My underwater images

Preface

First time seemed to be a bad idea. But on the Front Page you can reed the following: "SummitPost is a collaborative content community focused on climbing, mountaineering, hiking and other outdoor activities ". So, after I was thinking that how many kind of continental creatures, bugs, plants or animals may appear on SummitPost, I decided to create this page dedicated to the wonderful underwater world. Of course, if the content of the page will not meet the sympathy of many summitposters, I am deleting it. I think it is worth the trouble…

Underwater photography

Underwater photography has never been easier, yet many people return from diving trips disappointed with their results. You have only a limited amount of time with your subject. You are unable to communicate properly with other humans while underwater. Everything is on the move, including yourself, and an additional problem is that your photo equipment could become flooded and useless in a moment. All this makes photography more problematical than on land. The optical characteristics of water don't help. If you enjoyed 30m of visibility on your last dive, you would have been ecstatic. You would have searched for superlatives to describe it. If you found yourself enjoying similar visibility on the Preston bypass, you would probably be cursing the weather, and driving very slowly. So even before we get to the Ten Commandments, the overriding rule of underwater photography is: Get rid of as much water as you can!

The ten commandments of underwater photography

1. Get close
As soon as you want to photograph ordinary subjects, you will find that the amount of water between them and your lens gives you problems of image sharpness, suspended matter intruding, and the white light from your flash getting absorbed before it has travelled all the way through the water to your subject and back to your camera. So get rid of as much of the water as you can by getting nearer to your subject and retaining the image size by using a wide-angle lens. Wide-angle lenses are not used underwater to record the 'big' scene so much as to allow the photographer to record an average-sized subject as clearly as possible.

2. Bring your own light
Light is absorbed selectively by water. Not only does it get darker as you go deeper, but only the monochromatic blue rays of sunlight penetrate more than a few metres through the water. This means you need to bring your own source of white light with you, and, for still photography, that comes in the form of an underwater flashgun.

3. Start small
Macro, or close-up, shots are the easiest form of photograph to take underwater. Close-up kits allow you to enter the water with your equipment preset. Even your flashgun can be pre-positioned in relation to the framing device so that your results can be predetermined and always successful.
Placing the framer around the subject and releasing the shutter at the right moment is all that is necessary for a correctly exposed, well-lit, in-focus shot. Even those with more expensive cameras in submarine housings can pre-position their lighting. For this reason alone, many divers new to underwater photography start by concentrating on macro subjects.

4. Compose it
Have you noticed that many people use a camera as if it were a hunting rifle? They position their subjects under the central cross in the camera's viewfinder, then are surprised to find that their photos come back with endless amounts of sky above the heads.
The same sort of thing happens with these photographers underwater. The camera's viewfinder should be used like a canvas of a painting. Fill the frame, compose your picture. Don't just 'shoot to kill'!

5. Don't shake
Camera-shake is still the most common reason for failed photographs.
Because you are in a fluid environment you could be confused into thinking that everything is very smooth. The reality is that more often than not your subject is moving. You almost certainly are!
Modern-thinking photographers do not brace themselves by holding on to coral. It is important to use a fast shutter speed (one that represents only a tiny fraction of a second, such as 1/250), be as still as you can by controlling your breathing, and release the shutter as gently as possible.
This is easier said than done. Many cameras do not synchronise with their flashguns at such fast shutter settings. Then again, things often happen very quickly underwater, and some of the best shots have to be grabbed.
When you can, take your time. Move in a relaxed way and keep calm.

