Long exposures

I finally broke my 2021 duck with a dive at Capernwray quarry in Lancashire; the weather was unkind, so a sea dive was not an attractive option. Capernwray is blessed with good visibility and the trout patrolling the shallows are an enticing photographic subject.

I chose to try various long exposure techniques to give an impression of movement. Using an exposure time of 1/4s whilst moving the camera briskly to “overtake” the subject gives a pleasant motion blur (and it tends to hide the backscatter too). A burst of flash at the beginning of the exposure freezes some detail on the subject and adds some colour. In order to maintain a decent depth of field, an aperture of at least f/8 or f/11 is needed and that necessitates as low an ISO setting as possible. The small aperture also forces a high strobe output.

I also tried a zoom blur. It is quite tricky to get the zoom action quick enough to show in the exposure, but it’s probably easier with the camera housed. Underwater, the zoom is accomplished with a flick of the finger on the zoom wheel (rather than gripping and rotating the zoom collar when holding the camera by hand).

I was most pleased with the results when the camera was close to the subject (for these large trout, less than 30cm) and when there is some object in the background. This generates significant motion blur on the background and allows the strobe to illuminate the subject.

These trout are quite large, so too big for any of my macro lenses. I chose my trusty Tokina 10-17 lens, but struggled to get enough opportunities with the fish close enough to fill the frame. A longer lens would have perhaps been better; next time I might try a teleconverter to bring the subject a little closer.

This technique requires a lot of trial and error, and the “hit” rate is pretty low. Nevertheless, I managed to capture half a dozen “keepers”.

Worcestershire Camera Club Photo Talk

I will be giving a presentation to Worcestershire Camera Club on Tuesday 3rd March 2020, entitled “Adventures in UK Diving”. This photo talk will feature the best of my UK underwater photography over from over the years (including a number of award-winning shots) and I will showcase the amazing beauty and diversity of British sea life. The presentation starts at 19.30 in St Stephen’s Church Hall (Bishop Allenby Hall), St Stephen’s Church, Droitwich Road, Worcester, WR3 7HS. You’re welcome to come along, if you’re interested.

 

It must be spring

Spring has sprung – despite distinctly murky conditions on the James Eagan Lane this weekend, there were Oaten Pipe Hydroids (Tubularia indivisa) aplenty to see. The numbers of these marvellous creatures explode in early spring, that is until the nudibranch eggs hatch and they all get munched!

Nikon D500, Nikon AF-S 60mm with +5 diopter

Photosub judging

It has been my pleasure and no small responsibility to judge the work of the Photosub underwater photography group as guest of honour at their annual dinner, it was my task to pick out winners in advance from the four digital categories and on the evening from the print competition. Photosub is one of the oldest UK underwater photography groups and boasts a number of prominent UK underwater photographers. As a photographer it was humbling to pick out winners from such a high standard of work, but also a valuable experience to objectively critique the work of others. Thank you, Photosub; it was a pleasure to be the guest of such an active, passionate and talented group of underwater photographers!

Here I am with the competition winners.

What weekends are made for…

Finally I have been able to take advantage of the summer light and good visibility. I have been rewarded with an excellent dive on HMS Elk. This is a trawler that was pressed into service during WWII, but sank not far from the entrance of Plymouth sound. When I dived it last Saturday, the visibility was excellent; though I have dived this wreck a number of times, I don’t remember there being this much light. The wreck is relatively small, but resting on the seabed at around 35m, this makes it a good size to get a good look around without clocking up too much deco.

I’m very grateful to my buddy Darren Ashford for patiently modelling for me for about half of our bottom time. 

An impressive shoal of bib hanging over the boilers. I did not have enough bottom time left to do this scene justice. There’s always a reason to go back….

The inevitable end to such a dive- waiting out the deco time on the line. In this case, well worth it.

