Shrimp on the wreck of the Ozone

 Macro, Ocean diving, Wrecks  1 Response »
Apr 082013
 
Shrimp on the wreck of the Ozone

About the site I’ve been talking a lot about cave diving recently…because that’s pretty much all I’ve been doing. I rectified that this weekend with two lovely dives out in the Bay. The wreck of the Ozone lies very close to shore and half out of the water at Indented Head, on the Bellarine Peninsula. I waded out towards the isolated danger marker and the struts of the wreck sticking up, and I reckon there were only a few times during the “dive” where I wouldn’t have been able to stand up. The hull stretches out flat on the sand and then there’s a few sticky-up bits down one end. About the dive After a lovely dive on Lonsdale Wall [read more…]

Juvenile leatherjackets under Rye Pier

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Mar 112013
 
Juvenile leatherjackets under Rye Pier

About the site Rye Pier is a long sandy swim down to the end. It’s known for seahorses hanging out on the pylons, and once a year playing host to the spider crab migration. Last week I’d heard a rumour the spider crabs were out and about. It seemed a little unlikely especially given last year I dived with them in May. With the weather looking beautiful for any kind of dive, we decided to head down to Rye anyway and see what we could see. About the dive We walked down the beach and into the water, rather than walking along the top of the pier in the very hot sun. After a bit of wading, this meant swimming through [read more…]

Wreck of the Thai Muang

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  No Responses »
Feb 182013
 
Wreck of the Thai Muang

About the wreck Continuing on from last week’s post about the Thai wrecks we dived from the MV Giamani over Christmas, here’s some shots from the next shipwreck on the schedule, the Muang Thai. Before tourism came along much of Phuket’s economy was based on dredging for seabed tin. As the basis of people’s livelihood’s changed the old tin boats were run and used until they sunk of their own accord. There’s a few old tin dredges on the seabed up and down the Thai coast and if they’re all covered with as much life as the Muang Thai they’d be excellent dives. About the dive I suffered from pre-dive indecision on whether to go with my wide angle or [read more…]

Fish around the wreck of the MV Sea Chart

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  1 Response »
Feb 112013
 
Fish around the wreck of the MV Sea Chart

About the site For all this talking about macro shots and fish, and cave diving and dry caving recently, I’ve been a little light on for wrecks. We did some brilliant wreck dives at the end of our stay on the MV Giamani as we headed back down the coast towards Phuket. All three vessels were in “terrible vis” for Thailand – which is to say it was comparable to average to good Melbourne vis, and there were a hell of a lot more fish. The first wreck dive was the MV Sea Chart. The Sea Chart was running from Myanmar around and down to Vietnam with a load of illegally logged teak when she ran into some bad weather about [read more…]

Lessons from a macro lens: Isolating the subject

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Feb 072013
 
Lessons from a macro lens: Isolating the subject

When I take large, wide angle shots of reef there are several ways to overcome the confusion of a densely packed ecosystem swirling through the scene. By getting up close to a foreground feature, using strobes to highlight reds and oranges, or choosing an angle where the reef stands out against a blue background, there are techniques for drawing the viewer’s attention to the subject. With the above water photography I’d done before taking a camera into the depths, these techniques came naturally. I hadn’t done all that much macro photography above or below water, and I had to sit down and think about what I was trying to achieve with my various subjects. As in wide angle underwater photography, [read more…]

Lessons from a macro lens: picking the right subject

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  1 Response »
Jan 312013
 
Lessons from a macro lens: picking the right subject

After three years of shooting wide angle with my Canon 5DII, I picked up a macro lens for myself just before Christmas. I’ve really appreciated being “stuck” with the one underwater lens so far. Not having another option means I’ve taken wide angle shots in terrible vis and with inappropriate subjects on a regular basis. As a result I’ve learnt a lot about getting the best out of the lens in all kinds of conditions, and become a better photographer as a result. With a new lens comes a whole new learning curve for making great pictures. While it’s going to take me a while before I can reliably shoot the picture I see in my head, I wanted to [read more…]

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