Pam Rocks - June 13

[BradnerBoy]

Another fantastic trip to Pam Rocks yesterday. Wind was a significant factor on the surface getting out to the site and remaining anchored, but below the surface was great (as usual) as the vis was 20'-30' at depth (50' -90').

Our first dive we were greeted almost immediately by some young seals and we spent virtually the entire dive "playing" with them. They were incredibly curious and constantly nibbled on our fins. As you can see from the videos, they came in very close and didn't seem overly skittish.

YouTube - Seal play at Pam Rocks

YouTube - Seal taking a nibble of my fin

YouTube - Seal play time with Stuart

The second dive was more about trying to get the camera to play nice and get some decent pictures. Easier said than done. We're still struggling with the settings. I don't know what's worse; manually setting white balance and ISO when you're not entirely sure it's the correct level or using "auto" and getting equally inconsistent results

Anyway, here are some of the better ones: Photobucket slideshow

 

[sschlesi]

I haven't photographed underwater, but have plenty of experience above water with both film and digital cameras. The info below is severly abridged, but should give you some subjects worth looking into.

If your camera supports it, shoot your stills in raw mode. Basically what that does is records all the data from each picture(much bigger file) without processing it in the camera, and then when you bring the image onto your computer you can process it any way that you want (setting white point is the BIG reason to do this) without losing quality. Any non raw format processes the image in the camera and throws away a bunch of the original data dramatically reducing the photo adjustment possibilities later.

Exposure (ISO, aperture, shutter speed) is a bit trickier, especially underwater where the lighting conditions change continuously. With still subjects a good technique is to set your camera to display a levels histogram after each shot (almost all can do this). To get the most usable data in the image to allow for best photoshop possibilities later you want the histogram to have the levels as high as possible without "going off the end". Reshoot as neccesary. For many images this will look too bright with the default settings, but you can adjust it on your computer knowing that you captured as much detail as possible in the original image. Any image whose histogram isn't too jammed up on either end will probably be acceptable. Keep in mind that dark images should have lots of levels on the low end and vice versa.

For fast moving subjects, I suggest being "pre-adjusted" for the conditions. As the light changes, I would shoot pictures I intend to delete using the techniques I described to adjust settings. And then shoot rapidly when the opportunity presents itself.

The colors and brightness in most of the still photos look reasonable. My only suggestions would be get closer to your subject to reduce the impact of the chaotic backgrounds and to take some pictures with the subject in locations other than directly in the center of the frame.

 

[BradnerBoy]

Thanks for the info Scott, but unfortunately, it's simple P&S and this, RAW is not an option. It's the Intova IC 800 and while it's a good beginner's camera, it leaves a lot to be desired with regards to its ability to make changes to settings. For example, unlike other models, there is no settings for "underwater" anything. You can't just set it for "green" and 50', for example. I know you can do this with other P&S models.

We'll just keep plugging along and sooner or later, we'll start to have some consistency.

 

[StuartT]

Very cool dives for sure. I just remember laughing constantly through my reg watching the seals. Some great video of our underwater buddies.

Stuart

 

[sschlesi]

Too bad about RAW mode. You usually need a pretty expensive camera for that, though using CHDK you can do it on the cheap canons.

There is a very good chance you can get the levels histogram on your camera. I'd look for it and play with a bit out of the water. Once you understand the graph, a quick glance will more reliably tell you about the quality of the exposure than looking at the little picture.

BTW, ignoring the green cast, the video from that camera is much better than I would have expected.

 

[DaleC]

I don't mind the green. Great videos Todd and Stuart

 

[denniscloutier]

Duh, so where is Pam Rocks. I should probably know this since I live in Coquitlam, but...

Great video. I would love to dive with these guys.

 

[BradnerBoy]

Duh, so where is Pam Rocks. I should probably know this since I live in Coquitlam, but...

Great video. I would love to dive with these guys.

It's about 10 minutes south of Porteau Cove by boat.

Fisheries & Oceans Canada - Pacific Region - Rockfish Conservation Areas

 

[Slamfire]

The more I see images and footage about other cameras, the more I covet my buddy's Panasonic Lumix. The Lumix has an "Underwater" setting that really helps ignorant 'photographers' like me. I just set it in "Underwater" and forget about ISO, exposures, flash modes, and all sorts of other complications.

Camera issues apart, this is great footage and capturing of the moment. I enjoyed it very much.