Mother's Day Dive

[PapaBob]

I want to post a few pics I took last Sunday. Lynne and I had a chance to spend a day on the water on the Block Party. The first pic is a friendly green moray who was kind enough to pose for me. Third reef about a mile south of Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

---Bob

 

[PapaBob]

The second pic is a spotfin hovering over some iridescent tube sponges. Puffer fish and damsel fish in the background.

---Bob

 

[PapaBob]

The third pic is a green moray. Note the juvie spotted drum in the foreground. I think he was hanging out for protection. Will you be my bodyguard?

---Bob

 

[PapaBob]

The fourth pic is of dive buddy Jeff on the ascent. One of my best sunburst shots if I can say so.

---Bob

 

[ocrmaster]

Fantasic

 

[Cacia]

really really nice! What did you do to bump up the colors?

 

[Dave C]

Marvelous photos, especially the one with the butterfly and sponges. The colors are gorgeous, and there is a lot going on in that picture. Until I started frequenting this bulletin board, I never realized that such a great marine environment existed off Ft. Lauderdale and WPB.

 

[kapula]

Sunburst shot is magnificent! Lovely stuff!

 

[PapaBob]

really really nice! What did you do to bump up the colors?

Catherine: I shot in camera raw on my 20D and did some minor color correction in the CS2 camera raw converter (ACR). Actually the color was not that bad using the automatic white balance setting on my camera. In Photoshop I copied the background layer and changed the blend mode to multiply. The original exposure was a little on the bright side so this darkened the image, boosted color satruation and created a nice contrast. I adjusted the opacity of the multiply layer and masked areas I wanted "as shot" to what I thought was a pleasant image. Final adjustments were some backscatter removal and sharpening.

David: I have been diving S. Florida for almost 30 years. Sure we have the vis problems that come with nutrients in the water due to runoff and outfall, but still have active reefs and huge fish, sponge, and soft coral populations. It is not Cozumel, but very enjoyable diving. I have not gotten tired of my own backyard. You are right, the first impression many folks have is "this is S. Florida, there can't be any diving here ... gotta go to the keys, islands etc.

---Bob