This article is the first of a series on “my favorite dives”. I’ve been lucky enough to dive at some of the best dive locations in the world, with some of the most fantastic aquatic animals. Picking just one is not possible – hence the need for a “my favorite dive” series.

Flashback to Wolf Island, Galapagos. Wolf Island is one of, if not the best, places in the world to see hammerhead sharks. Wolf Island, along with nearby Darwin Island, are the two most remote islands of the Galapagos Islands. In fact, you can go days without seeing another boat or human there, except for the ones on the boat with you.

Two hammerhead sharks making a close pass at Wolf Island

It takes about 14 hours to travel to Wolf from San Cristobal Island. The water is warmer at Wolf and Darwin than at the other Galapagos Islands, the marine life is prolific, and the currents are strong. Dolphins, whale sharks, eagle rays, and several shark specials are seen on a regular basis. Red-lipped batfish are found on the back side of the island. Wolf Island is named after a German geologist Theodore Wolf, who studied the Galapagos Islands in the late 1800s. There are no wolves or wolf eels here.

But the main attraction is the schools of hammerhead sharks. The hammerheads are there year-round, often coming to shallow water to get cleaned by butterfly fish. They are also very skittish.

Hammerhead shark getting cleaned in the Galapagos. You can see the butterfly fish that does the cleaning at the bottom of the photo.

Getting a close-up or a silhouette shot is not easy. They are afraid of divers, bubbles, and cameras – and they often swim quite deep, meaning you are looking down at them, into the dark depths.

On this particular dive, the schools were thick. They were coming slightly shallower over large rocks, and when I got below them, their beautiful silhouettes would fill the sky. I watched these majestic beasts dive after dive – we had 4 full days of diving at Wolf and Darwin.

Some of my most memorable dives ever were in the Galapagos. I can’t wait to go back. Stay tuned for “My Favorite Dives”, part II, featuring a huge manta ray!

For another great dive destination, read about the best diving in Africa here!

The post My favorite dive series – Hammerheads at Wolf Island, Galapagos first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

This is the first in a series of blog posts comparing shooting with cropped-sensor versus full-frame sensors. I hope you enjoy! – Scott Gietler

When I used to shoot with the Nikon D80, D300, and D7100, when I wanted to shoot macro I had to decide between using the 60mm macro lens and the Nikon 105mm macro lens. Now that I am using a full-frame camera, I no longer have to decide. When I use the 105mm macro lens, it has the angle of view that I had with the 60mm macro lens, but the bokeh and ability to isolate the subject that I had when I used the 105mm macro lens on a cropped sensor camera. The best of both worlds!

I have more room for compositional errors with small fish than I had before with the 105mm lens. And if I crop the photo, I end up with the exact same image I would have taken on a cropped sensor camera. I will admit, one thing I do miss is the lighter weight and smaller port of the 60mm macro lens + cropped sensor setup.

Have you tried shooting with both a cropped sensor and full frame camera? Which one did you prefer? Leave your answer in the comments.

Here’s a sample of photos I took last year on a 3-day Channel Islands trip with the Nikon 105mm VR macro lens. I hope you consider joining one of my photo trips this year to the SoCal Channel Islands in August, Anilao  Philippines in December, or Tahiti for Humpback Whales in September or October.

And if you are serious about macro, check out the Nauticam D850 housing, Sea & Sea D850 housing, Aquatica D850 housing, and the Ikelite D850 housing, and my recent article on photographing mandarin fish underwater.

The post Flexibility of the full-frame macro lens first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Best Cameras for Underwater Photography & Video

10 Ideas For the holidays of 2015

By Scott Gietler

Which underwater camera to get? With so many great cameras, lenses and housings out there, the decision is tough. Here are some models that you can’t go wrong with for all budgets, whether your shooting stills or underwater video- and we’ll mention some runner-ups at the end of the article.

