Bonaire May/June 2010 Trip Report with pics

[diverrex]

I probably should have clarified that I was using my Canon Rebel Xti with ikelite housing for these pictures. That is also the same camera I used for my topside pictures on Redbubble.

I do however, still use the G9 quite often. The trick to getting the focus when stacking the Inon lenses is distance from the subject. I found the auto focus and manual focus to be too cumbersome when using both lenses stacked. What I do most often, is get close to the subject, move closer or farther to get a basic focus, then let the auto do the rest. It's tricky at first but after some practice, it becomes second nature.

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I still have 16GB worth of RAW images to process, so I will post more as they come available. Wish the day had more hours! =)

I figured you must not be using the G9 for those since you mentioned f32.

 

[Mike]

A question....can you give a beginning pointer as to how you begin to get the photos with the stark black background like you have? I understand that strobes are necessary, but still struggle with understanding shutter speeds and apertures.

You can also think of it this way --

You are taking 2 exposures. One is the ambient light (background) and the other is what the strobes are lighting.

Since strobes have a limit to how much of a subject you can light up, the ambient (or natural light) is the back ground and the foreground subject is the strobe exposure.

Think about sitting in a foot ball stadium at the top row with your friend sitting one row below you. If you shoot a picture at night your strobe is not going to light up the entire foot ball stadium. It will light your friend and the back ground (the stadium) will be the ambient exposure.

So if that makes sense you are setting the shutter and apeture to underexpose the back ground and the strobe lights up the subject. Essentially if your strobe didn't fire you would have a very, very dark picture.

 

[Paul Lenharr]

Very good explanation mflinley919. It's kind of hard to explain without sitting down and messing with the camera. The reason for the high fstop is to make the opening very small, thus letting in less light. As mentioned before, it takes some getting used to, but once you have it down, its really not too hard. Hope you can get some good shots!

 

[Mossman]

Paul, I found your shots much more visually interesting and technically better than those on the website of the lady who supposedly taught you something. Her shots, assuming she posts her best on the page, are pretty much crap, i.e. shooting downward on the reef fish, and nothing else really noteworthy (i.e. nothing that I can't do!). Your stuff, on the other hand, was great. Did you pay her for techniques or did she pay you? I hope it was the latter. Keep up the great work!

 

[deeper thoughts]

Excellent photos