Aussie Diving... March 1st to 15th....

[bowlofpetunias]

This one is a bit more technically correct tho

 

[Gudge]

Can I buy your camera?

Better yet - have you considered stepping up a notch with your camera set up to something like, oh, an Oly SP350? By pure coincidence I have one of these lying around and would be quite happy to swap it for your current set up. I would even pay for postage.

You'll have to get in line. Everytime I see the friend I sold my last UW camera rig he tells me it is time I upgraded again so I can sell him my current rig.

We got another two dives in today (Sunday) in really good dive conditions for a change, good visibility, no current, no surge and no wind for a change. Here's a few small fish portraits I shot today with same setup as yesterday:

 

[Sas]

Haha I like the second last one Gudge, cute expression. What fish is that?

I got out for a dive tonight at Rickett's Point Marine Park - a new site for me. It is fairly shallow and we had a long walk to deeper water through very squidgy sea grass. The dive was great - we had no surge, current and viz was very good. I took my camera this time unlike on the weekend when I forgot to charge my batteries

Blue-rings mating - seen a lot of this lately!

Cute puffer fish - it kept running into things, not sure why it was doing that! Also it was nice to get a picture without backscatter for once

I don't know why but I find this picture cute - some little snails crawling on a sponge

Short-Tail Nudi

 

[Gudge]

Haha I like the second last one Gudge, cute expression. What fish is that?

I wish I knew, it is a blenny but I can't find it in any of my ID books.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Nice shots Sas that nudi is a stunning shot!

Gudge... well your shots are in a class of their own... us meer mortal can only look and dream of getting shots like yours

 

[Gudge]

... us meer mortal can only look and dream of getting shots like yours

Don't dream about it, get out there and practice! I was terrible when I first started out. It's taken me nearly 30 years to reach this standard with well over 2,000 photo dives under my belt. The biggest improvement has been over the last five years after I switched from film to digital. The instant feedback with digital is a great learning tool. I envy the people starting out in UW photography these days shooting digital from the start.

 

[Gudge]

We got two dives in yesterday (Saturday) and for the first time since early January our regular dive buddy Alcina was able to come out with us so standby for some pictures from her. I had all sorts of problems on both dives with my left hand strobe not working correctly (the idiot who put my rig together in a rush that morning will be severely punished ) Here's some shots from the two dives:

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Don't dream about it, get out there and practice! I was terrible when I first started out. It's taken me nearly 30 years to reach this standard with well over 2,000 photo dives under my belt. The biggest improvement has been over the last five years after I switched from film to digital. The instant feedback with digital is a great learning tool. I envy the people starting out in UW photography these days shooting digital from the start.

Yep digital is great....when I packed a film camera... either used up the film and missed good stuff after because of that or saved a few shots just in case and still missed stuff. Then remembering what setting I had it on and all the details by the time the film was developed

I love my little Sony... the nice big memory stick and being able to go to video or stills. Considering what I am working with... I am happy with some of my shots as well.

Clearly practice and the financial investment both have an impact on the shots we can/ will get. Physical and financial issues mean I will never get a camera setup capable of taking shots like yours nor do I have the years to practice:blinking: That is why it is so great that you share the results of your efforts. I have seen people with huge investments in cameras who still don't achieve results like yours :worship: Your talent, and skill shines through. I love the way you share tips and tricks you have learned as well.

I have been lucky in that our dive group is also good at sharing and helping each other with tips and tricks... some of yours I have passed on (giving credit where it is due). Your feedback and encouragement is very much appreciated by myself and probably a few others here as well.

Here are a couple shots from our dive yesterday

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Here are some that I liked because of the subjects My 5 year old 5.1 megpic camera can't get terribly close but it does give me a decent balance between macro and wide angle.

This starfish was under a ledge climbing down a sponge with it's underside to me and I just thought it was an new and interesting angle. The juvenile half banded sea perch was so small (approx 35 mm) he thought he was well hidden in his sponge watching us take pics of a juvenile boxfish. The tiny fish in the final shot is less than 20mm

 

[Sas]

Well I got in a couple of dives over the weekend but I got so cold I think I need to do my next dive in a drysuit Air temp was cold and there was a lot of wind blowing so that didn't help. We did 91mins at St. Leonard's Pier and 71mins at the Ozone + Dominion wrecks. Luckily the wind had died down heaps when we did the wrecks and conditions were very calm. The rain and wind drove off the fishermen from St. Leonard's though earlier so we got to do along the rock wall as there weren't any lines to worry about. Below are some of my pics:

Dumpling Squid at Dominion + Ozone - haven't seen any for *ages*

Sea horse in a bush (Ozone)

Another dumpling squid shot - thought it looked evil in this one (Ozone)

Rough Leatherjacket (St. Leonards)

Also I took a picture on shore of the Ozone wreck - you can see the paddlewheel sticking out of the water

At the chippers for lunch - Paul was very cold

Sheila I have found I can't get too close with the Sony either. About 10cm macro I think. Paul's is 5cm and he wants a new camera that does 1cm