#1 Best deal, $1500 off

Olympus OM-D E-M5 bundle

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 underwater housing bundle is the deal of the year, selling for $1,299 instead of $2,825. It includes the E-M5 mirrorless camera (which is an awesome high-end camera!), 14-42mm lens, housing, port, & zoom gear. The ports are WAY easier to change than the E-PL5 or E-PL7 housings, making this deal a no-brainer, especially as a back-up setup for your dSLR setup.

Not a good enough deal? Check out our half-off Olympus E-PL5 bundle for $799

#2 Entry Level, Snorkeling or Diving

Olympus TG-4

The Olympus TG-4 is well priced at $349, and is waterproof to 50 feet (15 meters). There is also an inexpensive Olympus TG-4 housing available for it for $299, which we highly recommend. The TG-4 even shoots in RAW, and can take quite good photos & video for such an inexpensive camera. It will work well with high quality wet lenses such as the UWL-04 fisheye lens, or the Bluewater +7 macro lens. Check out our great Olympus TG-4 packages on sale.

#3 Small housing- serious underwater photos

Sony RX-100 II for wide, Canon G16 for macro, Canon G7X a little of everything

The tiny Sony RX-100 II can take excellent photos, especially when combined with the UWL-04 fisheye lens for very good wide-angle. There is also a good selection of Sony RX-100 II underwater housings for it, including the inexpensive Recsea CW housing. We like the RX100 II better than the III & IV for stills. For macro enthusiasts, the Canon G16 is still king, with its long zoom range allowing for great prize-winning macro shots with a wet lens. G16 housing options include the Nauticam G16 housing, Recsea G16 housing, and at $399 the very well-priced Fantasea G16 housing.

The Canon G7x can take great video, and good macro & wide-angle, and is an excellent all-around compact camera choice. It has a better zoom range / macro capability that the RX100 III/IV, and a brighter lens than the RX100 II, and there are some very well-priced high-quality housing like the Fantasea G7X housing. See our G7x housings.

#4 Small housing- professional photos

Olympus E-M1, Pany GH4 or Olympus E-M10

The Olympus E-M1 is still the king of mirrorless cameras, with great E-M1 housing choices (read our E-M1 review) and an excellent selection of lenses. The Aquatica E-M1 housing is incredible. To save a decent amount of money, go for the Nauticam Olympus E-M10 and you’ll get the same image quality.

The Panasonic mirrorless cameras are also strong contenders due to their great auto-focus systems, with the GH4 and the new GX8 both being strong contenders. I recommend the GH4 due to the better features and better housing options. Here are some stunning shots taken recently with the GH4.

Sony A6000

The Sony  A6000 boasts a larger sensor than the E-M10/E-M1, resulting in spectacular video quality and dynamic range in wide-angle photos. The higher-end A6000 has an electronic viewfinder, and works well in the Nauticam Sony A6000 housing. The Sony A5100 is a great bargain with the Nauticam A5100 housing, and takes basically the same images.

#5 Small housing- professional stills & videos

Sony A7 II, A7s II, A7r II

The Sony A7 II series is considered the ultimate choice by some underwater photographers and videographers. There is a great selection of housings and lenses, and the full frame sensor produces incredible stills and videos. We recommend the A7R II, as the 42 megapixels will come in handy for both wide-angle and macro, high ISO performance and dynamic range are both great given the smaller pixel size, and the video features are almost as good as the A7S II.

The downsides are slower responsiveness in general compared to a DSLR, especially when using the Sony 90mm macro lens, and very poor battery life. Check out the housings from Nauticam, Sea & Sea and Aquatica – they support all 3 of the Sony models, or read our Sony A7 II / A7R II review.

#6 Best of the best

Canon 7D Mark II, Nikon D7200 or Nikon D810

With 36 megapixels, a full-frame sensor and amazing auto-focus, the Nikon D810 is the top choice – view our Nikon D810 housings, or our complete D810 review for underwater.  The advantage of the Canon 7D Mark II is much better auto-focus during video than most other dSLRs, view our Canon 7D Mark II housings. For excellent image quality and dynamic range, without the full-frame expense, check out our Nikon D7200 housings.

