Photo-Chimp.com » diving

Hawaiian Batfish

Eric W — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:38:02 +0000

According to pretty much all of the divers I met on Maui, batfishes don’t technically exist in the Hawaiian waters. Pauline Fiene at Mike Severns Diving led the dive where I took this image, and she commented that it might very well be an “aquarium release” – someone with a salt-water fishtank might have released it into the local waters.

Apparently they started showing up a few years ago (curse my memory, I want to say eight years ago or so?), schooling in relatively non-traveled areas. Non-traveled by tourists, at least. They’re pretty territorial, however, and tend to stay in areas that are familiar to them. This guy had been hanging around in the cabin of the St. Anthony (opens in Flickr, click through for the larger image!). Locals weren’t believing the divemasters, even – at least, not until they saw video footage.

Non-native Hawaiian Batfish

Regarding the photograph itself: I wish, oh I wish… well, I wish I had been a bit smarter. Light was provided by the high power of the dive lights that Pauline carried. Image sharpness is decent, at least for underwater. So how did I manage to clip the tail?

Every photo had minor defects, this being the one with the fewest.

Damn.

The Color Blue

Eric W — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:54:27 +0000

Underwater photographs. I’ve mentioned before that I often desaturate them, as the colors bring nothing and often distract. This is not always the case, however. Take this image:

Swimming through Cathedrals I

Normally I would have converted to black and white. This time it felt better in color: the tonality in the blues speak to the depth, and the enclosure, and the escape from said enclosure just outside. The heavier feelings associated with blues also speaks to the overall gloom of such an environment.

So a reminder to self: just because the typical rule would be to desaturate, always be sure to review it in color.

Spot the Fish

Eric W — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:10:38 +0000

A follow-up thought to this post, where I bemoaned the hurry that most divers were in, thus missing cool things right in front of their eyes. On one of our dives, near Cathedral I (actually was Wash Rock, off of Lanai), we lagged behind the group. Everyone else was splashing along, but we: we were looking at the fauna. Or rather, what little there was.

Then, in front of my eyes, a rock moved. It looked like this:

Rock/Fish

Don’t see it? Mouse over the image & the lighting will shift. Maybe more obvious now? That’s the mouth at the bottom.

The divemaster even came over to see why we were dawdling & couldn’t make it out. Just tried to scoot us along.

Dive was led by Maui Dive shop. They were fine when it came to renting gear, but I won’t be going on a charter with them again.

Flyover

Eric W — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:51:09 +0000

Overhead Flyover

A great example of what I love about diving – going along, minding my own business, and notice my dive buddy pointing frantically. Roll over onto my back, and this is what I see.

Good thing the camera was ready.

Under the Sea

Eric W — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:01:20 +0000

You can see things under the sea. See?

Honu (turtle) under the sea

Taken in a little over 60 feet of water (a hair under 20 meters). At this depth reds, oranges and yellows are mostly gone from the light – you’re stuck with mostly blues and greens (unless you introduce your own light). This was taken at a deliberately sunken boat (to make a reef). Turtles like to gather here & hang out on the roof of the boat, where surgeonfish (in the background) pick algae off of them.

For this shot: I’m maybe two feet away, with the camera on wide-angle. He didn’t even twitch – no fear of divers. I ultimately got within 6 inches of the guy, but then left (and left him alone)