Ok - as I hinted at yesterday, I really struggled early in the week.

One of my mistakes was a classic bit of photographer hubris in that I thought I knew enough that adding a new piece of gear to my setup wouldn't be an issue and I'd just pick it up like a fish to water (sorry - terrible pun, I know!). Well, adding a second strobe to my setup certainly was not something I could do without first needing to learn some things - I should have tried out some dry photography with it in the housing and both strobes mounted before going on the trip.

The second issue I had was that there was quite a bit of rust build up. It had been a year since I'd done underwater photography (far too long!), and it took me a while to reacquaint myself with the setup and to remember what settings worked and which didn't. Again, some dry photography might have helped a little, but also just looking at old photos and seeing what worked and what settings were used would have gone a long way.

And the last issue was that despite knowing better, I was using the camera in a way that it just wasn't meant to operated. In particular, with the 100mm macro lens mounted, I certainly could focus on larger subjects that were a ways off, but I really shouldn't have been doing so. I know to reduce the water between me and my subject, and I know the ugly results I get when I fail to do so.

Despite that, and with a liberal amount of Photoshop work, here is my first set of Caribbean Reef Shark (Carcharhinus perezii) from the trip. Hopefully I have better ones to share later...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/200th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 320. Ikelite Housing and Port with dual Ikelite 161 Strobes in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5, Color cast removed in Photoshop Elements 9.

I kept these not only because I was able to partially salvage them, but also because I felt these were the first dives we were on where we saw "real" sharks. I know the nurse sharks we've seen before are quite real (and potentially dangerous in the wrong situation - ie: diver stupidity), but these are the first sharks with that classic shark body shape, and they weren't tiny little things... the ones we saw all week ranged in size from 6-10 feet long, and were bulky in weight to match... and fast. Just watching them swim was a treat - being in the water with such a beautiful creature and not being afraid (ok - mostly not afraid) of it was completely incredible.

- Bill