Monterey Pics 3-20&3-21-10

[Larry C]

Second time out with the D300 rig. I'm still struggling with settings, especially manual strobe settings and strobe angles. Totally different from my little SP-350, which only went to F8 and always shot in ttl. Starting to get used to it and get decent pics sometimes.
Some notable differences:
With the SP, it was find, compose, click, wait, go out of focus, wait, shoot a fish butt, wait 8 seconds to process the RAW, try to find the subject again, repeat.
With the D300, it's find, shoot, shoot, shoot, damn...flash didn't have time to recycle, first pic is fine, next two are black.
With the SP, I could drop, see what's there, set the camera, add a wide or macro lens and shoot anything. So far, with only the 60mm port set-up for my D300, it's super macro or macro, or a distant fish portrait.
With the SP, I could go 1:1 if I put the port right on top of the subject, but then I couldn't light it and it took 6 tries to get decent focus. With the D300, I can get closer from several inches away and stop it down enough to just blast the damn thing with both strobes.

Featherduster worm

Nudibranch

Goby

Juvenile Gopher rockfish-It took me a year to get a decent shot of one of these little inch long buggers with my SP, and then I had to blow it up so much that I couldn't keep it from being a bit soft and grainy. With the D300 and 60mm, I just held the camera up, waited for it to pass the viewfinder and bang, done.

Carol turned over a piece of plywood or some such debris and this little golf ball sized Octo was stuck to the bottom. He stayed balled up and pretended to be a clump of dirt until Carol pissed him off, then he ran like hell, changing colors all the way.

The Fringehead in the pipe at the Steam Engine

 

[Peter_C]

The D300 is showing it prowess! Nice photos

So what was this about a tag line malfunction over the weekend?

 

[njedrn]

agreed... nice shots

 

[Ben_ca]

The D300 is showing it prowess! Nice photos

So what was this about a tag line malfunction over the weekend?

Oh Peter just had to bring that up..

Nice shots Larry

 

[ss7]

WOW, those shots are really nice!

 

[Peter_C]

Oh Peter just had to bring that up..

Nice shots Larry

Hey someone has to ask...and that is my job

Plus I don't ever want it to happen to me, and I want to know what NOT to do. Maybe I should be replacing my tag lines or mounts. I like my orange bungee that has stainless ends and a sewn on sheath. All is well that ends well right?

 

[Larry C]

Thanks, guys.
Peter, Carol's been complaining about handing the new rig off the boat because of its weight. She almost dropped it a couple of times, so I hung an extra line off the D-ring on the boat and draped it over the side. When we got back from our first dive Sunday, I hung the camera on the line, checked the clip, shook it around a couple of times and got in the boat. Went to pull up the line and found nothing but rope and clip. Hung a weight on our current line, dropped it straight down and followed it down to my camera, about 2 feet away. All's well that ends well. Not using those clips again. I threw that line away and will buy fresh clips and make a new one. Also won't hang it off the front of the boat, which is bouncier.

 

[mofongo_max]

Nice shots... love the second octo and the Fringehead.

 

[Katamuki]

Beautiful!

I think your nudibranch is a pleurobranch though, but I may be wrong!

 

[Larry C]

Thanks, Max.

Beautiful!

I think your nudibranch is a pleurobranch though, but I may be wrong!

No, you're not. We're under construction and I couldn't find my copy of Behrens and Hermasilla. I forgot that the Berthella Californica isn't a nudi.