Bayronto photos

[bdombrowski]

Hi:

I'm sharing some shots from a photo and video trip we made to the Bayronto 32 miles off of Venice Flordia on Sept 19th. The Bayronto sunk in a hurricane in 1919 in 105fsw. The 400ft wreck sits upside-down (turtled). It's fully penetratable and attracts abundant life ranging from Spiny Oysters, Goliath Grouper, Snapper, etc.

I took the following still photos using a housed N90s SLR, w/ 20mm lens, single Ikelite 100A strobe. Following Marty Snyderman's tips, I shoot in manual mode for all wide-angle when using an SLR. Film was Fuji Provia 100F.

Let me know what you think and please share other wreck pics you have taken this season.

Regards,

Brian
subsurfacemedia.com

 

[bdombrowski]

Here are four more vertical shots taken at the Bayronto last month. If you look close, you can see this skin of a hiding Goliath Grouper in the hull blow-out pic.

Regards,

Brian
subsurfacemedia.com

 

[Dee]

Very good! I love the deep blue colors in your shots.

 

[ssra30]

Dee once bubbled...
Very good! I love the deep blue colors in your shots.

Me too, I wonder about those deep blue colors, how much of it is actually the camera setting such as shutterspeed and how much of it is actually the water itself. Most of my pictures seem to have just light to medium blue and none of this really nice deep blue

 

[bdombrowski]

Thanks for the compliments.

Obviously, not all of my balanced light shots have that nice deep blue. But, the goal is to try and get it through exposure. My yield is going up this season, so I think I'm getting a little better at it.

For balanced light shots, I shoot in manual mode and always use the internal matrix meter in the N90s to set the aperture for the water I want to properly expose. Then bracket a few shots of course.

This is the Gulf of Mexico. The vis was about 40 feet, which was good, but not great. I've been on this wreck in the past where the vis was 80+ ft. But the gulf is not well known for it's "blue" water... it's mostly exposure.

Regards,

Brian

 

[ssra30]

It is good to hear that the camera setting will have a lot to do with it. Now that I started to move away from aparture priority mode and use more manual mode, I will try to play around a bit more with the various setting to see what I can do.
My understanding that to get the deep blue color, shutter speed probably should be around 1/250-1/400 with the meter around -1.
Does this sounds about right or what kind of parameter do you usually use as a starting point?

 

[bdombrowski]

Hi:

I shoot most all my balanced-light wide-angle photos at 1/125 sec. The moon jelly and all the balanced-light Bayronto wreck pics were all done at 1/125th.

If I'm shooting ambient light only, I might try a faster shutter if I can get away with it. Kinda depends on the trade off between aperture and the DOF I need for the shot. If I'm far enough away, I'll crank the aperture wide open to f/2.8 and dial the meter into 0 with the shutter speed.

For a silhouette with the subject between the sun and the lens, I shoot 1/250 sec to grab the light rays. I can post some of these later this week if you want, or you can see them on my web site.

I started out using aperture priority when I first got the camera. My results were mediocre. Then, two pros told me to go manual for wide-angle.... manual camera mode, manual strobe settings using guide numbers. Once I did, I never went back. I only use TTL for macro shooting.

Brian
subsurfacemedia.com

 

[ssra30]

Thanks for the tips. Will try some of these setting out this weekend.

 

[okiediver1]

Brian,

Is there a simple way to look at and use these "guide numbers"?

I am attempting manual shooting in Bonaire next week, and I want to try everything. Guide Numbers are confusing to me.

thanks!

 

[JHAM]

Great pictures. I love the jelly.