First off, my apologies for the delay in getting to these posts. After getting home from the trip, I realized I had taken over 6600 exposures (mostly due to the camera being set to high speed burst mode). I spent time removing any photos that we're up to par or just duplicates due to the high speed bursts, and trimmed the set down to around 1750. I meant to go through posting photos from the trip in a chronological order, but I know some folks are waiting for this one, so we'll bounce around a little here to start.

The photo was taken towards the end of the week at the Roma dive site. All week long, I'd been enjoying taking photos of the various anemonefish, and this particular set of False Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) provided a nice opportunity for several great shots.

This one, however, was selected by our dive-masters as the "Photo of the Week" for our week. I was absolutely flabbergasted by that announcement. My underwater photography improved by leaps and bounds each dive during this trip, but I still consider that luck was a very (very) large factor in what I came back with. In the coming posts, we'll discuss some of the ways in which the underwater photography improved.

As I said, I was running the camera in high speed burst mode (providing up to 8 frames per second with my Canon EOS 7D) which helped with my luck in capturing the fleeting moments that occur with the constant movement of the subjects, but I distinctly remember seeing this shot develop in the viewfinder and knowing then that I had captured something nice.

When the shot was presented by our dive-masters at the dinner slideshow, it was slightly modified, so I attempted to duplicate those modifications as best I could here. Mouseover each thumbnail below to see the different versions, then place your vote below to let me know which version you prefer (leave a comment with details as to why you selected what you did if you like).

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/40th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Modified version cropped and auto-smartfix in Photoshop Elements 8.0

The modifications are very subtle (as I usually feel any post production modifications should be). Initially, the shot was cropped specifically to make the the fish rest right on the intersection of two of the thirds. Then I ran the shot through Photoshop Elements 8.0's Auto-Smart-Fix to adjust some colors (producing a bit more bluish tint to the anemone and darkening the orange of the False Clownfish).

I know I've mentioned before that I should start selling prints, but I haven't gotten setup to do that yet, even with some requests for this photo specifically. So for now, enjoy it for free if you'd like. Here are the links to the fullsize versions - Original and Modified - for use for printing or as a wallpaper (be sure to resize first, or use the smaller version above).

Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to visit back frequently over the coming days/weeks as I will be continuing all the updates from the trip. And don't forget to place your vote below, and leave a comment as to why you voted as you did.

- Bill

PS: Alastair, enjoy the photo, perhaps we'll meet again underwater some day in the future. Best of luck getting certified!

PPS: As a 'prize' for the 'Photo of the Week', the fantastic staff at Wakatobi presented me with a fabulous cake made up to be a coral reef. The cake was absolutely fantastic and I shared it with our entire group! The pink stuff on the right is some strawberry roll which was my favorite dessert of the week, and the staff were attentive enough to notice that and give me one of the leftover pieces as additional 'prize'! If anyone from Wakatobi is reading this, thanks again for a most memorable week!

Wow! Just wow!

So far, we have 12 dives in on this trip, and I've been getting more and more fantastic shots. I've been learning how to better use my gear, as well as how to just dive better (ie: better buoyancy control, better air comsumption, etc), but more on all of that later.

We've seen things we've never seen before, and stuff we've only ever seen in books. I have a very small selection to share today, including: some anemone fish, shrimp, crocodile fish, and sea stars. I've also got a good collection of nudibranch shots going, but I'm going to be stingy with those until I get home... ;)

Enjoy these for now:

Our afternoon alarm just went off, so we now have to go head out for our second twilight dive!

- Bill

Ok - I don't know how many of these I will get around to posting (dive trips are always insanely busy vacations). So far, I've rattled off just under 3000 frames - granted, a large percentage of them will be culled, but it is still a lot of photos.

I'm six dives in with working with my 7D in the Ikelite housing, and I've been learning more and more each dive. I don't have an of those to share just yet, but for now, here's a couple shots...

Enjoy!

- Bill

Alright - I know that post title is a bit much... First off, I'm not sure if sesquicentennial is the proper word since it seems to apply to anniversary which would imply years, but I think the definition of anniversary gets stretched to mean more than simply just years. And then there's blogiversary... I generally don't like to use the term blog, but I'm sure that's how many people would refer to what I have here.

Any way you want to look at it, this post marks both my 150th post to the site as well as one year since I started the site. I managed to run past my 100th post without any fanfare, so when I noticed that I was closing in on 150 for my one year anniversary since starting the site, I figured I might as well make the most of the convergence.

