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.

Last year, 2013, at DEMA Sea & Sea announced their upcoming innovative Optical TTL YS Converter. Several other manufacturers had also been releasing information on other strobe triggers, but what set Sea & Sea apart was that theirs actually worked with TTL on Sea & Sea strobes. Other strobe triggers or converters so far only allow you to get faster recycle speeds by bypassing the onboard camera flash, however you have to control the strobe manually. Being able to shoot in TTL gives you even more chance of nailing the shot for those fast moving subjects when there is not time to make strobe power adjustments.

The Optical TTL Converter has been available for a few select housings, such as the Sea & Sea Canon SL1 housing , Sea & Sea Canon 70D housing and Sea & Sea D7100 housing. Coming soon Sea & Sea will have a version available for the new Sea & Sea Canon 7D Mark II housing, Nikon D810 and an updated housing with fiber optic ports for the 5D Mark III which will also be compatible. This year at DEMA we got a first hand look at how fast the Sea & Sea strobes can really recycle, when shooting TTL, through the use of the Optical Converter.

The housings in the video are set up so that the one on the left is shooting TTL by using the camera’s onboard flash which adds drain to the camera’s battery since the flash is powered by the camera. The housing on the right is set up to shoot TTL through the optical TTL converter which is powered on its own, and does not add any drain to the camera’s battery. In addition, since the camera is not using the onboard flash, the strobe does not need to wait for that to recycle before receiving more information and the camera is free to shoot at its max speed, since the Sea & Sea strobe can recycle lightning fast. Take a look.

The post Sea & Sea Optical TTL Converter – Amazing Demo first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Colorful, beautiful, and devilishly quick.  Those are just some of the words I’ve heard people use to describe juvenile garibaldi.  These tiny versions of their parents, sporting their temporary iridescent blue spots, spend their days darting in and out of the shallow reefs.

Mirrored image? These two seem to be playing an optical illusion trick on us. 1/10, F22, ISO 100.

This past weekend I set out with the intent of capturing these speedy subjects, and portraying their elusive nature.  But how?  Certainly focusing, and then maintaining focus while they dart around would be near impossible, and frustrating to say the least.  My approach: let them come to me.

These little guys and gals seem to stay in a relatively small area of the reef (at least from my observations).  With that in mind, I set my dSLR to AF-C (release), utilizing the AE-L/AF-L button to focus.  This would allow me to set my focal plane at a specific distance, and leave it there.  By using the AE-L/AF-L button to focus, this freed up the shutter button to only release the shutter, so I could fire the trigger whenever my heart desired, whether or not the subject was in focus.  This allowed me to do two things:

1. By predetermining the focal distance, I could focus on another object at the same distance (a rock, for example), and then position my strobes for the ideal lighting and take test shots.
2. Once the focal plane and strobes were set, I could concentrate on timing and composition.

I decided on an aperture of F22 or higher to provide the depth of field I would need to get a majority of the fish in focus.

Anything but cryptic, this juvenile looks surprised as it peers from behind its algae hide-a-way. 1/10, F25, ISO 250.

You could do the same thing with any camera by determining the distance you want to compose the image, then keep the shutter pressed halfway down until the fish came into focus.  You would just have to repeat the pre-focus after each shot if you did not have a separate button for focusing.

For this shoot, I really wanted to capture and portray the speed and elusive nature of these colorful critters, so I decided to use really slow shutter speeds to show the movement (e.g. 1/1oth of a second).  By setting my camera to rear-curtain sync, the camera would expose the movements of the ambient light, before the strobes would fire at the end of the exposure, therefore freezing the motion and allowing for a colorful and sharp photo.

A pair of juvies chase each other around the reef. Their speed, combined with a shutter speed of 1/1o, shows the “streaks” of their movement and brings a sense of motion to the photograph.  1/10, F22, ISO 100.

All photographs were taken with a Nikon D7000, Sea&Sea Housing, Nikon 105mm macro lens, and dual Ikelite strobes.  Special thanks to Selky Charters for a great day on, and under, the water!

A young garibaldi, streaking across the frame, proudly showing off its gorgeous blue markings. 1/10, F22, ISO 100.

These two seemed to chase each other for most of the dive. It was great just to pull the camera from my eye and watch them hide behind my housing. 1/10, F22, ISO 100.

The post Capturing the Elusive first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Senorita poses in front of a red gorgonian. Nikon D7000 in Sea & Sea housing, Tokina 10-17mm at 10mm. 1/200, F16, ISO 200, uncropped.

Wow.  Just wow.  Get it while the gettin’s good!  Warm, blue water, and amazing viz awaited us as we made our way from the Catalina Express to the Dive Park at Avalon this past weekend.  When I say “warm” I mean 69°F at 70fsw.  Viz was easily 70’+.  It was gorgeous.  We planned on three dives, and we made the most of every descent.

Kelp bass stalk the vast schools of bait fish in the Dive Park.

This trip was designed to get my friend, Tracey, used to her brand-new MDX-7000 Sea & Sea housing that she bought from Scott at Bluewater Photo.  She’s preparing for a long trip to Raja Ampat in December with Underwater Photography Guide.  She and her husband flew in from Chicago to dive for the weekend.  Boy, did they get some great conditions!  Our first dive took us to the Sujac, and subsequent dives took us to the other end of the park.  For me, I enjoyed watching the kelp bass prey on the massive schools of sardines and other bait fish.  The sun shone brightly through the blue water throughout the day, making for some amazing underwater photo ops!  Get out there and dive!

A Garibaldi greets me at the west end of the Dive Park. Viz was amazing!

The post Great Conditions at the Dive Park first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

One of our readers, Kevin Stokell, recently sent in a couple example images taken with the newly released Sony RX100.  Kevin lives and works in Curacao, in the South Caribbean, where he works as a PADI Divemaster and has plenty of opportunity to get out and shoot.  Here’s the details on his shots:

The Banded Coral Shrimp

“The shot of the Banded Coral Shrimp (above) was taken at the back of my home.  This reef doesn’t have a name but is located to the left at the back of the Avila Beach Hotel on the east outskirts of Willemstad.  I have this reef pretty much to myself, as there is no easy public access, and the boat trips don’t seem to know about it.”

Banded Coral Shrimp Settings: Sony RX100, Recsea Housing, Dyron UCL6711 Macro Wet Lens, F7, 1/250, ISO 200, Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobe in TTL mode.  Depth 50ft., Visibility  80ft.

Octopus on the Pierbaai Reef at Marie Pompeon

The Octopus

“The Octopus was taken on “Pierbaai Reef” at Marie Pompeon, which is the house reef of “The Dive Bus” dive shop, and is located about 2 miles to the east of Willemstad.  This is a popular reef for shore divers as it has an easy sandy entrance/exit in a small protected bay.”

Octopus Settings: Sony RX100, Recsea Housing, F8, 1/125, ISO200, Sea & Sea strobe YS-D1 in TTL mode, Depth 35ft., Visibility 80ft.

The post Fantastic Shots with the Sony RX100 first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.