Wide angle compositions are often the hardest to nail perfectly. During the SoCal Shootout participants have to do just that. There is very little editing allowed, so getting correct lighting, exposure and above all, that striking composition is key. Ben Hofilena succeeded with his first place image in our open wide angle category. While he claims just a lucky shot, he at least knew the most important part of luck, which is preparation. Proper settings and being ready for the moment allowed this excellent shot to get captured. Here’s the details on our first place winner.

Title: Ocean Bouquet

Location Captured: Eureka Oil Rig (off the coast of Long Beach, CA)

Camera / Housing: Canon 70D with Tokina 10-17mm Lens, Sea & Sea Housing

Strobes / Lights: Dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 Strobes

Camera Settings: F8, 1/125th, ISO 200

The Story: The first time I took a camera underwater was about a year ago. Prior to that, my topside photography was limited to point and shoot cameras in AUTO mode and taking pics on my iPhone. That being said, I’m a newbie to underwater photography and this was a lucky shot. This photo was taken on the Sunday of the SoCal Shootout while aboard the Pacific Star. We were lucky to have good visibility and a bait ball at the Eureka Oil Rig. I was able to get really close to a section of the bait ball and compose my shot. It was awesome to be able to capture what I saw as a solid wall of fish and bouquet-like image in the middle.

The post SoCal Shootout: Story Behind the Shot, Ben Hofilena first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Shooting Portraits underwater can be especially challenging as most subjects like fish are moving constantly. You must nail that perfect composition, eye contact and focus. With that in mind we loved this playful capture of a Bat Ray from Cindy Shaw which took First Place in the Open Portrait Category. Here are the details that went into this winning image.

Title: Wanna Play?

Location Captured: Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island

Camera / Housing: Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm Lens in Nauticam Housing

Strobes / Lights: Dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 Strobes

Camera Settings: F8, 1/125th, ISO320

The Story: We arrived at Farnsworth early after crossing over from San Pedro on the Perfect Mistress with Captain Derek.  There were four divers, two of us with cameras set for the shootout.  We weren’t sure we would be able to dive the pinnacle when we saw so many boats there even earlier than our arrival.  Most were fishing boats and we smiled when we saw that the dive boat Vision was anchored at the high spot with divers already in the water.  Our Captains managed a smooth switch so we moved onto the pinnacle as they slipped off, all divers back on board.  Nicely done Captains!  We dropped into the water and could actually see the purple on the top of the pinnacle from the anchor line.  One of our divers had never been able to dive Farnsworth before and I loved knowing his first experience would be an epic dive.  We were able to stay for 2 full dives before the conditions encouraged us to move on.  I absolutely love California diving because you really never know what you will find until you go in and see.  We have incredible diversity and myriad of opportunities here.
At about 80 feet, it was darker, so I bumped my ISO  to try and allow more light in while still keeping blue water.  I shot LOTS of purple hydrocoral shots and loved doing it, but then I swam over a rise and saw this magnificent bat ray in a shallow sandy spot.  Her wingspan was easily 6 feet across I am sure because it was head to booties for me when I approached sideways.  I Quickly went to the most versatile camera settings I could in case she decided to fly.  Then I settled down slowly and moved my lens to 50mm a good distance back.  I took a series of shots as I approached closer ever so slowly and moved my lens to 12 mm.  We spent about 5-10 min together, but it felt much longer making me quietly check my remaining air frequently because of course I found her at the end of my second dive.   I approached from a slightly sideways angle hoping to frame her diagonally and she kept constant eye contact.  She shifted perfectly for me and rose up a little to prepare to fly but stayed as I put the camera down and we just hung out.  As she seemed more comfortable but didn’t settle flat again I picked up the camera and took 2-3 more portraits before she slowly rose, circled and dipped a wing in farewell.

The post SoCal Shootout: Story Behind the Shot, Cindy Shaw first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Our new Mirrorless categories were a hit and almost had more competition than the Open categories in this year’s SoCal Shootout. The macro category was won by Desmond Ho with his crisp and colorful shot of a round ray’s eye. Here are the details of this unique underwater shot.

Title: Round Ray Eye

Location Captured: Anacapa Island

Camera / Housing: Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Olympus 60mm Macro in Olympus Housing with Bluewater +7 Diopter

Strobes / Lights: Dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 Strobes

Camera Settings: F11, 1/250th, ISO200

The Story: I spotted this well camouflaged round ray right outside the kelp forest at the dive site on Anacapa. While my experiences tell me that well buried rays tend to stick around, I did not want to take the chance so I approached it very slowly to avoid spooking it and more importantly, avoid getting stung. With the use of the macro diopter, I needed to get within a 1-2 inch range from the eye to get the maximum magnification. The shot took approximately 15 minutes to take because of my slow rate of approach, inching closer by the minute and snapping shots until I got this shot of the eye. As I backed away, the ray took off at full speed the other direction. It was one of the most exhilarating shots I have taken mostly due to fear of getting stung by the ray while trying to obtain the best shot possible.

Check out all the winning images from the 2015 SoCal Shootout here.

The post SoCal Shootout: Story Behind the Shot, Desmond Ho first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

We’re all addicted to our phones these days, so what better way to keep connected than to have your phone with you underwater?

For those folks who love taking photos with their phone and want to be able to upload to social media right away or share with friends and family, taking your phone underwater might be the perfect solution.

Check out the new iPhone 6 & 6+ housing from iTorch. This housing allows you to take your iPhone under the sea to use as a camera while diving, snorkeling, playing in the waves, or even in the pool… anywhere it might get wet! Through the use of the custom iPix app you have the ability to take photos and video.