Technical Data:Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 55mm, 1/50th sec at f/5.6. ISO 400. No post production. Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, GA.

Why This Photo: I've always liked this photo. It was taken back in 2007 during our first trip to the Georgia Aquarium. This was right before we bought the pet store we owned for a couple years, and was well before I really started learning more about actual photography. So while this might not be the most technically correct photograph (heck - I was almost certainly in Auto or one of the program modes), I think it shows a bit of a creative sense to my photography.

I selected this photo as a nice simple photo to mark this occasion. I've long since thought about printing this photo as well as a mirror flipped version of it to use a set of photos on either side of a room feature - I think it would look very nice on either side of a nice wall mounted TV, or bordering a mirror. Perhaps someday I will finally decide I want to start selling prints, and I thought that would make a nice set.

What Works: I like the simplicity of this shot and the strong color with the silhouette. The delicate features of the jellyfish are maintained nicely in the silhouette. I like the fact that the jellyfish is intentionally split in half by the edge of the frame - I can't explain exactly, why... I just do.

What Doesn't Work: The photo doesn't necessarily have the best sense of balance, but possibly some cropping could solve that before printing? For some purposes, the photo might be considered flat, boring, and uninteresting (but I obviously disagree).

So what do you think? Drop me a comment and let me know. I'll also take pre-orders for the print set of this photo... ;)

I want to thank you for visiting today. So far, it has been a fun ride, and I feel I've learned a lot over the past year. Hopefully, I've passed along something new to you as well. I really appreciate having readers and commenters on the site - it really makes the whole project worth so much more to me.

Here's to another year and another 150 posts... (and many more after that!)

- Bill

Ok - that last post reminded me that I promised to share different cropping options for the 'winner' of that poll. So here we go... Three fairly different crop options with the color corrected version of the photo. As usual, mouseover the thumbnails for the larger image to display.

Hopefully by now, you know how this works... choose your preferred version below, then leave a comment with why you chose what you chose.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Bill

PS: I do have to admit that I removed the small Blue Chromis from the upper edge of the second version as it was actually cut off by my preferred crop line, and rather than move the crop line, I used the spot heal tool to remove the half fish leftover.

Sorry - these photos are not from the new Ikelite equipment or even from our new SeaLife DC1200 compact camera. They actually came from a rented SeaLife DC800 camera during our trip to Cozumel, Mexico last summer.

All the work preparing for the upcoming trip to Wakatobi in Indonesia and working with the new Ikelite gear for the 7D and reading up on dive photography has me thinking about these old photos. More specifically, it has me thinking about whether I can salvage anything from these old photos that didn't turn out so well (and perhaps to prepare for any adjustments I'll have to make to any new photos I come home with.

Surprisingly, all I did with these photos was to run them through the Auto Color Correction and Auto Smart Fix. Pretty easy, but the results are fairly impressive. The second photo was cropped slightly as well.

Mouseover each image for the original to compare...

Technical Data: SeaLife DC800 at 13.8mm, 1/80th sec at f/4.7, ISO 64. No Flash. Auto Color Correction, Auto Smart Fix in Photoshop Elements 8.0. Colombia Shallows, Cozumel, Mexico.

Technical Data: SeaLife DC800 at 4.6mm, 1/160th sec at f/5.3, ISO 64. No Flash. Cropped, Auto Color Correction, Auto Smart Fix in Photoshop Elements 8.0. Colombia Shallows, Cozumel, Mexico.

The top photo is of a group of Yellowtail Snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) while the second shot is of a school of Blue-Striped Grunts (Haemulon sciurus - at least I think so.

Hopefully I don't have to do any post production work on the photos I bring back from this upcoming trip, but if I do, hopefully they are as easy as these!

- Bill

Ok - as promised, I'll finally get to a quick (probably not so much if history is any indication) discussion of the Ikelite equipment I recently purchases so that I can take my 7D diving with me.

In simple terms, the equipment includes a housing, a couple lens ports, a strobe and arm kits, and a waterproof hard-case to carry it all.

Ikelite systems are clear acrylic housings that combine with modular lens ports that are able to be swapped out based on what lens you are planning on using for the dive. The nice feature that Ikelite provides is that full access is given to (almost) every button, switch, knob... In my case, the only buttons not accessible are a 'joystick' style selector button whose functionality can be produced with other buttons, and the pop-up flash button which is not available (nor would it be useful). Looking at the unit, it is rather impressive to see how they managed to maintain some of the button access, and since the housing is clear, you are able to see how the knobs and buttons actually work. (I really love that logo too!)