#7 Gifts for the GoPro Owner

Lighting packages, accessories

We have several GoPro lighting packages, including ones for best price, small size, and great power. We also stock most GoPro accessories & GoPro mounts.

#8 Best for Video

Sony RX100 IV, Panasonic GH4, Sony A7R II

The Sony RX100 IV has game-changing slow-motion video capability – see an example here, and great housing options for all budgets. For professional level video, the Panasonic GH4 is unbeatable for its size, price and lens selection – we like the Nauticam GH4 housing. Stills from the GH4 are also excellent – check out these killer hammerhead photos taken with the GH4. The full-frame Sony A7R II can take video at an ISO higher than any other camera we mention in this article, and we expect this camera to also be a top choice for pro film makers. The RX100 IV, LX100, GH4 and Sony A7R II all take 4K video. Last, but certainly not least, the Canon 70D and Canon 7D Mark II are the only dSLR’s to offer good auto-focus during video.

#9 Other options for underwater photography

Sony RX100 III, Panasonic LX100, Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II

There are other excellent cameras out there, like the Sony Rx-100 III, LX100, Olympus E-M5 Mark II, and the Canon 5D Mark III. All of them are very capable of excellent photos and/or video. The white balance of the LX100 during video is suberb – see our uw video and LX100 review. The E-M5 Mark II is a very close contender to the E-M1 – read our E-M5 Mark II review for underwater. The full-frame sensor of the Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 5DS R can result in spectacular photos, and Canon has some of the best full-frame wide-angle lenses on the market as options.

#10 In-depth articles on the best cameras

You can also read our three in-depth articles on the best camera choices for underwater photography for 2015 – best compact cameras for underwater photography, best mirrorless cameras for underwater photography, and best dSLR cameras for underwater photography.

#11  Sale! 20 – 40% off Focus & Video Lights Nov 26th – Dec 5th

20-40% off a large number of focus & video lights – see all the specials here, including the Sola 800 photo for $240, iTorch Venom 3800 lumen video light for $499, iTorch Venusian III for $139, and the FIX 2000 spot/wide/red light for $499.

Twelve Unbeatable Dive Travel Specials

Be sure to view our 12 crazy dive travel specials, all are for travel next year, courtesy of our sister company Bluewater Travel – who specializes in personal & individual dive travel. Already have photo / video gear? Give the gift of dive travel!

Cyber Monday Sales

Check out our sales & specials page for amazing Cyber Monday deals, which will continue on through Dec 5th. Up to 50% off strobes, housings, lights, lens and more from Light & Motion, iTorch, Recsea, Olympus, Sony, Sea & Sea and many others.

Sample underwater photos

The post Best Underwater Cameras for Christmas 2015 first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

The biggest drawback to using fiber optic cables on the mirrorless and compact cameras is often the slow recycle time of the on-board camera flash. While underwater strobes are designed to recycle quickly, the flash on the cameras often recycles much, much slower. With fiber optic cables your underwater strobe is dependent upon the camera flash so unfortunately that means it will have to wait as well.

With previous Sony cameras that offered a hotshoe, tempting users to switch to electronic sync cords, an issue kept appearing. Sony had programmed the cameras LCD screen to match the camera settings when not using the flash. While ideal for knowing what your shot will look like if shooting purely ambient light, it caused an problem for those wanting to use an underwater strobe with electronic sync cords as the screen would be black with the common underwater settings where all ambient light is blocked. This meant that you could not see anything to compose the image or check focus, making it not possible to use sync cords.

With later camera models (RX100 III & IV, A5000 & 5100) Sony removed the hot shoe from the top of the camera so the ability to use sync cords disappeared completely. Then they brought it back with the higher end a6000 camera. The on-board flash on this camera is still dreadfully slow to recycle, so we tested it here in the shop with sync cords and the results were incredible. One problem though, the screen still went dark.

