How can you be so happy when your photos suck?

The learning curve for underwater photography has been steep ... and I'm still on the up-slope. Last weekend I took a Dhow up the eastern side of the Musandam peninsula with a semi-regular dive buddy Juraj for a 2 dive day. This is the second outing for my newly purchased Fantasea Remora flash and I was hoping to try out some techniques I'd been reading about.
I used the strobe for the 1st time on our last dives and, frankly, the results were very disappointing, not because the Remora is lacking in any way (from my limited knowledge of these things it seems a good unit) but because I didn't actually know what I was doing.


So, having sifted through the badly exposed, out-of-focus, disappearing-fish-ass dross I produced last time, I realised I needed a serious dose of RTFM and spent the next few weeks with my nose buried in an UW-how-to photo book, combing the net and also time on the marvelous UWP magazine site. All my reading showed just how little I was prepared for this underwater malarky, but it gave me a set of objectives for the day's diving:

1. Manual everything - As far as possible I would use only manual settings, bearing in mind that I don't use an SLR but a compact so some things are auto whether I like it or not. My P5100 allows me to set shutter speed, aperture and white balance manually, but focus is auto-only.
2. Balanced Exposure - I wanted to learn to adjust the shutter, aperture and flash output so that the main subject and background are similarly exposed. There are times when you want the foreground to stand out (or even the background) but I was aiming to understand the interplay between the flash power settings and the aperture, especially where the subject is much closer than the surroundings.
3. More Time - I wanted to take my time on a subject, the temptation to rush about (as much as you can rush underwater in full scuba gear) and fire away at everything is great. I would focus my attention on a particular subject and methodically work the scene. As Mies van der Rohe said 'Less is more'.
3. Review and Correct - Previously I didn't take advantage of that big LCD panel to review what I had just shot and then to correct settings accordingly. This was intensely stupid of me as the ability to review your photos on-the-spot underwater, rather than hours later back on land, is probably one of the biggest advantages of the advent of digital cameras (an UW photographer I once met who, at the time, had just taken the digital plunge reckoned the biggest advantage was the ability to "run out of air before running out of 'film'!")

So, after all this mental preparation, how did things turn out?

Well .... erm ... very sucky to be honest!


However, in my defence the water was very dirty, algae green and with a lot of suspended matter and even shooting without the flash produced a snowstorm look, as you can see in the photo right.


But I managed to achieve the things I set out to do, so all in all I'm pleased with the results, even though the pictures are pretty horrible from all the floating crud.
Let's have a look at three images from this trip and what I've learnt from them:

The first image is a bed of coral:


I'm not really sure what the yellow thingy is, but I liked the splash of yellow amongst the more monochromatic bed of coral, so I placed it in the foreground, used it as the focus point and attempted to illuminate it with the flash while ensuring the background isn't too dark. I placed the strobe off to one side, but even so the vast amount of floating crud has peppered the image, too slow a shutter speed has resulted in backscatter streaks. Also, to the left of the yellow thingy (sorry, I'll find the correct Latin name and edit this some time) are some anemones that have been totally blown out. Tsk, tsk ... I didn't review it in the LCD as I should have!
Lessons Learnt: Composition is okay, exposure is reasonably balanced but watch the flash position and keep reviewing the images, depth of field could be better and a faster shutter would have help with the surge.

The second image is a dead Red Snapper:


At first glance this dead fish being consumed by hermit crabs is a technically appalling picture, probably on subsequent glances too, but I really liked the gloomy mood. I'd shot a few images before reviewing, when I realised things weren't right, only to discover that the synch-cord had come loose from the housing and so the strobe had not been firing. As I rectified this, some other divers swam by and stirred up even more debris. Generally I'd give up at this point but it was a good opportunity to try the exposure thing again as I was quite deep and the light had faded a lot. A few shots more and all I had to show was a few flash-lit, but technically appalling, shots.

I also discovered that my focus light was off, it works by turning the head as if you are unscrewing it and I guess that as I descended the pressure increase caused it to switch off. Combining depth and murky water meant that all the reds had been attenuated, so there is little I could do about the green cast in either shot and as I said before, white balance correction was not a priority at this time.
Lessons Learnt: Check your gear regularly and make sure everything is connected. Make sure your focus light is on, the first image is not sharp at all, the second is a bit better but still way off. Fin carefully to avoid stirring up sediment.

