A vicious storm came through Brevard Country on October 9th. Winds came out of the east at fourty plus knots. There is a small harbor north of Pineda Causeway and US1. There are a number of small sail & motor boats moored in the area. The anchor systems failed and all the boats washed ashore from ropes fraying and breaking, and chains failing. Most are recoverable, but a few are either sunk or severely damaged. On Oct 10th I was on hand to watch and help out with the recovery of two boats.
I would like to thank Water Shapes by Greg for sponsoring the Aqua show at EGAD At Lab
This is from, from a older shoot I did a few years ago in Melbourne. The young lady is a big fan of cosplay. She hand made her own Jessica Rabbit outfit and I supplied the microphone. It was a fun shoot, I had her signing the song from the movie, she kept busting out laughing between shots. Enjoy!
I was out at 2nd Light Surf Spot with my Canon G10 & underwater enclosure, working on my shooting technique from the water. Shoot from the water is a much greater challenge than shoot with a big lens from the beach. I learned a great deal from my first attempt. I need to use a boogie board and or scuba fins.
The G10 is pretty good camera, since I am shooting full sun light I don’t have to work about high ISO noise. What would make it better would be an external aiming system that would allow better subject tracking, the LCD is no match for full sun light. I wish the frame rate was higher. I also getting the subject closer is key, which is hard since the environment is very dynamic.
I am still experimenting with the way I want my images look. I want an unique look and style of my own. There many other extremely talented underwater photographers creating some amazing images. A friend sent me a great link to my FB account of a UK photographer Phoebe Rudomino that does very unique underwater images. The studio Pinewood Studios in the UK is one of the state of art studio’s any where in the world.
I on the other hand I rely on gracious home owners that allow me to use there pools. Which has been working out, but I need to take it to the next level. The Canon G10 and housing is nice, but I would like to use the Canon 5D mk II for greater control and faster shutter release. I do plan to try to rig optical triggers that can fire land based strobes, for more interesting visual effects.
On a sunny Sunday afternoon I was able to shoot again with Janice. This attempt I tried to learn from all the previous mistakes I had made with the other shoots. I broke out my scuba gear which I felt might be cheating but really help me improve the images and allow me to focus more on the quality and compositions more than running out of breath. Shooting in noon day sun was a blessing that allowed high shutter speed at a relative low ISO setting. Good anti-fog is worth is weight in gold for keeping the mask clear. The Canon G10 and underwater case has been really good so far. I have encountered only a few minor issues and have found work around for most. Considering the cost is far less than a underwater housing and lens port for a 5D mkII. It has been a great way to work under water without deep six my wallet. Janice was a real trooper, she kept working with for a few hours, as my technique and skill improved her posing got better and she became more comfortable underwater. Over all I am happy with the results and look forwarded to further improve and extermination with underwater images
Well I took the lessons learned from past attempts to shoot underwater and attain visually pleasing images.
I pitched the idea to Janice and she was game for a quick experimental shoot. The first problem was the pools underwater light was dead. So I pulled out my mega dive light and tossed it to the bottom of the pool. Until you try to do underwater photography there is no way to compare it to land or studio photography. The simple act of composing a shot can only take a few seconds, those wonderful models don’t have gills. Difficulty moving to get a shot is compounded by your subject floating and as the photographer. I am happier with these results of the images than the previous attempts. I found issues, the G10 considerable shutter lag and the small sensor and optics combination make getting great shots difficult. I think I can set the camera to shoot in a bust mode and multi shots. This will allow better timing to capture the moment I see in front of the lens. The small sensor effects the properties of optics. Look here for the math.
We plan to do another shoot in the middle of the day to use natural light, check back soon.
