously.

After a long, painful, and expensive journey, my camera system finally arrived a week ago, and since then I've put it to the test on a couple occasions. First was a 2-tank dive, and then later that week, the shark dive. As you might imagine, carrying a camera for yourself rather than for work completely changes your outlook, and these were some deeply satisfying dives, even if it took a little while to re-learn how my camera works, going back to Canon and Ikelite from Nikon and Sea&Sea felt pretty funny at first, but I was still pretty happy with the results. Turns out making 4 photo dives a day for 2 months will sharpen up those skills!



Myself, Lorna, and a very carefree turtle.

Anyhow, that's about all I have energy for at the moment, I'll be sure to post further updates as I go, there are enough dead blogs in the world already, I'll try not to go adding another one to the heap.