Seit heute haben wir 2 neue SSI Open Water Divers in der Familie. Sandro und mein Dad haben erfolgreich alle Prüfungen (Mask clearing, Regulator recovering, Equipment and weight belt removal, buddy breathing etc.) bestanden. Gratulation! Jetzt können wir zusammen tauchen gehen!
Und so war es:
http://gallery.me.com/the_np_bat_man#100484
Und der nächste Tag: 1. Tauchgang mit extremer! Strömung und 2. Tauchgang mit einem Schwarm von, weiß nicht, 3-5000 Fusiliers:
Gallerie kommt bald!
-mk
Where do I begin with this one? First, it’s called Dr Taco. It tastes nothing like taco. There was no taco flavored Dr Taco. It was just this Dr Taco Pea Flavored Snack. Okay, so maybe it should taste like, I don’t know, how about Edimame? You know… the Japanese snack with the pea pods that are seasoned and you suck the peas out while also getting the seasoning from the outside? Well, trust me, if you don’t know it, you’re missing out. It’s fantastic with a decent cup of sake.
Anyway, let me just tell you, this stuff was awful. Not awful like “this sucks but I’ll eat it” like the Cheetoes. More like “get this crap away from me.” Monique liked it though, which is odd since she doesn’t like any of the nasty ass snacks I “discover” and make her taste. Speaking of which, I think I’m going to crack into this bag of fried seaweed over here. -jp
I’m not going to pretend like I know a lot about the subject of underwater photography (and I’m certainly not going to get all highfalutin and say crap like “digital darkroom” or “digital film”… sorry just a pet peeve) but I do know a couple of things about it. And by “a couple” I mean “two.”
1. You know all the blue in an underwater photo? That’s water. You know how to take it out? Okay, those of you who said “Photoshop” aren’t really on the right track. All you do there is try and color correct.
The right answer is “remove the water.” Get closer to your subject. If you are taking a shot of something far enough away and find you have to zoom, then it’s going to be a bad picture. No amount of color correction will help it. Maybe some clever Photoshopping but who has time for that?
If you find you can’t get those subjects in the frame, get a wider lens. If you don’t know how to go about taking the water out, go find some anemone fish and practice on them. They pose for you. They don’t leave. They’re great subjects. Stick the camera in their faces and go to town.
See if you can figure out which photos in the linked gallery I used the zoom on and which ones I didn’t. But if it comes down to getting a single shot of something really cool, then do it. Better than no photo at all.
2. Buoyancy is your friend. If you’re a new diver trying to take a photo and you’re bouncing off the coral or standing on the rock (this is about 85% of you so pay attention) then consider leaving the camera on the boat for a dive and learn how to properly hover and then how to hover at angles including upside down. Then learn how to move into and then away from something fragile like a coral outcropping.
Here’s a hint: don’t just start kicking away from it, ffs. The displacement your fins put out is already screwing up the coral and whatever is on it. Imagine the poor anemone fish or nudibranch thinking to itself “shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit it’s a tornado!”
Oh, remember that black tip gallery I was talking about? Here it is. The shots were taken with the G9, ISO 400, no flash. -jp
Monique’s family arrived a couple of days ago and this morning we went to Shark Bay. We’d been there before once with my parents and didn’t see any black tip reef sharks even though everyone swore up and down there were some. They’d say things like “oh I saw 4″ or “we saw a few, neener neener,” and some such. Frankly that’s what I was saying to people yesterday after we saw the whale shark but whatever.
So with skepticism in tow, we went out to Shark Bay again and this time hit pay dirt. They were all over the place and at one point I counted 12 around us. Good times. Photos to come once I find my card reader. -jp
I was assisting Instructor Deano on an Advanced Open Water course yesterday at Sail Rock and our group saw a whale shark. We followed it around for about 20 minutes. Good stuff.
I didn’t have my camera but here’s a shot one of the students did with a rented point and shoot. -jp
Yes, there’s been a lack of updates. We’ve been busy. And honestly, it didn’t occur to us that we could make entries without photos. It’s the lack of new photos that have been holding us up. So here’s an entry sans photo.
As far as my DM training goes, I think I’m about done. I have to do a physiology test, the rescue assessment, the mapping, and the emergency action plan.
I’ve done all the other stuff, as well as the gas blender and equipment maintenance specialties and DAN O2 provider and will do the photography and deep dive specialties. In all it’s been a pretty busy time. It’s almost over though. After that… Australia! -jp
So I got a new camera. Well, it’s new to me. I got my dad’s Canon G9 off of him since he upgraded to a G10. It’s really cool because the underwater housing is like $120 and you can take it to 40 or 50 meters. Pretty nice set up for not a lot of money.
It’s a lot smaller than the other camera and, while I’m not going to pretend that they’re in the same league, it takes good shots. It’s really nice that it shoots RAW (which is why I wanted it) and it’s much easier to tote around than the other one. Maybe I’ll put up comparison photos.
Here’s an example from this camera.
Gallery is here: http://gallery.me.com/the_np_bat_man#100453
Ja und wir waren wiedermal mit der Kamera tauchen und haben ein paar nette Fotos gemacht. Nicht erschrecken von den “Kampfszenen” unter Wasser, den Beteiligten gehts gut! Die haben nur ein bisschen gespielt – haha!
Schaut bei den Fotos mal ganz besonders auf Foto: 4897, 4916, 4921 – zu finden sind ein Cleaner Shrimp, Glas Shrimp und auf den letzten beiden benannten Fotos ein Skorpionfish – sehr schön!
Gallerie:
http://gallery.me.com/the_np_bat_man#100415
-mk
Eigentlich wollten wir nur eine Nacht auf Koh Samui bleiben. Doch nachdem wir in so kurzer Zeit so gut wie nichts von der Insel sehen konnten und das Resort einfach zu verlockend war, haben wir uns für eine zweite Nacht auf Koh Samui entschieden und es nicht bereut!
Wir haben uns ein Mofa geschnappt und sind um die ganze Insel gefahren! Haben den ein oder anderen Wat (Tempel) angeschaut und versucht Wasserfälle zu finden, die scheinbar zu dieser Jahreszeit leider mehr oder weniger ausgetrocknet sind.
Trotzallem war es eine wunderschöne Tour um die Insel. In der Gallerie könnt ihr Euch selbst davon überzeugen:
http://gallery.me.com/the_np_bat_man#100445/IMG_2287&bgcolor=black
-mk
So discounting the fact that the little lizards that we try and coerce into our bungalow to eat the mosquitos are not, in fact, geckos we still just lump them all into one group. We’re not biologists over here.
Anyway, we love these guys. They’re cute, they don’t bite, aren’t poisonous, just mind their own business, and eat all the little critters we hate, like mosquitos. If only we could get a trained gecko for our bungalow. I can see it now. We notice a mosquito and say “Billy! Kill the mosquito!” And then our gecko/lizard springs into action and eats the offending insect. That would rock.
It’s a shame that the mosquito jihad declared a couple of weeks ago has actually eradicated the lizard’s food source so they’ve all taken off. Alas.
We don’t have a corresponding photo so here’s a sunset… no wait. We do have a photo!
-jp
Ja, wir lieben Geckos! Sie sind einfach nur zum lieb haben. “Unserer” (er ist jeden Tag an unserem Bungalow) ist, ich würde sagen mind. 35 cm groß. Ein stattlicher Bursche und jeden Abend ruft er “gecko, gecko, go, go …” Es ist einfach süß!
Das soll’s zu diesem Thema von meiner Seite auch schon gewesen sein.
-mk
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