Luckily, Sony has stepped up and solved this problem by allowing the user to override that function. In the main menu, under the set up menu (little cog icon) you can scroll over until you see the option for “Live View Display”. The default is “Setting Effect ON” which is what causes the LCD to dim when you block out ambient light with the flash off. Simply turn this to “Setting Effect OFF” and your LCD will remain bright regardless of the exposure settings. Just remember what you see isn’t necessarily what you are going to get, so review your images and watch your histogram.

To set up your Nauticam housing to accept electronic sync cords, simply install the Universal bulkhead and you’re good to go. Keep in mind, the a6000 only has one bulkhead port, so if you plan to also use the vacuum system you will need to purchase the Offset Vacuum Bulkhead Kit.

Here’s a quick comparison of the two methods, fiber optic cable, vs sync cord. Its obvious to see which is better.

One last thing to consider is the differences between fiber optic cables and electronic sync cords. Primarily with fiber optic cables you have a system that is never going to allow a flood in the housing since the cables do not penetrate through, they simply plug into a port and read the light through a window. In addition the cables themselves have no electronics inside so they rarely fail. Unless you bend or break a cable causing damage to the fiber optics inside they will last forever. Electronic sync cords are bigger and slightly heavier (if you’re counting ounces to make airline restrictions). They can short out if water gets inside the connections (flooded) so we highly recommend always have a backup. Lastly since there is an electronic signal transmitting from your camera to the strobe the bulkhead for the cables actually penetrates through the housing so that you can attach it to the camera. If not installed properly, or if the cable is not connected correctly to the housing it can cause a flood, resulting in more damage. For the Nauticam housings we highly recommend using the vacuum check system to help prevent any problems.

The post Using Sync Cords with Sony a6000 first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Now that megapixels are back, the full-frame 40 megapixel Sony a7R II mirrorless camera is getting a lot of interest. Here’s what you need to know about the Sony a7R II:

• Nauticam is working on a housing and promises one very soon (this month?). They make just need to make an adjustment to one of the controls in their existing Nauticam A7 II housing.
• The camera itself is shipping this week (betwen Aug 4th – Aug 6th)
• The Sony a7 II and a7R II offer better auto-focus than the original A7 series
• There are now awesome lenses available, like the Sony 16-35mm F2.8, 16-35mm F4 and the Sony 90mm macro lens
• Great quality 4K video, good autofocus with both the viewfinder and live view

Email me at scott@bluewaterphotostore.com with any questions, or to find out if the Sony a7R II is right for you!

Scott Gietler, Owner, Bluewater Photo

The post Sony a7R II – it’s hot and coming underwater soon first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Best cameras for underwater photography & video

For the holidays of 2014

By Scott Gietler

With so many great cameras out there, it is difficult to select just a few for our holiday picks. Here’s some models that you can’t go wrong with – and we’ll mention some runner-ups at the end of the article.

UPDATED FOR 2015: Read our Best Underwater Cameras for X-Mas 2015 article

Best deal, $1000 off

Olympus OM-D E-M5 bundle

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 underwater housing bundle is the deal of the year, selling for $1,499 instead of $2,499. It includes the E-M5 mirrorless camera (which is an awesome high-end camera!), 14-42mm lens, housing, port, & zoom gear. The ports are WAY easier to change than the E-PL5 or E-PL7 housings, making this deal a no-brainer, especially as a back-up setup for your dSLR setup.

Entry Level, Snorkeling

Olympus TG-3

The Olympus TG-3 is well priced at $349, and it waterproof to 50 feet (15 meters). There is also an inexpensive Olympus TG-3 housing available for it, which we recommend. Although it doesn’t shoot raw, it can take quite good photos for such an inexpensive camera, and will work with wet lenses, such as the UWL-04 fisheye lens, or the Bluewater +7 macro lens.