6. Avoid back-scatter
Where best to place the flashgun? Remember, you are working in 'foggy' conditions. Car headlights on full-beam reflect off the fog and make it difficult to penetrate.
Fog-lights are positioned as far away from the driver's eye-line as possible, so do the same thing with your flashgun. Just as fog is caused by millions of tiny water droplets suspended in the air, the water you dive in has countless bits of detritus suspended in it.
By positioning the flashgun far from the camera's lens axis, you avoid reflecting the light off this suspended matter and deny your pictures the unattractive effect known as 'back-scatter'.
'Built-in' flashguns are good only for use in air. You should either position your flash at the end of a long mounting arm, or temporarily detach it and use it at arm's length. Be careful to hold it so that it does not intrude into your picture.
Modern camera electronics combined with through-the-lens exposure control, even for the flashgun, have made getting the exposure right almost child's play.

7. Exploit your buddy
Your buddy might be called in to play as model, lighting rigger, or wild-life herdsperson. People who have buddies who intuitively do what they want are very lucky. Shots without people usually mean nothing to your non-diving audience.

8. Be selective
Sadly, we usually have to work within the limits of the circumstances in which we find ourselves, but as far as possible you should restrict your work to dives when conditions are favourable.
Even Peter Scoones, that doyen of marine-life cameramen, once said to me that his ideal dive site would have gin-clear water, no currents, plenty of animal action, and be only a couple of metres from the surface. Dream on, Peter!

9. Get pre-set
Modern single-lens-reflex cameras in submarine housings usually have automatic focusing. However, this is not usually responsive enough to cpture fast-moving subjects like mammals and sharks, and you can miss what's happening around you if your head is stuck to an eyepiece.
Pre-focus your SLR, or use a viewfinder camera and be ready to shoot from the hip.
There is enough to think about on a dive. Make all the technical decisions you can while on the surface and work to a predetermined formula that you know.

10. Shoot lots of film
Diving can be expensive if you add up the cost of each minute under water, but the experience can be precious and is usually unrepeatable. Have lots of goes at a shot on which you are particularly keen. Be prepared to shoot lots of film. After all, it is probably the cheapest element of your underwater photography costs!

Red Sea

A few words about this part of world
The Red Sea lies between arid land, desert and semi-desert. The main reasons for the better development of reef systems along the Red Sea is because of its greater depths and an efficient water circulation pattern, The Red Sea water mass exchanges its water with the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean via the Gulf of Aden. These physical factors reduce the effect of high salinity caused by evaporation water in the north and relatively hot water in the south.
The climate of the Red Sea is the result of two distinct monsoon seasons; a northeasterly monsoon and a southwesterly monsoon. Monsoon winds occur because of the differential heating between the land surface and sea. Very high surface temperatures coupled with high salinities makes this one of the hottest and saltiest bodies of seawater in the world. The average surface water temperature of the Red Sea during the summer is about 26 °C (79 °F) in the north and 30 °C (86 °F) in the south, with only about 2 °C (3.6 °F) variation during the winter months. The overall average water temperature is 22 °C (72 °F). The rainfall over the Red Sea and its coasts is extremely low, averaging 0.06 m (2.36 in) per year. The rain is mostly in the form of showers of short spells, often associated with thunderstorms and occasionally with dust storms. The scarcity of rainfall and no major source of fresh water to the Red Sea result in the excess evaporation as high as 205 cm (81 in) per year and high salinity with minimal seasonal variation. A recent underwater expedition to the Red Sea offshore from Sudan and Eritrea found surface water temperatures 28°C in winter and up to 34°C in the summer, but despite that extreme heat the coral was healthy with much fish life with very little sign of coral bleaching, and there were plans to use samples of these corals' apparently heat-adapted commensal algae to salvage bleached coral elsewhere.
The Red Sea is a rich and diverse ecosystem. More than 1200 species of fish have been recorded in the Red Sea, and around 10% of these are found nowhere else. This also includes 42 species of deepwater fish.
The rich diversity is in part due to the 2,000 km (1,240 mi) of coral reef extending along its coastline; these fringing reefs are 5000–7000 years old and are largely formed of stony acropora and porites corals. The reefs form platforms and sometimes lagoons along the coast and occasional other features such as cylinders (such as the Blue Hole (Red Sea) at Dahab). These coastal reefs are also visited by pelagic species of red sea fish, including some of the 44 species of shark.
The Red Sea also contains many offshore reefs including several true atolls. Many of the unusual offshore reef formations defy classic (i.e., Darwinian) coral reef classification schemes, and are generally attributed to the high levels of tectonic activity that characterize the area.
The special biodiversity of the area is recognized by the Egyptian government, who set up the Ras Mohammed National Park in 1983. The rules and regulations governing this area protect local marine life, which has become a major draw for diving enthusiasts.
Divers and snorkellers should be aware that although most Red Sea species are innocuous, a few are hazardous to humans.