First off, I'll apologize because some of those photos are less than stellar - I was just firing them off quickly, and kind of ignored some details.

Anyway, you can see by the above shots the housing with the handle tray and my wide angle lens port attached, the housing with no ports attached, the back of the housing (showing a lot of the buttons), the strobe unit (without the flexible arm), and the 100mm macro lens and lens port.

Between the two ports I purchased, I am able to use my new Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM in a flat port that is specifically designed for that lens. The port has a large knob on it which is used for manual focusing, and since the lens has full-time-manual focusing the knob is nice to have. Additionally, I've found that it also fits my Tokina AT-X M35 Pro DX AF 35mm f/2.8 Macro lens with my 2x tele-converter installed. The wide angle dome port fits a number of lenses including that same Tokina 35mm Macro, my Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, and maybe some others, but those are the ones I'll be taking with me on the trip.

The strobe is both a flash and a movie light, so I will be able to (and definitely plan to) use it to make a video or two during a night dive. The flexible arm (which you can sort of see in the shot below) allows me to position the light right where I need it. It also comes with a diffuser to allow me to spread the light a little wider for wide angle shots, or soften light for the macro work.

And here is another shot of the mound of stuff on top of the Pelican case. I think I have almost everything packed into the case except for a couple items I'll have to carry separately or in my checked-luggage.

Here's hoping the new equipment really does help me to bring back better images, but you'll have to wait a few more weeks to find out if that is true or not.

- Bill

What you see buried under this mountain of gear is a Pelican 1510 Hardcase. It is the largest possible size to be counted as a carry-on bag for flights. And somehow, I need to figure out how to get all that gear to fit inside that case....

I'll get into the details in the coming days, but right now I have a close 1-1 Pens and Canadians hockey game to finish watching.

- Bill

I have a confession to make... I usually don't read all of the books I buy - at least very rarely do I read them cover to cover. But I have one right now that I am pouring over every word, even the captions of every photo.

This is the fourth edition of Martin Edge's The Underwater Photographer.

So far, I've found the book to be very well written (with only a few iffy areas, but they could possibly be from the fact that it is written in British English). I am a slow reader, I always have been, so it is taking me a while to get through this book. However, this book is not a lightweight easy flip through book with a very flush 516 pages.

The book goes deeply into every aspect of underwater photography, starting out with the photography basics that I'm well acquainted with, through the equipment, and then into the specifics of lighting, composition, etc, etc, etc. One nice aspect is that Martin covers both SLR as well as compact shooting.

I think the book has given me plenty to think about while on my upcoming dive trip where I'll have two underwater cameras with me, and hopefully I'll come back with a couple great shots. I'm debating taking it with me as I feel it might be a nice reference for while I'm on the trip, and I'm sure there are some sections I want to reread at least once more before the trip.

There are also a few other books that I've been flipping through as well...

Hopefully something I come back with will be as nice as some of the shots in the book on the left, which is an absolutely beautiful coffee table photo book, and the two on the right is one of the books Anya got me for Christmas (and so was the Underwater Photographer book!), so I'll be using them to help identify what we do manage to get photos of.

I promise to do a post soon regarding the stack of new equipment I had to order to be able to take the 7D into the water, so stay tuned! But for now, I'm going back to watching this 7-0 Penguin game!

- Bill

On New Years Eve, Anya and I took a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo. The nice weather and the holiday meant that the place was swarming with hundreds of kids, so we didn't get as many good shots as I wanted, but I did get some nice ones of the lions.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/100 sec at f/6.4. OS Mode 1. ISO 200. No post production. Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.

Why This Photo: The two lions were enjoying the warmer weather and were interacting with the crowds a bit while resting on their heated rock.

What Works: The eye contact with the lioness and the catch-light in the eye of the male lion are good aspects to draw in the viewer's attention, with sharp focus in the areas that need it most but a soft defocused background to reduce distractions. The placement of the male lion's head rests right on one of the thirds hot-spots.

What Doesn't Work: The lioness's paws just barely break the edges of the frame, and the dark tree trunk in the background is a little distracting behind the lioness's head. And perhaps the shot would have been better with eye contact with both lions.

The other thing we did on Friday was pick up the equipment necessary to take the 7D diving with us during our upcoming trip to Indonesia, so I'll be posting some about that here in the coming days. However, I will need to prepare for the trip, and get as much practice in with the new rig as possible, so posts might be a little slow for a while.

Regardless, thanks for stopping by, and here's hoping you had a safe and happy new year's eve/day and that 2011 treats you well!

- Bill