The final image is an interesting sea urchin bedecked with empty shells:


The sea urchin shot is much better. The subject is sharp and the lighting has improved a lot, the urchin stands out but the background isn't obscure black. But the floating bits are still very prevalent and no amount of side-lighting by the flash could hide this. In fact the flash is a bit too far to the left so that side of the urchin is a touch overexposed, while the light falls of quickly to the right. The overexposure was not obvious in the LCD and my camera does not seem to have a histogram (perhaps another RTFM session is called for, it could be I just missed it.)
Lessons learnt: Review your exposure carefully and check the histogram if you have one. Be careful of having the flash at extreme angles, maybe I'll invest in a second unit for more even lighting once I get the hang of things. A smaller aperture would have given a bit more depth-of-field, so the rear of the urchin would be in better focus. Overall I'm quite pleased with this one, ignoring the speckles, it's a passable shot if not a great one.


So, can I be happy even though my photos suck?

Actually, yes ... a definite yes!

I have learnt more about the strobe, aperture and shutter speed interplay in two dives then I thought possible and have seen how applying the techniques I've read about have generally improved my results.

I've got better ones here from even before I bought the Remora, honest guv!

Now let's hope for some clear water!

Craig
sunburnt ... and in need of a shave

Is a 4 year old Nikon really that old?

Cameras stayed largely unchanged for most of the 20th Century ... a shutter, a lens, a flat plane for film and all you needed was a good eye. I still use a Zeiss Ikon that is older than I am and it works fine (and will keep on working for as long as 120 roll film is around!) But the pace of change in digital means anything older than 2 years is considered 'dated' and 'too old' and the re-sale value of digital is shockingly low.

I recently bought a Nikon D100 from a colleague who was just too glad to find a buyer (or a sucker?) Discontinued in 2005, it's hard to think that this camera, in good working condition, should be shunned simply because it's considered 'obsolete', but on the other hand I obtained a working camera for a good price and this included an excellent (if also obsolete) 28 - 200 Nikon lens .

The D100 has now become my 'official' kayaking camera, I won't feel so bad dropping it in the sea as I would with my D90 (or as I did with my Nikon D80, but as I've said before that's a story for another day.)

You can see a picture taken with the D100 on its first kayak trip on the Folbot blog. The photo is straight off the card with no post processing.

Craig
sunburnt ... and in need of a shave

How to Seal a Folding Kayak's Deck Seam

We were one of the earliest customers to buy a Cooper from Folbot, the Carolina based manufacturer of durable folding kayaks, and a wonderful boat it's turned out to be: sleek, quick and easy to assemble.
Labour intensive jobs drive costs upwards so Folbot has a philosophy to keep the cost of the kayaks low by not doing those tasks that the consumer can easily do at home. Some don't like this view and want to buy a completed boat, but being a budget-minded, DIY-sort-of-guy I like the idea.
Folding kayaks, being skin-on-frame boats, have a tough hypalon hull stitched to a water-proof canvas deck and it's this seam, running the length of the boat on both sides, that can allow ingress of water unless sealed. The sealing is not a difficult task, just time consuming, so Folbot doesn't do it in-factory but ships some seam sealer with the boat.

So how do you go about sealing your nice new Cooper without covering yourself, the kayak, the kids and the neighbour's dog in gooey sealant? It's quite easy, all you need is the seam-sealer, some masking tape, patience and a six-pack of your favourite malt and barley (optional to some but not to me.)

1. Firstly, assemble the Cooper and inflate the sponsons tightly. The seam runs along the sponsons and inflating them keeps the seam open as well as giving you a taught surface to work on. Open seams also allow better penetration of the sealant into the seam gap.

2. Place the kayak at a comfortable working height, I put mine on some cheapo Ikea saw-horses. Having it on the floor is not the end-of-the-world but stooping makes the work harder.

3. Now you're free to open the first victim in the six-pack, but take it easy as you need a steady hand for the next few tasks. I recommend intermittent sips, rather than a good chug, as the way to go.


