Cuba Trip Pictures

[wetman]

Just got back from Cuba and put up some pics:

http://www.sitecode.com/cuba/index.htm

This was the first time with the c5050 (or any camera for that matter- the pics i have are about 10 times bigger than those as i took everything at full res highest quality). The pt015 housing is great. Its quite easy to use underwater - doubt it will be so easy with our thick gloves up here in canada though. Since it was the first time with a camera, every dive was an experiment in new features (i hadn't used the camera basically since i bought it in dec so i had lots to relearn as well.) I wish i found the white balance feature on the earlier dives (found that on the last dive we did, and the colors just jumped out when i used the sand as a reference white - from now on i'll be taking a white card down with me.) Other than that, most underwater pictures took on fairly blue or cyan tones, but that just gives me another excuse for another trip!

I also noticed that shrinking these shots seems to have darkened them somewhat as well as taken out some fantastic detail - but i have no more space at my site so they had to get shrunk. The originals are all around 3 megs each so you can appreciate how much is lost when you get them down to 50ish k.

Most of the diving shots are a few pages in, but for those of you who haven't visited cuba, take a look a a few of the others. What a beautiful place in some senses and a fairly poor place in others. I tried to get pics of all aspects. Great trip though.

Steve

 

[Dee]

I'd say you got the hang of it! I like the Flamingo Tongues. The topside pics are very interesting, too.

 

[jiveturkey]

Thank God we don't have the Helms-Burton. Where are the photos from? I was in Veradero last year. I had a great time. There were Canadian companies everywhere. I even saw an SUV with license plates from Nova Scotia. Explain that one!!!!

 

[wetman]

I don't suppose you could enlighten me as to what the Flamingo Tongues are? (i hardly knew what half the stuff i was taking pics of were).

The pics i wanted to have the most are the ones i screwed up on the most - we did a cenote in the middle of the cuban jungle. Page 7 and 8 has those shots. It was one of the most beautiful things i'd ever seen. You can get a feel for it from those columns of light on page 8. Those columns went down about 50 feet into the cave. Looking up on them from 100ish or so was just an incredible site. That cows skull was at about 135 feet at the bottom. Looking at the ambient light on the rocks around the skull, that was what a largish circular portion of the bottom of the cave looked like. Then pitch black to the sides. That tarantula and bat were in a part of the cave that we surfaced in (the part with the water reflection in this shot: http://www.sitecode.com/cuba/pages/P4020080.htm )

steve

 

[tinman]

A great endorsement for Pepe's annual pilgrimage back home. Sure beats walleye and bass in 10 ft viz...

Beautiful sunshine shot in cave: looks like you had a religious moment in that cave - God's way of saying "just say No" to entry...

Thanks for sharing....

 

[Dee]

Wow! How did I miss the sunray shots...amazing!

The Flamingo Tongues are those spotted snail looking things! Actually their shell is a creamy color and their mantal, the spotted part, comes out and covers the shell for camoflage when they're feeding.

 

[wetman]

So you mean the nudibranches. Interesting. That mantal you mention was interesting. I was setting up for the following shot and when i when to take it i noticed that the spots had moved. Apparently when you disturb the water anywhere around them they pull in their spots to reveal that creamy color you mention.

(i took 850 pics last week so i've got a few to pick from here - wanted lots of raw material to choose from.)

steve

 

[Dee]

That's it...but they aren't Nudi's, they are a type of snail. Nudi's don't have shells.

Yeah...it's facinating to watch the mantle moving. If you block the light, they'll draw it in, too.

 

[Hooked4Life]

Steve..

Thanks for the photos of cuba. It was interesting to see your pictures with just the oly 5050 and the pt015. It was also very cool to see the picture progressing better and better quality. I just bought the 5050 a few months back and will be getting the housing later this month. I will do quarry and local dives all summer to get used to the camera. Then in Nov we have a trip planned. I hope to get the strobe by then.

Back on the subject: Dee and the others.. do you normally use the WB function under water? If so what do you set the base reference to?

 

[Dee]

Hooked4Life once bubbled...
Back on the subject: Dee and the others.. do you normally use the WB function under water? If so what do you set the base reference to?

I leave the white balance set to the factory setting. My camera's packed at the moment but I think it's set to 0. I've changed it, taken WB readings u/w and to be honest I saw very little change.

I could be wrong but I think WB is more of a problem in videography than in still photos.

YMMV