My very first uw photos, August, 2010.

For the second time in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, in August 2010, with my brand new Open Water Diver licence and a hired TZ2 Lumix camera and its underwater case. Most of the photos were taken at the house reef of our hotel.

Some new pics captured at Hurghada, May 2011.

Marsa Alam - Egypt, September 2011

A trip in a world of silence and tranquility

Coral reefs are the world's biggest single structures made by living organisms. The reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. This reef supports an unbelievably wide diversity of life.
Let us agree to the title is a little bit misleading: as in the tropical rainforests there is never silence, so the traveler who gets under the water somewhere around a coral reef, it is not condemned to quietude. Beside the noises produced by the different sea creatures, the perpetual champ and pecking, the rumble of undertow at the places frequently visited by divers adds the humming of boat-engines, further noises generated by divers to keep contact: pips of whistles, ring of bells etc. Of course, comparing to the accustomed cacophony of the surface this is self the heavenly tranquility. However it is good to know that behind this apparent calmness runs a red battle… Here everybody stands on guard, the flagging attention easily can carry to the end: the small fish consumes the smaller one, the small fish is hunted by the bigger one…this continual struggle is nontrivial for the first glance and this gives that false sense of repose.
Let’s have a look behind this blue curtain, and with a little fortune we can discover some of the thousands secrets of this amazing world.


















22-27 September 2011, Marsa Alam, Egypt.

A korall-zátonyokat joggal tekinthetjük a tengerek esőerdeinek, a nyílt óceánok sivatagjához képest ez egy elképesztő, egy fantasztikusan színes vízalatti világ. A korallzátonyok nyújtotta biológiai sokféleség szinte felülmúlhatatlanul gazdag. A szirteket főként kőkorallok és szarukorallok építik fel, a szirtek és zegzugaik hallatlanul sokszínű élővilágnak nyújtanak megélhetési és megtelepedési lehetőséget.
Maradjunk ezért annyiban, hogy a cím egy kicsit félrevezető: amint a trópusi esőerdőkben sincs soha csend, úgy a korall-zátonyok környékén a víz alá tévedő utazó sincs csöndre kárhoztatva. A tengeri élőlények által keltett zajok, a folytonos rágcsálás, csipegetés kattogása, csattogása mellett a szirteken megtörő hullámok morajához még hozzájárul a búvárok által sűrűn látogatott helyeken a csónakok, hajók motor-zúgása, az egyes búvár-csoportokat összetartó csengők, sípok hangja, a búvár saját légzőkészülékének sziszegése, a kifújt levegő gyöngyöző bugyborékolása. Persze a szárazon megszokott hangzavarhoz képest ez maga a mennyei nyugalom. Jó tudni azonban, hogy ezen látszólagos nyugalom mögött élet-halál harcok bújnak meg. Itt mindenki résen van, a figyelem pillanatnyi lankadása könnyen a véget jelentheti: a kis hal felfalja a még kisebb planktont, rákot, korall-polipot, a kis halat a nagyobb hal vadássza le, a nagyobb halakra pedig a még náluk is nagyobbak lesnek. Ez az folytonos egymásnak feszülés az esetek többségében első ránézésre nem is nyilvánvaló, ezért van az ebbe az idegen közegbe látogatónak ez a hamis nyugalom képzete.
Nézzünk egy kicsit e kék függöny mögé, kis szerencsével nekünk is feltárulhat ennek a csodálatos világnak ezernyi titka közül néhány…
2011. Szeptember 22-27, Marsa Alam, Egyiptom.