Small housing- serious underwater photos

Sony RX-100 II or Canon G16

The tiny Sony RX-100 II can take excellent photos, especially when combined with the UWL-04 fisheye lens for wide-angle. There is also a good selection of Sony RX-100 II underwater housings for it. For macro enthusiasts, the Canon G16 is still king, with its long zoom range allowing for great macro shots with a wet lens. G16 housing options include the Nauticam G16 housing, Recsea G16 housing, and the well-priced Fantasea G16 housing.

Small housing- professional photos

Olympus E-M1 or Olympus E-M10

The Olympus E-M1 is still the king of mirrorless cameras, with great E-M1 housing choices (read our E-M1 review) and an excellent selection of lenses. To save a decent amount of money, go for the Nauticam Olympus E-M10 and you’ll get the same image quality.

Sony A6000 or Sony A5100

The Sony A5100 and A6000 boast a larger sensor than the E-M10/E-M1, resulting in spectacular video quality and dynamic range in wide-angle photos. The higher-end A6000 has an electronic viewfinder, and works well in the Nauticam Sony A6000 housing. The Sony A5100 is a great bargain with the Nauticam A5100 housing, and takes basically the same images.

Best of the best

Canon 7D Mark II or Nikon D810

With 36 megapixels, a full-frame sensor and amazing auto-focus, the Nikon D810 is up to any task. The Nauticam D810 housing and the Ikelite D810 housing are currently out. If you want to use the Canon 7D Mark II, you may have to wait for the underwater housings to come out in January 2015, but the advantage is much better auto-focus during video than most other dSLRs.

Other camera options for underwater photography

There are other excellent cameras out there, like the Sony Rx-100 III, Canon G7X, Panasonic GH4, Nikon D7100, Canon 5D Mark III and Sony A7. All of them are very capable of excellent photos and/or video. The full-frame sensor of the Canon 5D Mark IIII and Sony A7 can result in spectacular photos. The GH4, RX-100 III, 5D Mark III and Sony A7 are also top of the line for video. The Canon G7X does suffer in wet-lens selection, and the Sony A7 lens selection is not great yet – but none of these cameras is a bad choice.

In-depth articles on the best cameras

You can also read out three in-depth articles on the best camera choices for underwater photography for 2016 – best compact cameras for underwater photography, best mirrorless cameras for underwater photography, and best dSLR cameras for underwater photography.

The post Best underwater cameras for X-mas 2014 first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Sony A7 users (and all Sony full-frame dSLR owners) will have 4 new lenses to use soon, that are excellent options for underwater photography. Owners of the Nauticam Sony A7 housing will be very excited when these lenses come out.

Sony full-frame lenses

Sony 16-35mm F4 OSS

This excellent wide-angle lens will be available in the USA on Sept. 18th, 2014. OSS stands for “optical steady shot” image stabilization, which will be useful for indoor low-light photography. The cost is $1,350 – definitely not a cheap lens, but priced fairly comparably to the Nikon 16-35mm F4 lens. There is a nice review of the Sony 16-35mm lens here.

Sony 28mm F2 + fisheye conversion lens

This wide-angle lens has a very large F2 aperture, making it great for video and ambient light shooting. There will be an optional wide-angle and fisheye conversion lenses, and we expect the fisheye lens to have a 180 degree diagonal angle of view. This lens combination will be very welcome, although the size looks a little large so the setup will not be as small as with some other cameras. You can see photos of the camera with the 28mm + fisheye conversion lens here. We expect to see this lens on the market in early to mid 2015.

Sony 90mm F2.8 OSS macro lens

This lens will be very welcome for Sony full-frame shooters. 90mm is the perfect focal length for full-frame macro and fish, and we expect this lens to be very popular with anyone shooting underwater. We expect to see this lens on the market in early to mid 2015.

Don’t forget to check out our Sony A7 review for underwater photography.