4. Before applying the tape you need to clean the seam area properly to remove any grease, salt, moisture and so on. My solvent of choice is usually acetone, but to be honest I can't quite remember what I used for this job, most probably white spirits from my local hardware store. I leave the choice up to you, but be careful and first test whatever solvent you use on a small, out-of-the-way patch of BOTH the deck and the hull. Acetone is great but can dissolve things, I'll tell you about the underwater camera housing some other time, so white spirits is probably safer. After testing, and assuming no gaping holes have been eaten through the fabric, have another sip to steady the nerves then clean all along the seam as shown in the picture above, concentrating on the hull.

5. While waiting for the cleaning solvent to evaporate and dry completely I recommend taking a few sips. No, not the solvent ... from whichever victim you're on by now. But remember, the next step needs the really steady hand, so take it easy.

6. Now, lay two layers of masking tape on either side of the seam from stem to stern. As you can see in the picture below, I've laid the hull-side tape quite close to the seam, there's just a narrow black band showing, while the deck-side tape is just off the stitching. Keeping the hull gap to a minimum makes the sealing job less noticeable when you remove the tape. Keeping the two lengths of tape as parallel as possible, take some time to firmly press the tape down, I run a thumb nail along the edges, otherwise the sealant can creep in under the tape leaving an unsightly ragged edge rather than a clean line. You're almost there, so have a few well deserved slugs, mmmh!


7. Now comes the trickiest part: applying the sealant. The trick in applying the sealant is to keep an even thickness all the way, the best way of doing this is to point the tube in the direction of travel, not away. So, start at one end, stern or bow it's up to you, point the mouth of the tube at the other end and gently squeeze the end of the tube until some sealant comes out, now keep pushing the tube as steadily as possible along the seam while squeezing lightly all the time. The bottom lip of the tube should help spread the goo evenly without breaking it up into gobs, which happens when you pull the tube. Make sure the sealant squishes into the gap of the seam but don't make the layer too thick, it only needs to seal the gap and the stitching, not add structural stability! If you get it all perfectly even, please let me know how you did it ... even with the best will in the world I still had to smooth things over with a wet-finger. I also ran a bead of sealant around the deck-ring fastenings, just in case.

8. Don't wait too long to remove the tape, you want it set but not cured. Depending on your malt/barley consumption rate I'd say give it a two-victim break and then remove the tape. There is also a trick to removing the tape to ensure that you don't lift the sealant edge with it. Lift the end of the tape just enough to get a good grip, then pull the tape back along itself, not upwards, the section being pulled loose should be virtually folded over. Doing this steadily, without yanking it, should leave a clean edge. If you're brainier than I am you may think of leaving a bit of an overlap at the end to make lifting the tape easier.

And your done! And not a moment too soon seeing as the six-pack has only one left. Leave the Cooper as it is to allow the sealant to cure, overnight should be fine, but seeing as our kayak was destined for use in the ocean I left mine for 24 hours. This was probably overkill but we've had no leaks after 4 years.

And now you can let your lovely wife paddle her own kayak out to the Dhows.

Update (19-Jan-2010): I received a email from Dave AvRutick, Folbot head-honcho, in which he clarified Folbot's position on in-factory seam sealing of the Cooper "we do not apply the seam sealer as we do not think it is necessary for 'average' use -- not as a cost saving measure. Depending on the customer's paddling, it may be something they choose to do -- it is nothing that is mandatory."
Sounds fair enough to me. Thanks for the input, Dave.


Craig
sunburnt ... and in need of a shave

A LightZone Article for Dubai Apple Fans

My favourite photo editing software is LightZone by Light Crafts, so most of the images on my website have been edited with LightZone, even some of the HDR images.

I've written an overview article on how LightZone works. The article is now available in the January 2010 issue of Shufflegazine, a Dubai based magazine for Apple fans across the Middle East.

If you don't live within a sand dune's length of Dubai then you will be able to read it from the Shufflegazine website, the online version should be available in February 2010.

I'm working on a similar article for underwater photographers and will let you neoprene-clad people know when and where it's published. Keep a weather-eye on this blog!


Craig
sunburnt ... and in need of a shave