WOOOOO!!!!!

Ok - so we're back from our scuba diving trip! I've got tons (I haven't even counted to find out an exact number) of photos to process. I'm going to try doing them in order that they were taken, but that may or may not hold up. And I have no idea how long it will take me to get through them all either.

Our first dive ended with a wonderful surprise in the form of three Red-Tipped Sea Goddess nudibranchs sitting on a sponge in the space of about 2 square inches. Unfortunately, since it had been two years since I'd done underwater photography, I was extremely rusty and was fighting with the strobes to try and get a good exposure. I did manage to bring back a few, but I'm not thrilled with the results... hopefully future ones are better.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/120th sec at f/5. ISO 800. Ikelite Housing and Port with dual Ikelite 161 Strobes in video light mode (no flash). Raw conversion in Adobe Camera Raw.

For whatever reason, the dual strobes were giving me fits, so I resorted to just using the video lights and shooting with a higher ISO. The result ended up with a bit of motion blur from the slower shutter speed and limited depth of field from the fairly wide open aperture. Unfortunately, since we'd found these nudibranchs so easily, I incorrectly assumed I'd have plenty of opportunities to get other shots of these and other nudibranchs - as it turned out, nudis ended up being fairly difficult to find all week long.

Stay tuned for more as I process other photos.

- Bill