Some S70 photos in my gallery

[hdtran]

No external strobe, shot as large/superfine jpegs and large/fine jpegs (no raws). WB set for UW, exposure compensation from 0 to negative, P & Av mode mostly.

Until I figure out if there's a way of adding pictures "en masse," I'll just add them slowly (e.g. you'll just have to revisit the gallery from time to time).

These are selected from my trip to Los Cabos in Baja. (Water temps were about 60F).

If I get my act together, I'll try to post a more complete trip report in Travel/Mexico within a couple of weeks.

 

[DesertEagle]

You've done quite well without a strobe. I really liked the goatfish.

 

[alcina]

Great to hear you had a good time and took lots of photos!

BTW - some users can't see the gallery link under the user name, so it is always helpful to add a link to where you want them to go

 

[hdtran]

Great to hear you had a good time and took lots of photos!

BTW - some users can't see the gallery link under the user name, so it is always helpful to add a link to where you want them to go

Thanks for the hint!

Here's the link: http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=27621

I'm fishing for more compliments (e.g., your sense of composition sucks, but your camera takes great pics )

I think my most exciting moment (first dive on the trip too!) was seeing the sea horse. I had no idea there were sea horses in Cabo. Second most was the very colorful nudibranch. I spotted the nudibranch by myself; no DM pointing needed.

I've got an overexposed white nudibranch (probably amenable to photoshopping) which I haven't uploaded yet.

Third most exciting was running low on air at Cabo Pulmo, and the DM handing me his octopus as I was starting my ascent w/ 5-600 psi from 45 ft (plenty left, but not where I wanted to be. I had signaled him "turn around, I've got 1000 psi left," and he kept on signaling "ok, follow me back to the anchor line," but kept on heading to other places...)

 

[alcina]

LOL!! I am one of those that uses a skin that doesn't show the gallery and I am pretty lazy when it comes to searching for things Thanks for the link!!

OK, you asked for it! You've got some nice shots there!

Love the twin rays
Beautiful colours on the fan - lovely shot...good job!!
Like the feel of the amberjacks shot - nice sense of the size of the school and their motion
Excellent variety of shot types and creatures - I think you have some great stuff!! Looking forward to the trip report and even more shots!

If you'll permit me to offer two suggestions -
1) switch to manual. You've got some shots that could have been spot-on wonderful but the slow shutter (I expect) caused a bit of blurriness. Being able to control your shutter will help freeze those fish and make 'em sharp!

2) practice on land to determine your minimum focus distance. Although the mantra is get closer, you can only get as close as your camera will still focus crisply. This is the number one problem I see - too close for the lens! And it's very hard to see in the viewfinder underwater so practicing to get a feel on land is the best way I've found to sort it out.

Thanks again for posting the link - I very much like what I see so far!! Now hurry up and get us more

 

[alcina]

That is a wonderful nudibranch, too!! Good eyes for seeing him

 

[hdtran]

...snip...
Thanks again for posting the link - I very much like what I see so far!! Now hurry up and get us more

Is there a way of uploading files "en masse", rather than selecting one-by-one? (Yes, I know that you can browse-select up to five files...) What I'd like to do is to upload all the files in a directory. I use Irfanview to downsize/crop the pictures, and "save as" into a "to be published" directory.

Alternatively, I'll post them all on my personal website & put a link from here to there, but that's a bit more work (publishing w/ the ISP we use is painful).

Hy

 

[alcina]

You can put all the files in a zip file (winzip is free from the net, I think) and then upload the zip file. It will then list each image and you can rename as usual. Each file must be less than 100kb, I believe...

 

[hdtran]

You can put all the files in a zip file (winzip is free from the net, I think) and then upload the zip file. It will then list each image and you can rename as usual. Each file must be less than 100kb, I believe...

You asked for it, you got more pics in the gallery!

Here's the link (again).

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=27621

I've also posted a couple of hotel pics (just the view from the balcony & on the way to the hotel beach). I've selected the reasonably well-composed, non-blurry, and ecologically-friendly pics.

Yes, I absolutely do need to get re-acquainted with shooting manually, including manual focus. (Back to the film SLR days...) Thanks for the hints, Alcina. Unfortunately (boo-hoo-hoo), no dive vacation to warm waters for a long time... I may try to dive locally (2.5 hr drive from here is the nearest diving, which is a 80 ft diameter lake, 80 ft deep :11 this summer to maintain/improve my skills.

 

[alcina]

Woohoo! nice spotted moray And great capture to freeze that spotted boxfish!

You did really well to get inside your internal flash's range - you've got some really powerful colours in some of those.

Beautiful beach scene.

______________________________________________________________________
Beyond your photos:
On a sour note - I would have smacked my guide, buddy or fellow diver for touching that ray. Not only touching but holding and playing. NOT OK in my book.

And the puffed puffers - I'm pretty sure they weren't that way when the group came across them. I would have protested loudly to the guide and the operator.

And, as a photographer, I would have not taken the shots - this only reinforces the guide's behaviour.

Marine animal interaction is a hot topic and one that each diver/photographer needs to decide for themselves. As divers (and photographers) we carry an enormous responsibility for our actions and attitudes. I would not dive with that operator after seeing this behaviour.