Mediterranean Sea

Corsica - France, June 2011

Pictures were taken on the beach and the Guardiola diving place at Ajaccio.

Pag Island - Croatia, April 2012

Seeing that I had lost the hiking planned to Lago di Garda in Italy on the long weekend of 1st of May, as an auxiliary resolution I applied for a diving tour to the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. As it cleared up later, the did a right decision, because I had part of a very nice and instructive trip. The temperature of water was quite low yet, however we had a shiny fine weather all of the four days long, and except of the warm water we had all the conditions for some pleasant season beginning dives.
Our host was the Blue Bay Hungarian Diving Center, in Stara Novalja on the Pag Island (Pag otok), with two fast boats and a helpful staff.
First day things started a little bit haltingly with the ckecking-dive, setting our weight and recalling some half-forgotten skills took some more time, but finally everybody managed to go underwater. The water really wasn’t warm, on the surface about 16-17°C, then with depth temperatures went more and more hereinafter, at 15-20 meters under the surface our computers indicated even 13-14 degrees. Right for a setout in the shallow water nearby the base we had the fortune to meet two seahorses, alas we didn’t have any camera at hand, so could not perpetuate them.
During the further dives we boated more and more farther on and we could see from walls of several ten meters to sandy plains almost everything, flora and fauna was quite diversified and at least I found my perfect weight and for the last dive we got acclimatized even with the cold water...
Dive places: Mini Pastura, Vidonjica, Triget Greben, Veliki Zid.





Tekintettel arra, hogy a május 1-i hosszú hétvégére, a Garda tóhoz tervezett túráról lecsúsztam, „kényszer-megoldásként” jelentkeztem egy adriai búvártúrára. Mint később kiderült, a döntés helyes volt, mert egy nagyon szép és tanulságos kiránduláson vehettem részt. A tenger még elég hideg volt, viszont ragyogó szép időnk volt végig, a meleg tengervízen kívül minden adott volt a kellemes szezonkezdő merülésekhez.
Vendéglátónk a Blue Bay magyar búvárbázis volt, a Pag szigeti Stara Novalja-ban, két gyors zodiac-kal és segítőkész személyzettel.
Az első napon a check-dive-al elég vontatottan indult a történet, a súly-beállítás és a félig elfelejtett rutinok felelevenítése nem ment gyorsan, de aztán csak sikerült víz alá helyeznünk magunkat. A víz tényleg nem volt meleg, a felszínen 16-17 fokos, aztán a mélységgel a hőmérséklet is egyre lejjebb szállt, 13-14 fokokat is mutattak a computerek. Mindjárt kezdésnek a bázis melletti sekély vízben sikerült összefutni két vízi-csikóval, sajna kamera éppen nem volt kéznél, ezért nem tudtuk őket megörökíteni.
A további merülésekkel egyre távolodtunk a bázistól, méretes falaktól kezdve a homokos lapályokig mindent láttunk, az élővilág is elég változatos volt, a végére a tökéletes kisúlyozásomat is sikerült megoldani. A hideg vizet is megszoktuk, az utolsó merülésen, szintén csak a bázisnál, a 16 fokost már szinte kellemesnek éreztük.
Tanulságban is gazdag volt a túra, kiderült, hogy már az első merülésnél érdemes addig sakkozni, hogy a súlyozás tökéletes legyen, még ha ez valamivel több időt is igényel. A semleges lebegőképesség tekintetében is nagy fejlődést éreztem, amikor a súly már megfelelő volt és a vízben öltözés tudományát is magunkévá tettük.
Merülőhelyek: Mini Pastura, Vidonjica, Triget Greben, Veliki Zid.

Images

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