I took this new housing down on a dive the other day to test it out and really enjoyed it. Paired with the extremely tiny iTorch V10 light I was able to get great portrait shots of different fish and critters while diving. The only drawback I found is that currently the app does not allow you to review photos, meaning you can’t check what you just shot. Luckily you can easily take multiple photos quickly, so shooting a couple extras “just in case” is easy to do. (Hopefully this will be fixed with a future update)

The V10 light has a very wide beam angle and an even bright beam making it a perfect addition to the iPhone underwater. When you’re within 2-3ft of your subject it brings back all the vibrant colors beautifully. If shooting something further away, I recommend adding on the red filter to help counter the loss of the red spectrum at depth.

In addition there are both a wide angle lens and a close up lens that you can screw into the housing to get more creative. The wide angle lens gives you more field of view and the close up lens allows the camera to focus closer than it normally would.

Comparison of with and without the wide angle lens. The photo on the right is much wider, allowing you to see more of the bow of the shipwreck and even the diver in the distance.

Overall I was really happy with the use of the housing. The app was extremely easy and the iPhone takes great quality pictures for a very simple auto only camera. I also did a short clip of video, and with the V10 light was very happy with the results.

Example of the shot straight out of the phone, and then the same shot after being edited in Lightroom. 

The post Take Your iPhone Underwater! first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Recently I had the chance to jump in the water with the new Fantasea RX100 III housing. This affordable housing option is a great choice if you’re on a budget. All major camera controls are easily accessible. The housing is made from organic polycarbonate, with a clear back so it’s easy to see your o-ring seal and camera inside the housing.

I was very happy with how easy it is to change settings and control the housing while underwater. The buttons are tiered to make them easy to press, even if wearing gloves. There are two dial controls on the housing to control the front and rear dials on the camera. These were easy to manipulate and I could quickly adjust camera settings underwater. The only issue I found when using the housing was the shutter button. Since it is set up as a simple button, its a bit harder to manipulate while holding onto the handle of a tray. If using the housing on a tray I recommend sliding it more to the left so that you can fit your hand around the housing itself (inside the right handle). This will make it easy to press the shutter down, and use the housing single handed for photos. The shutter is nice and sensitive making it easy to get the half shutter focus lock before snapping the photo. Fantasea changed the port from the more square, snap on style that we’ve seen in previous housings to a threaded port with 55mm threads. Unfortunately this is not a standard thread size for any wet lenses so a step up ring is required for 67mm wide and macro lenses. This simply screws into the port and you’re good to go. I used the Dyron Super Wide Angle lens with the housing and it seemed to work great overall, with no vignetting when all the way zoomed out. The housing includes ports for the fiber optic cables, but I did find them to be a little loose with my Sea & Sea cables, so I had to be careful to make sure they did not come unplugged. One nice feature that is not often found on small housings is a leak detector which flashes red and beeps if water is detected inside of the housing. I also got a chance to test out the video quality with the housing, just shooting with available light and was pleasantly surprised at how well the Auto white balance performed in about 30ft of water on a rainy day in California. Try it out wherever you think the diving is best!

Example Images:

Learn more about the housing and purchase at Bluewater Photo.  

The post Fantasea RX100 III Underwater first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

If you dive regularly in California, chances are you’ve gotten to dive with a sea lion.  Or was it a seal?  And were those seals or sea lions sitting on the buoy marking our way back into the harbor?

The California Sea Lion’s range is from the west coast of Canada all the way down to Baja.  The Harbor Seal’s range is from the Arctic down to Baja.  So odds are that you’ll see both if you spend enough time near, on and in the California ocean.  Here’s how to tell them apart.

Sea lions have large front flippers to help swim and glide through the water, which often look like little wings.  They also have rather large hind flippers that help them not only to swim, but to “walk” around on land at their haul-out.

Seals have much smaller, furry flippers but with larger claws, and smaller hind flippers to help them swim.  They have spotted fur.  On land, seals get around by doing the “worm” dance to scoot forward on their bellies.

Lastly, you can always tell a seal from a sea lion up close because the latter has small ear flaps.  A dive with either pinniped will have you exiting the water with a beaming smile across your face.

The post Did You Know? What’s the Difference Between a Seal and a Sea Lion? first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Anyone who has been in the water in the last couple weeks knows southern California has had some of the best dive conditions in some time.  As we all know this can always change at the drop of a hat so I have been in the water as much as possible.  I had the opportunity to join some friends on a dive boat, to visit a rather fascinating wreck named the UB-88 last weekend.

The UB-88 is a German U-Boat, and the only one on the west coast to my knowledge.   It is only short ride from one of  LA’s local harbors and lies in about 200 feet of water.  What makes this wreck so fascinating is its history and the fact that it remains almost fully intact after spending about 90 years on the bottom of the Pacific.  The UB-88 was active for a short 10 months during World War I, before it surrendered in November of 1918.   It successfully sank 13 allied ships during its service.

After its capture the UB88 made a long journey across the Atlantic and eventually to the west coast via the Panama Canal.   It traveled over 15,000 miles under the control of the U.S. navy in order to promote the sale of War Bonds.  The U-Boat found itself at port for the last time in San Pedro before being towed out and sunk in a live fire exercise by USS Wicks.  Its location remained unknown for over 80 years until being discovered in 2004.  I would like to thank www.ub88.org for the wealth of information on this wreck and encourage anyone to visit their site who would like to read up further about this wreck, along with many others on the west coast.

Here is a short video I took during my visit to the UB88.   I was amazed by the condition and marine life that have made this site their home.   There were tons of Rockfish, Wolf Eels, and the biggest Lin Cod i have ever seen lurking around the depths.

This dive is beyond recreational limits and requires training in staged decompression.   Please do not attempt this dive without proper training.

– Shane.

The post Diving a WWI German U-Boat first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.