Exotic Bali - Beautiful Above & Amazing Below the Surf
David Lenderman - November 4th Meeting

In August of 2000, David Lenderman spent four days land-touring in Bali while en route to Wakatobi Dive Resort.  During this first brief visit David got a glimpse of Bali’s topside beauty.  Before heading back to the states he realized a return trip was in order.  There was so much more to see topside and covert reports indicated that the diving along Bali’s varied coastline needed a full investigation.

After the 2000 trip David suffered from what he called "Bali Brain."  It's a not well understood ailment, causing the sufferer to spend all waking hours dreaming of a return trip to Bali.  Symptoms include cravings for Balinese food, feeling the need for daily massages on the beach and redecorating "Balinese Style."  Upon researching the affliction he determined that there was no vaccine, no medication, no 12-step program available to combat "Bali Brain."  The only possible cure was an extended visit to Bali.

Following doctor’s orders (his wife), David returned to confront his Balinese obsession in August 2002.  The prescription: temples, spas, and mountain scenery with spicy food followed immediately by pipefish, nudibranchs and frogfish, taken 4 times daily with large amounts of salt water.

continued top of next column

Bali from previous column

After researching his options David decided to spend five days diving Tulamben on Bali’s east coast and 4 days diving Bali’s top muck diving spot, Secret Bay.  The final 4 days would be spent in the inland arts and cultural center of Ubud.

Come to the November 4th HUPS meeting to view David’s images of Bali both above and below sea level.  David plans to take us on a tour of the island, above and below, and then share a two-projector, music synced slide show selected from 45 rolls of prime exposed film.  For those that have experienced Bali’s intoxicating spells or for those that haven’t done so yet, November’s show will be an absolute "don’t miss" experience.

If you were wondering, David’s trip did not cure his case of Bali Brain.  Unfortunately it has advanced to the dreaded second-degree Bali Brain.  Even worse is that David’s friend and travel companion, Paul, is also now suffering from Bali Brain.  Another visit will be required.  Doctor’s orders.

As usual the meeting will be at the Bayland Community Center starting at 7:00 PM.  A map and directions are at the end of this newsletter.

David Lenderman ©2002

President's Message

November, the month of Thanksgiving, is here already.  Many of us think that the holiday is a day to watch football and eat ‘til it hurts.  As the name implies the holiday is meant as a time to give thanks for all we have.  Along these lines I want to share something that I once read.  It’s entitled "If" and the author is unknown:

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of people in the world.

If you have money in the bank you are among the richest 8% of the world’s population.

If you woke up with more health than illness you are more blessed than the millions who won’t survive the week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, loneliness of imprisonment, agony of torture or pain of starvation you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.

If you can read this message you are more blessed than 2 billion people in this world who cannot read at all.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful you are blessed because the majority can but most do not.

What does all this have to do with underwater photography?  Well, I hope to put into perspective how fortunate we are to have the ability to pursue such a hobby.  Be thankful for and generous with all you have.

See you November 4th,
David

Nominations Being Accepted for HUPS Member of the Year

This is a member that has gone beyond the call of duty to make HUPS a better club.  If you know of such a person, put down in writing why you think they should be Member of the Year.  Nomination letters will be accepted via e-mail, hand written note, scribbled napkin or whatever your preferred media.  These should be given to Dennis Deavenport or David Lenderman.  David’s email is underh2o@mail.ev1.net.  The Prez and Vice Prez are not eligible for this award.  Voting for Member of the Year will take place at the December meeting.

All You Could Want to Know About UW Composition and More - October’s Presentation by Ken Knezick
By Dennis Deavenport

Ken Knezick once again stepped up to the plate and hit a home run with his presentation at HUPS’ October meeting.  Most of us are very familiar with Ken’s excellent photographic work and his incredible support of the diving community in Houston so it should come as no surprise that he is also an excellent instructor and an entertainer par excellence.

Have you ever looked at a painting or a photo and liked it instinctively but couldn't explain why?  If you have ever had this sensation, then October's presentation was an invaluable tool for understanding the good, bad, and ugly of underwater imagery.  Successful artists have long understood the importance of studying composition to maximize the visual impact of their work.  Learning to recognize and use good composition is the best way to progress from underwater snapshots to underwater artistry.

Using digital photos from his collection of shots taken mostly on a recent trip to the Indonesian regions around Komodo Island and Irian Jaya, Ken presented a thoughtful and important short course on why certain photos work compositionally and why others fail.  With example after example, Ken entertainingly illustrated rules of composition that can help us all to improve our photos.  Basic and important skills such as the "rule of thirds," how to work with negative space, and adding interest through motion were major elements in his presentation.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of Ken’s program was his willingness to poke fun at some of his less successful images and describe why they just don’t work like they should.  He seems to understand very well that it’s not enough for us to just view illustrations of good composition.  By working through a series of images and discussing why they don’t work and how they could be improved, it becomes easier for us to assimilate these skills and use them on future dive trips.

