Photo Course Notes

[ewong]

I just put up on the web some notes on a number of uw photo courses I took in the Spring. They are from 3 courses:

- Photo Course with Marty Snyderman
- Mastering Strobe Techniques with Cathy Church
- Underwater Digital Techniques with Jack and Sue Drafahl

http://www.yellowtangsoftware.com/purpleink/blogs/eddy.html

I'm heading to Caymans for the Nekton and a private lesson with Cathy Church

I'll post a review when I come back.


Eddy.

 

[alcina]

I look forward to looking through those

 

[webgypsy]

Ewong, did you ever take that course with Cathy Church yet? I am planning a trip in April 2007 to take some UW photography classes at her shop, so I'd love to hear what you thought about it.

BTW, thanks so much for sharing your notes from classes you've done so far, great info for a newbie!

 

[ewong]

Hey webgypsy, I did go to Cayman Islands, went on the Nekton Rorqual and took two classes with Cathy and staff. It was a great trip and I learned quite a lot.

I'm not quite done yet with my report (I have 5 CDs full of pictures), but here's a preview:

http://www.yellowtangsoftware.com/purpleink/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=arriving_to_grand_cayman

More to come in the next days ...


Eddy.

 

[webgypsy]

Awesome!!!

 

[ewong]

I just put up my notes of the first class I took at Cathy Church's:

http://www.yellowtangsoftware.com/p...itle=first_photo_course_at_cathy_church_s_pho

Feel free to post comments/questions on my site.

More is coming ...


Eddy.

 

[jjwdiver]

I have a chance to take a couple of those courses at Our World Underwater in Chicago...would you recommend it?

 

[rjsimp]

Eddy,

Its neat to read about someone elses experiences as we were just there in September.

Looks like you had a good time on your trip. I have spent a couple of trips with Cathy Church privately and she does run a very nice operation. I haven't worked with Eddie (Skippy as I call him) but my Wife spent time with Kat and I spent my time with Cathy and they are both great also. You sure learn a lot about what it takes to make a shot work.

We did buy a SP-350 for my Wife while there. She had a Canon S80 going down and with the pain of the fiber optic sync and the less than stellar manual controls, the SP-350 made sense. We have since picked up a couple more from costco ($199). Very good set up for sure. I also got my D200 and Subal housing from Cathy. I really LOVE how that system works.

 

[ewong]

Hi Rich,

Yes, indeed. I learned a lot on my trip to Cayman. I went for the Sunset House + Nekton Rorqual combination, so I took one class with Eddy (staff) and then another class with Cathy after the Nekton. I'm still to write a review for that class, but getting there.

It's funny that you mention the Canon S80 with the fiber optic sync. A salesperson at a local (NE) shop was pushing me to get that camera, but I decided against when I experienced first hand the convenience of TTL. The Oly SP-350 is one of the few point & shoots with a hot shoe (TTL). Canon just anounced the Powershot G7 which has a hot shoe, but I don't know about their underwater case. Well there's also the Oly's 50XX, 70XX, but they are discontinued.

I did notice the Oly SP-350 being sold at Costco as well. I might get a backup camera as well, since it's $200. There is another shop in FL that has discount prices (reefphoto.com). In retrospect, I should have bought my camera at Costco and the uw case from Reef Photo. I also found the name of the manufacturer that makes the TTL connector (I'll post it on my site). So I could have saved a bundle (you get full price at Cathy's shop), but I guess that the advise that you get at Cathy's shop is priceless ... but their rates are not ... US$60-125/hr.


Eddy.

 

[ewong]

I have a chance to take a couple of those courses at Our World Underwater in Chicago...would you recommend it?

Yes, I would recommend them. I took some of them at Beneath the Sea. However, it's difficult to match the one-on-one instruction that you get while doing an actual dive with these guys. You can try to join one of their scheduled trips as well, which I might try to do myself in the future.


Eddy.