The post Sony A7 – new full frame lenses for underwater photography first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Weightless, we float through the ocean, watching the beautiful reef and the amazing marine life. It’s time to dream: A dream of painting the world. Close your eyes and take out the paintbrush, take out all your colors, and start painting – underwater. Imagine how the paint floats with you, easy, cloudy and slightly changing shape.

Underwater photographers live with the fascination of the life-giving element – water. So do I. And when I’m put into the dry world, my thoughts are circling around water driven photography. My recent studio project is about underwater painting. It’s my great pleasure to show you some of my works, give you some tricks, and inspire you to create your own experiments.

Artificial Jellyfish: Simple drops of colored cream poured into water form bizarre shapes we all know from the underwater world. Olympus OM-D E-M5, m.Zuiko Macro 60mm, 1/125s, f/10, ISO-200

Observing the Clouds

All we need to start is a transparent bowl, either glass or plastic (mine is roughly about 30cm x 20cm and 16cm high (12″ x 8″ x 6.5″)), water, cream, food color, salt, and of course the photo equipment including at least two remote strobes. I chose to mount my m.Zuiko 60mm macro lens on the Olympus OM-D E-M5.

I recommend starting by observing of the behavior of the drops. Pour some colored cream into the water and watch how beautifully it sinks: speed and shape.

Underwater Painting – Reflection: Red and Blue colored cream poured into salt water create amazing shapes. Olympus OM-D E-M5, m.Zuiko Macro 60mm, 1/200s, f/18, ISO-200

Driving the System

It’s an incredible new experience watching colored cream sink and trying to photograph the underwater paintings. Did the show pass too quickly? Consider our experience in diving. We use different weights to adjust buoyancy whether we dive in salt water or in freshwater. Likewise, we adjust the speed and diffusion of the colored cream with… salt.

The more salt you add to the water, the slower the drops fall. The clouds are more voluminous. You will find a point where they even turn around and start to ascend! In my experiments, I used 50g – 320g salt in about 8 liter water.

Slowing down the system allows you to add the paint carefully. That means real painting, not just pouring color into the water. I used Pasteur pipettes with latex bulbs to handle the cream. They are very useful, especially for placing the cream at different places under water without pouring it through the surface. A spoon works perfect for pouring as well.

The fat content of your cream influences your paintings a lot. Same with the speed you pour/inject the cream into your painting.

Stimulate your Phantasy

Underwater painting shows more than just clouds. The selection of colors and lighting influences your mood. Imaginations and associations arise. Sometimes, especially when working with filigree structures, real life figures enter your imagination. A smurf appears or even an entire squabbling family.

“Smurf” and “Communication”: Red colored cream is slowly poured into slightly salted water to get filigrane structures which create your phantasy. Olympus OM-D E-M5, m.Zuiko Macro 60mm, Smurf: 1/160s, f/20, ISO-200. Communication: 1/160s, f/10, ISO-200.

Camera Position

I placed the camera on a tripod with an upward angle in front of the bowl, so that the frame covers about 10 x 7.5 cm including some of the surface of the water. Two flashes are put at the sides of the bowl. Behind the bowl, I placed a black fabric to eliminate disturbing light. This is just one setup for “underwater painting” photography, but there are many more to experiment with!

Play with Lighting

There are two creative lighting setups I find to work really well: top and bottom strobe positions. For the bottom position, I placed my bowl on a mat of Plexiglas propped up on wooden blocks and placed the strobe under the bowl. For the top lighting, I kept the flash in my hand above the bowl. Try to use different angles and be aware of reflections the bowl causes. A lot of experience brings success!

“Jelly”: It looks a bit like a galactic jelly because of the flash directed from top. Olympus OM-D E-M5, m.Zuiko Macro 60mm, Smurf: 1/200s, f/18, ISO-200.

