PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

Taking a perfectly good camera and submerging it in the ocean may seem like a crazy thing to do to most sensible people. I’ve questioned my sanity more than once doing exactly that. So why risk a perfectly good camera and an expensive one at that, which may eventually become yet another paper weight? Well the reason is to hopefully capture that perfect moment under the sea and show people (typically non-divers) what the underwater world is like with all its strange and beautiful creatures.

To be a good underwater photographer, you have to be a good scuba diver. Imagine trying to take pictures in a weightless environment. Your subject may be swimming above you one moment and under you the next. The photographer may also be on the move if there is any current or your buoyancy is not just right.

The first crude underwater images were taken in the late 1800’s. However modern underwater photography really began in 1957 when the first waterproof 35 mm camera was invented. Jacques Yves Cousteau, although not the actual inventor, presented the idea to a Belgian named Jean de Wouters who designed the camera. In the early 1960s, Nikon acquired the license for the production of the amphibious camera, which they called the Nikonos. A series of rubber o-rings when lightly greased keeps the camera waterproof. Any compromise in the seal and the camera will flood. I personally know this because I have flooded 5 cameras since I started taking pictures underwater. All Nikonos cameras are rangefinders, In other words, you do not focus the camera but have to estimate the distance and then set the approximate distance on a set of calipers located on the lens. This takes a bit of practice, because things appear bigger and closer underwater than what they really are. About 2 years ago, Nikon discontinued the Nikonos. The last model was the Nikonos 5, which was in production for over 15 years. There are several other manufacturers that sell underwater cameras most notably Sea & Sea. However none of these cameras are considered by serious underwater photographers usually because of their limited depth ratings. The Nikonos had an approved depth rating of 130 feet although many divers have gone deeper with their cameras….. Full Article.

The 17-inch widescreen mobile workstation ThinkPad W700 laptop, offering a built-in graphics tablet and color calibrator, bundled with the new Nvidia Quadro FX 2700M and 3700M Open GL graphics processors with up to 1GB of video memory. It displays 72% (45% only for normal laptop) of the possible color gamut of the Adobe RGB color space.

ThinkPad W700 laptop aimed at photographers and designers, a 7-in-1 built-in card reader, wireless connectivity options and multimedia capabilities including an optional Blu-ray DVD burner/player. It also features up to 8GB of high speed DDR3 memory, optional dual hard drives with RAID configurations. What a laptop!

Hummingbird photography is addictive!! Stimulates your creativity, not only challenges you but takes you to great places, and hopefully rewards you with some great pics. Almost everyone likes Hummingbirds. They’re so small and fast moving, it’s hard to get a good look at them. When you show pictures of hummingbirds, people are impressed, because they can see all of the wonderful details. I thought it would be great to share how best to try and set up for hummingbirds so you can produce results you can be happy with.

So what does it take to capture a hummingbird in flight in detail? First and foremost HUMMINGBIRDS , mainly patience, and a little setup and lastly a feeder to attract them.

GEAR- any camera, lenses will depend on the working distance your birds will allow you, norm 8-10 ft, normally anywhere from 200-400mm. Dont need fast glass, ie. f2.8 as you are stopping down your glass from f-8 to f13 depending on exposure. I use my 300mm + 1.4TC on a tripod with gimbal head.

Flashes- Hummingbirds wings can beat up to 80 times per second, this produces their signature hum. To the naked eye and you camera—the wings are just a blur. One of the first questions I’m asked is what shutter speed I use to stop this super-fast movement. The real answer is that the motion is frozen with high speed electronic flash, not by a fast shutter speed on the camera….. full article.