The only sad part of Ken’s presentation is that it had to end.  It was quite honestly one of the best short courses we’ve had at HUPS on how to improve our underwater photographic skills.

For more examples of Ken’s work, log onto http://www.divetrip.com.

***NEW***
Digital or Slide the Topic is Wide

The November meeting will include the roll out of the HUPS digital photo contest.  If you have a digital camera here’s your chance to show everyone your stuff.  The topic is wide angle, same as the slide contest topic.  Digital contest rules are listed below.  If you have wide angle underwater images captured with a digital camera be sure to participate in this exciting new contest.

Rules:

• Each contestant may enter three images.
• Images must be captured underwater using a digital camera.  No scanned images will be accepted.
• The original content of the image captured may not be changed or augmented.
• The following image editing techniques similar to what can be performed in a darkroom, are permitted: cropping, resizing, adjusting levels, curves, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and color balance.
• The maximum image size for contest entries is 1024 x 768 pixels.
• Images should be submitted as JPEG’s. The maximum file size must be less than 1.44 megabytes.
• Images should be submitted at the meeting on a 3.5" floppy disk or can be e-mailed to James Wiseman at James@reefs.org.  E-mailed images need to be received no later than Friday, November 1.

Judging:

• Images will be projected via digital projector.  In the event no projector is available judging will take place via a laptop monitor.
• The same judges will score slides and digital images.
• Digital will be a separate contest, and at the end of 2003 there will be an award for Digital Photographer of the Year.
  

1st Place Novice - Anne Millioud ©2002

HO, HO, HO. . . Christmas Party Approaching

The December 2nd meeting will be our annual Christmas Party. Party Planners extrordinaire, Kathy and John Ringrose, have once again volunteered to organize and liven up the event.  A sign up sheet will be at the November meeting if you want to contribute food, drink or other supplies.  John and Kathy can also be reached via e-mail.

Photo Contest Winners
October 2002 - "Ugly"

Novice:
1st	Anne Millioud
2nd Tie	Gary Merritt, Drew Trent
3rd Tie	Gary Merritt, Anne Millioud, Sue Watson (2 images)
Advanced:
1st	Jackie Reid
2nd Tie	David Lenderman, Jackie Reid
3rd Tie	Ken Knezick, David Lenderman, Jackie Reid

Check it out on the WEB!

Thanks to Jesse Cancelmo for sending the following: For a detailed review of the Seacam housing for the Nikon D1 digital SLR take a look here.  The site also has background information on Stephen Frink’s choice to go digital.

Champion Freediver Dies
Submitted by Jesse Cancelmo

Audrey Mestre, 28, died October 12th off the Dominican Republic while attempting to become the world's deepest breath-hold diver.  Mestre took a breath on the surface and rode a weighted sled down a cable to her target depth of 561 feet.  She was supposed to inflate a balloon that would rocket her back to the surface, completing the entire dive in about three minutes.  But safety divers saw Mestre was in trouble and began swimming with her toward the surface.  The pair was met part-way up by Mestre's husband, world champion freediver Francisco "Pipin" Ferreras, who carried his unconscious wife to the surface.  Attempts to revive her failed.

Those of you who saw the Imax film Ocean Men may remember Pipin Ferreras as the Cuban born world champion freediver.

After a break last time to talk about traveling, we’ll get back on track to putting together a digital underwater system.  In August's column we talked about selecting a camera and housing and looked at some of the costs.  This month I’d like to focus on strobe use with today’s digital camera setups – a subject of much confusion and misinformation.

Before we talk about strobes, I’ll quickly touch on other lighting.  When digicams first started going underwater, many people recommended using a constant light source such as a video light.  This source is easy to use and they work on digital videocameras, so they should work pretty well with digital camera’s right?  Well – not exactly.  Here are two shots of the same coral, the first taken using a 100 watt video light and the second using dual strobes – both taken with a Coolpix camera:

Learning to take decent digital pictures using a strobe is not easy, and just like film photography, it takes patience and trial and error learning.  But remember, this is digital, so all of your “film” is free!  There are many consumer cameras on the market - and unfortunately, just about all of them treat flash use differently.  I’ll review each “method” and describe which strobes are compatible and why.

Internal Strobe Only: This is by far the easiest way to get good flash pictures – but remember, you’ll have to work within the constraints of the system.  Since the camera controls the flash, you are essentially shooting TTL.  However, the internal flash is weak, so you will probably have to shoot at the minimum working distance of your lens, and wide angle is totally out of the question.  Getting close will also help to minimize backscatter.

continued top of next column

Digital Strobe Use from previous column

The strobe you choose will be largely dictated by your camera and housing choice. The next few paragraphs will explain the different systems:

"Hard-Wired" Cameras (TTL and Manual): Some cameras provide a socket for attaching an external strobe and some of the housings for these cameras provide a Nikonos or Ikelite bulkhead for attaching a sync cord.  If the camera provides for TTL control, then the system will behave a lot like a Nikonos V or housed SLR.  The Nikon Coolpix and Fuji S2 are two examples.  If the camera does not provide TTL control of the strobe, it can usually still fire it in manual – but the photographer has to set the strobe power using guide numbers.  This is the case for the Tetra housing for the Olympus cameras.

