Ningaloo 09 Sept...futzing around with some WA

[alcina]

Tried a friend's Sigma 17-70 out on yesterday's dives. It's a nice lens - focusses down almost onto my dome port so that's nice. Quite a shock to my system to have to get my head into wide angle mode though!

Mostly I tinkered with settings and various focal lengths and lighting (way different than macro and quite challenging with a single strobe!).

The fish life was fantastic again. Schools just covered the reef and there were lots of big cod (grouper ) about.

 

[alcina]

We had more free-swimming goatfish in mid water than I remember ever seeing before. It was very cool. They were too unorganized for me to patiently wait til I could see all their faces, so I didn't spend as much time with them as I should have - I wanted to get to a particular spot on the site to "test" the new lens. Hopefully they will be there again and I will spend some time waiting for the right moment.

As I was waiting impatiently, one or two goats would swim over to a small group of bannerfish and kind of hang out with them. Happily this little grouping staggered themselves in the short time I was willing to wait

 

[Mike Veitch]

good thing you said grouper.... i would have thought you had moved to Newfoundland... snicker...

very cool shot, like the lens?

 

[alcina]

Thanks it was a fun dive.

very cool shot, like the lens?

Tried a friend's Sigma 17-70 out on yesterday's dives.

:11: Too much nitrogen or not enough?

 

[Mike Veitch]

always too much....

 

[alcina]

Good to hear...I wish I had that problem

Some of our resident threadfin pearl perch decided to be cooperative for a bit and so I played around:

36mm from what I thought was a good distance (I know, I know, needs to have a little tweaking done in PS, but...)

36mm from closer - the golden rule, closer is better! Just coz you have a zoom doesn't mean you should use it

 

[Mike Veitch]

sweet new avatar...

 

[Jamdiver]

Great shots Alcina, great variety in your fish life there.
The threadfin pearl perch are a new one to me but I love them, almost remind me of horseye Jack.

I prefer the second shot of the threadfin pearl perch as it's more cropped I suppose.

Was there current on that dive? I'm curious because i've only seen fish hang out like that together when they're trying to find a spot to hang out in .

 

[alcina]

I prefer the second shot of the threadfin pearl perch as it's more cropped I suppose.

Was there current on that dive? I'm curious because i've only seen fish hang out like that together when they're trying to find a spot to hang out in .

No cropping, all full frame. I agree that I, and I think probably most others, prefer the closer images rather than larger WA stuff - I find that it's sometimes hard to switch my brain underwater to "see" real WA! But it could also be because I love to get close and love the little stuff

Nope, no current to speak of. We get great groups of fish on most of the dive sites here...they wander a little bit, but are pretty reliable. Not always cooperative, but there!

 

[louisianadiver]

36mm from closer - the golden rule, closer is better!

I don't know, Alcinda. I think I like the wide view better. Very nice all around. -Clay