July 7th Program Joyce & Frank Burek Present
Indonesia, Our Way

By Dennis Deavenport

A couple of months ago, Frank and Joyce Burek invited me to a Bay Area Divers meeting to see a new slide presentation they had created on one of their recent trips to Wakatobi and Bali in Indonesia.  After meeting them for an early dinner, we headed over to the meeting and got the show set up.  For those who have been fortunate enough to see any of their previous presentations, you can appreciate the fact that I was expecting to see a good show.  Well, the reality of the situation was that I was blown away.  This was just about one of the best shows I’ve ever seen by a HUPS member or anyone, for that matter.  It wasn’t just the photography which was outstanding and it wasn’t the music... it was the whole package.  In short, it simply worked on all levels.  As soon as the meeting was over, I was all over Frank and Joyce to see if they would be able to give the show to HUPS.  It took some convincing since their original plan was to pull the show apart immediately.  Begging and pleading finally worked and they agreed to do the show for us in August.  August ended up in the trash basket when it was learned that they were being scheduled to participate in a research trip to the Flower Gardens the first Monday in August.  Not to be blocked by this development, I asked Ken Knezick if he would be willing to swap his July slot for the one in August.  Much to my relief, he graciously agreed to help us out.  This is now the best of both worlds for HUPS: the Bureks show in July followed by Ken’s amazing traveling circus in August.  Neither experience should be missed.

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Bureks from previous column

Take my word for it, the July 7th program is one that every member should see.  Experience Wakatobi and Bali through the talented eyes of HUPS own pros, Frank and Joyce Burek.  For all of the new members that plan to attend, a bit of history is in order.  Frank and Joyce are HUPS corner stones.  They were founding members of HUPS back in 1983.  Their contributions over the past 20 years have been numerous and enormously significant with both serving on the Board of Directors and both being honored as Member of the Year and Photographer of the Year.  Frank served several years as HUPS President and Joyce labored faithfully for years as Newsletter Editor.  More recently, they have left their professions to become professional photographers, forming their company, Azure Computer and Photographic Service, Inc.

An added bonus at the July meeting will be a short digital program put together by James Wiseman.  James compiled digital images captured by himself and the Bureks at SEASPACE.  These images depict HUPS in action at SEASPACE.  Should be fun.

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.

All new members are invited to attend a short orientation session prior to the meeting.  Starting at 6:30 PM we plan to have a question and answer session for new members.  The workings of the monthly photo contest will be reviewed and we will introduce the HUPS officers and board members.  New members will also be invited to participate in our new mentoring program.  Try to arrive a little early and learn a lot.

President's Message

I want to welcome all the new members who joined over SEASPACE weekend.  I hope you are enjoying your first issue of our newsletter.  This month’s column is directed to you although the message also applies to long time members.

I want to encourage all, new and old, members to become more involved in HUPS.  There is no finer place to learn about underwater photography and diving destinations than HUPS.  The more you put into HUPS the more you receive in return.

Start by attending the monthly meetings.  Each month we have programs that offer beautiful images, information on dream destinations and tips to improve your photography.

Ask questions.  Our members, particularly our presenters, love to share their knowledge.  Don’t be shy, just ask.  Remember that the only dumb question is the one you don’t ask.  Our members can keep you from making the same mistakes they made when they were getting started in underwater photography.  We always love talking about diving and underwater photography.

If any HUPS board members/officers or I can answer any questions or help you in any way just talk to us at a meeting or call/e-mail us.  Our contact information is in the HUPS Directory and on the newsletter mailed to you.  Take advantage of the resources HUPS has to offer.

Volunteer.  HUPS is always in need of individuals who want to work for the club.  If you want to get more involved just say the word.  We will have several opportunities for active involvement offered at the upcoming meeting.

A great way to learn more about HUPS is to attend the new member orientation meeting.  This meeting will begin at 6:30 just prior to our regular July meeting.  More information on this meeting can found on page 1 of this newsletter.  Hope to see you there.

I can’t pass up the opportunity to say a little about SEASPACE.  HUPS was well represented at SEASPACE 2003.  We had a beautiful gallery, awesome film festival show and our booth signed up nearly 30 new members.  On top of that our raffle earned over $1100 for the club.  I just want to again say thanks for everyone’s hard work.  The team leaders, Gary Merritt, Joe Nicklo and Dennis Deavenport, did an excellent job.  They were able to harness the talents and energy of our membership to make it all happen.

See Ya July 7th,
David

Thanks!
SEASPACE Film Festival Crew Presents "Capture the Light"
By Dennis Deavenport

This year’s SEASPACE efforts were a total success for HUPS.  When I was asked to head up the task of putting together a presentation for the Film Festival, I knew immediately that it would require a major team effort.  We decided early on to work in the digital mode and to feature images selected from past monthly contest winners and from slides and digital files submitted by members.  This sounds like a good idea until the reality of the situation becomes apparent.  How do you select 200-230 images from over 1200?  Well, we did it by asking John Ringrose, Jackie Reid, and Frank Burek to be our selection committee.  The group met over at my house a couple of months before SEASPACE and viewed and argued over which pictures to use.  Six hours later, we had the list worked down to a paltry 520 images.