Preflash Cameras: Most digital cameras don’t do TTL flash metering like film cameras do.  Instead, they send out a series of preflashes and basically "read" them as they come back to the camera’s sensor.  This information is used to set the power and duration of the flash.  The majority of consumer digital cameras use this approach and do not have a hotshoe or socket for an external flash, so a slave strobe must be used.  The slave strobe can be set to trigger off the camera’s internal flash but of course, the housing must be clear.  Unfortunately for us, most traditional slave strobes fire when they detect a flash – so the camera’s preflash sets them off.  A few progressive companies have modified their strobes to comply with this preflash system.

TTL Slave – Ikelite has converted their TTL slave sensor for digital use.  The electronics have been changed so that the slave sensor can detect the preflash coming from the camera’s small internal flash and "tell" the strobe to mimic it.  The camera reads the light coming back to it (from the strobe) and sets the flash duration.  It then fires the camera’s main flash and the strobe mimics that too!  To avoid backscatter the small flash on the camera is blocked or reflected up towards the TTL slave sensor.

continued next page

Digital Strobe Use from previous page

Manual Slave -- Normal slave strobes can be used with digital cameras but they have to be "told" to ignore the small preflash and trigger on the camera’s main flash.  The Sea and Sea YS90DX is one such strobe.  Since it is a manual slave, the strobe designers have added a 12-step power controller for fine adjustments.  Guide numbers can/should be used to help set the strobe power, but most digital shooters take a few shots at the start of a dive and review them, then set power according to this "instant feedback."

ROC – The engineers at Light and Motion have actually put the strobe manual power controller IN the housing.  They call it the ROC (Remote Optical Controller) and it gives fine control over a wide variety of strobes.  Virtually any strobe can be used with this system.
 

Fuji S2pro and dual strobes. This shot was actually underexposed by about a stop but was "saved" using Photoshop
 

Consumer digital cameras don’t have the dynamic range of film – so if you are not careful you can easily overexpose a shot.  Overexposed or "white" pixels don’t contain any information – that’s why many digital shooters recommend erring on the side of underexposure.  Believe it or not, using Photoshop, you can bring a shot up one, two, or even three stops!  The preceding photo is a good example.

Hopefully this column has cleared up some of the questions you may have about strobe use.  Choosing a strobe and camera/housing setup is certainly a complicated decision.  The easiest decision is to go with a hard-wired sync cord and TTL control – after all that’s just about like shooting with a housed SLR.  But as you can see from the September column, it’s the more expensive choice.  Whatever system you choose, with a little forethought and practice, you’ll soon be able to get beautiful saturated shots that you are proud to show off to your dive buddies and local Underwater Photo Society friends.

UpComing Meetings and Events

November 4, 2002 - HUPS meeting
David Lenderman - Bali (Secret Bay & Tulamben)

December 2, 2002 - HUPS meeting
Annual Christmas Party

HUPS Monthly Photo Contest Rules

1. Photographs must have been taken underwater, with the exception of the "Marine Surface Slides," a category which will be announced periodically.
2. The photographs must be the work of the photographer named on the slide.  The photographer does not have to be present at the monthly meeting to enter their slide.
3. No aquarium, pool, or over/under shots.
4. Photographs with divers touching or stressing marine life will not be judged.
5. Entries that have won 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, in previous HUPS contests, or any major competition are ineligible.  The only exception being the Best of HUPS night at the December meeting.
6. Slides will be disqualified if in the opinion of the Photo Contest Chairman and monthly judge, the slides do not meet the monthly subject matter, or do not meet one of the aforementioned rules.
7. All contest judging will be performed by a judge selected by the HUPS Photo Judge Coordinator, except nights when it is announced that the general membership will judge.  In these instances the Photo Contest Chairman will tabulate all ballots.
8. If a member wishes to question the results of a contest, they must submit their complaint in contest to the Photo Contest Chairman or any club officer.  The complaint must include: complainant's name, questionable slide, nature of complaint (indicating rule broken), proof behind complaint.
9. The Board of Directors will review the complaint, and if they find merit, they may disqualify the slide.

The Novice category is for those that meet the following criteria:

• Photography is a hobby.
• Have never taken best of show or 1st - 3rd in national or international photographic competitions.
• Have not been a HUPS Photographer of the Year.
  

The Houston Underwater Photographic Society (HUPS) meets the first Monday of every month at 7:00PM at the Bayland Community Center, 6400 Bissonet, near Hillcroft.

Social time begins at 7:00PM for members and visitors to get acquainted. Visitors are always welcome to join us. So, stop by and see what we are all about!