Salcombe Pea Soup

Sometimes called by divers “May bloom”, “snot” or terms less repeatable in polite circles,  there comes a time each spring in temperate waters when there is an explosion in the algae population. So it was in the Devon waters I dived with my club last weekend. Its not often a trip is a photographic washout, but my recent trip to Salcombe was almost so. Last time I went, early in April the water was clear (but very cold) and the visibility was excellent due to bright sun. That same sun, a few weeks later had caused the same stretch of sea (East Rutts) into murky pea soup, with countless green spheres in the water column from the surface to below 20m. Conditions were not helped by choppy seas and overcast skies. Still, a bad day’s diving is better than a good day in the office, as they say….

Red Fingers (Alcyonium glomeratum)

Devon weekend

Oaten Pipe hydroids

Sending up the shot

On the bottom

Waiting on the line

I greatly enjoyed a trip to Devon last weekend and, though the water was cold, the visibility was surprisingly good. I managed four dives- two reefs and a wreck (twice). The reef, East Rutts was a very pleasant place to spend an hour and this early in the season is covered in Oaten Pipe (Tubularia indivisa) hydroids. Those hydroids won’t be around for very much longer, as they are the food for nudibranchs (sea slugs). We saw many spiral swirls of eggs, but no slugs yet, but I would expect that by May the hydroids will be gone.

The wreck was called the Riversdale. It’s large and intact (except for the bow), with an impressive rudder and prop. It’s a while since I dived and took photos on wrecks at this depth (38m to the deck) and, photographically it was quite a challenge, due to the narcosis and the limited time. Even with good vis, lighting is difficult. We dived it twice, on consecutive days, as we could not get the shot line up after the first dive, so had to leave it in overnight and send it up on a lifting bag at the start of the second dive!

The vis was very good (about 8-10m), but I could see the beginnings of a “May bloom” of algae in the top few metres. Let’s hope that comes and goes quickly and does not spoil the view too much.

Photo talk: Adventures in UK Underwater Photography

Tomorrow, I am giving a photo talk to Leamington Spa Photographic Society. I am to dispel a few myths about UK sea life and outline the challenges which face underwater shooters in our green waters. I hope that I can show some of my favourite images and compare the techniques beloved of underwater photographers with those used above water. Well, I trust the audience will still be awake after my two-and-a-half hours! Oddfellowes Hall, Leamington Spa, 7.30pm (Tue 26-11-13).

Pike hunting

When I took up underwater photography, I thought long and hard about whether to go for stills or video shooting. Having a little experience with video presentations for holidays, home movies and dive club AVs, I thought that I would prefer stills due to the length of time needed to tell a story with video.

My feeling was (and still is) that my photography is about capturing a single image to sum up a site, a dive, a person or a creature. However, video is fun. I bought a gopro 2 last season to try out various ideas but did not have much success underwater. I recently bought a proper dive housing and ordered some colour correction filters from the States.

My most recent dive was in Dosthill quarry and, after diving the housing empty to check the seals, I had a go at filming my buddies and the impressive Pike (Esox lucius). I wanted to tell a story with the film and, diving with three photo buddies (one of whom had a new camera and housing), there seemed only one story to tell….

http://youtu.be/c0aI-Y0cVrg

BSoUP Underwater Photography Championship win!

This weekend saw the annual British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP) “splash-in” championships. Its a weekend I always enjoy because Plymouth, where it’s held, provides very varied dive sites and, whatever equipment the participants use, we are shooting in the same conditions. See this wetpixel article for an account of the event.

This year, I chose to dive solo and shoot a self-portrait. I had arranged some extra arms on the housing, so I could prop it up and aim the camera where I wanted. I found a nice location on the bow of the Scylla, just feet from the shot line. The technquie involves setting up the interval timer on the D200, swimming round into position and then gurning at the camera.

I was pleased with the composition and exposure, but I think I still have some way to go as a model! However, I was very pleased to win the “Mankind in the Sea” category with this image.

Self-portrati on HMS Scylla, Plymouth, July 2012