Catch the Best Moment

Only an octopus can handle multicolor painting, lighting and taking picture at the same time. Even if you use a remote cable (or control), underwater painting involves much multitasking. It’s almost guaranteed that you’ll miss the shot when your painting is at its best when controlling everything manually. To eliminate this problem, I set the camera on “sequential shooting, low, 2 frames per second”. This is a good compromise between having enough pictures and allowing your flashes to recycle before the next shot. With this method you can easily paint while the camera takes the pictures automatically.

“Red ‘n Blue”: Composition is essential to success with underwater paintings as it is with every picture, painted or photographed. Pay attention to the color combination to get your eye catching shot! Olympus OM-D E-M5, m.Zuiko Macro 60mm, Smurf: 1/160s, f/22, ISO-200

A Moving Impression

“Underwater Painting” is about the behavior of a colored liquid (emulsion) in water.  This animated Gif gives you an impression of the described shooting. The movements are faster than in reality. The picture were taken at 2 fps and presented here at 7 fps.

Outlook

There are many more versions to be created. Think of colored backgrounds, more shapes, more lighting experiments, and last but not least other liquids to be poured into the water. I wish you happy shooting!

“Color Splash”: From filigree structures to real fireworks of color, from simple light to surprising flash angles: No limits are put to your creativity. Have fun! Olympus OM-D E-M5, m.Zuiko Macro 60mm, Smurf: 1/200s, f/20, ISO-200

Henry Jager is a passionate underwater and wildlife photographer with an incredible sense for an unexpected view on the subjects. He is 43 years old and lives with his wife and two children near Zurich, Switzerland.

His work can be seen at www.conartix-photo.ch

The post Underwater Painting first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Many people don’t realize that you can get a 1/320th sync speed when shooting with the Nikon D300, D300s, and the D7000.  By default, the sync speed is 1/250th. However, if you go into the flash / bracketing menu, setting E1 will you to set your max sync speed to 1/320th. Read more about sync speed and shutter speed.

This is useful when shooting into the sun. By setting your camera to ISO 100, 1/320th, you can use a slightly larger aperture to shoot your subject then you would at 1/250th, getting a little more strobe power onto your subject. Chances are that your strobe will be on full power, unless it is very, very close to the subject.

You may or may not lose a little flash power going from 1/250th to 1/320th. I would do a test at F22 with your strobes on full power. I haven’t noticed a difference with my YS-D1, but I am going to test it again tonight and then re-update the post.

Nikon menu setting E1 – flash sync speed

Cuttlefish in Raja Ampat. F18, ISO 100, 1/320th shutter speed, dual YS-D1 strobes

I hope you found this information useful!

The post Fast 1/320th sync speed with Nikon D7000 & Nikon D300 first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

By Brent Durand

Kelp.  It’s often where you aim to start a California dive.  It’s also something you swim around when on a long surface kick.  It looks magical in photos and every once in a while you get stuck in it.  Most importantly, it’s a fundamental part of our marine ecosystem here in California.

Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) is found along the west coast of North America, as well as in several locations around the Southern Hemisphere.  It’s an algae that can grow up to 2 feet per day in ideal conditions, and reach a total length of 200 feet!  This rapid growth allows kelp fronds to grow from the bottom and create a living canopy on the ocean surface.  Below the canopy is a world of life we could talk about for days.

Kelp requires sunlight to carry out photosynthesis, but also grows best in nutrient-rich water less than 70°F.  During the summer in SoCal the water warms up and is less rich with nutrients so kelp beds will often deteriorate until winter/spring when the cold water is back.

Kelp is also a great indicator of ocean conditions.  If the kelp is standing straight up there’s probably no current, but if the kelp is at a strong diagonal be sure to plan your dive accordingly.  Because kelp beds attract so much marine life they’re sure to be great dive spots.  Lastly, if you keep an eye on the kelp at your local beach, you’ll begin to notice that the size of the canopy on the surface is a good indication of the tide.

Sources:  www.starthrower.org

Brent Durand is an avid California beach diver and ocean-inspired photographer.

The post Did You Know? Facts About Kelp first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.