While the selection committee (and another 5-6 interested bystanders) did their thing upstairs, Lee Mixon and Leonard Cichowski were downstairs working over my sound system with a stack of CDs trying to choose music for use in the show.  Since the music comes first in putting together a show like this, their work was essential.  It took one more listening session in Leonard’s car following the May HUPS meeting to finally settle on what turned out to be a dynamic (and definitely "out of the box") music track for the show.  Lee not only came up with the title for the show, Capture the Light, but he also put the finishing touches on the music by mixing it down into a single WAV file for the show using Audio Studio 7.

Mary Lou Reid did her part by surfing the net and turning up several nice pieces of slideshow software including ProShow Gold that was eventually selected for use in building the presentation.

James Wiseman was originally selected as our digital guru to help in the manipulation of the images.  As it turned out, James ended up with a bigger role when SEASPACE invited HUPS to do a seminar on Saturday and Saturday on how to do "Slide Shows in the Digital Age."  With some help from the Film Festival crew, James put together a great Powerpoint presentation that covered the entire topic from stem to stern.  As part of the show, he dragged in his speakers (complete with subwoofer!) and screened Capture the Light for the audience.  Leonard, Lee, and Dennis were on hand for the question and answer session following the two seminar sessions.

From start to finish, building Capture the Light was a labor of love shared by the entire crew.  With contributions from everyone above, the project turned into a true success for HUPS at the Seaspace Film Festival, June 7th.  My personal thanks and gratitude to everyone involved.

Quick Tip

As photographers we generally spend our dives covering much less "ground" than "normal" divers.  This means we aren’t swimming and kicking as much.  Without this exercise we tend to get cold easier than most divers.  One accessory that we should always use is a hood.  Remember when Mom always made you wear a hat when it was cold out?  Well as usual Mom knows best.  We lose a tremendous amount of heat through our heads.  A neoprene hood or even a beanie will do wonders to keep you warm.

Summer is a Great Time to Hit the Pool...

...for a little photography practice, that is.  It’s true, practice makes perfect.  Maybe you can’t go diving every weekend but that neighborhood pool is always available.  Set that camera up and head on over.  Bring some small photo subjects like plastic toys or silk flowers.  Objects with bright colors and some texture work best for macro subjects.  People make good wide-angle practice subjects.  Practice strobe exposures, ambient lighting and focusing.  It’s best to go early or late in the day when the sun is not so bright.  The light color of most pools generate more reflected light than you would normally find in the ocean.  Don’t even think of taking that new camera gear on a big dive trip until you have tried it out in the pool.  A little pool time will pay off big when you are faced with that once in a lifetime subject.

Photo by July presenters Joyce & Frank Burek ©2003

UpComing Meetings and Events

July 7, 2003 – HUPS meeting
Frank and Joyce Burek – Images of Indonesia

August 4, 2003 – HUPS Meeting
Ken Knezick – Digital vs. Film for UW Photography

September 8, 2003 – HUPS Meeting
TBA

October 6, 2003 – HUPS Meeting
Ned Shimizu - Southern Japan

November 3, 2003 – HUPS Meeting
Komodo

Newsletter space permitting we offer free classified ads for HUPS members.  If you have something to sell email a short ad to suewatson@mail.ev1.net.

Silver Seas by Ernie Brooks

The man referred to as the Ansel Adams of underwater photography, Ernest Brooks II, has just released a new book.  The book, Silver Seas, is a must have for serious underwater photographers and anyone who loves the ocean.  The hardbound 128 pages include over 50 museum quality black and white images.

For those unfamiliar with Ernest Brooks II he is a long time supporter of SEASPACE and HUPS.  He was president of the Brooks Institute of Photography for nearly 30 years.  He has been honored with numerous awards.  He has even had photos exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian.

Ernest Brooks II is an artist by every definition of the word.

For more information on the book Silver Seas check out http://www.thesilverseas.com/.  In addition to information on the book the website also offers prints of his most popular images.

I would bring my copy of Silver Seas to the next meeting for everyone to check out, but the thought of all those fingerprints on this beautiful book makes me cringe. . .

HUPS Booth Exceeds Goals
By Joe Nicklo

A very brief note to thank each and every one of you for your help with the booth at SEASPACE.  I'm very proud of you!  We accomplished and exceeded our goals.  Matter of fact we did what has never been done before in the history of HUPS.  We got over 25 new members and sold approximately 650 raffle tickets for $1100 net in our coffers.  And, we tore-down and were out of the arena in 90 minutes.  Again, I am very proud to have worked with you.

Fuji Velvia 100 a Reality

The first new Velvia film in more than a decade will be available late 2003. This new color transparency film brings the ultra-high-saturated color of Fuji film's Velvia to the ISO 100 speed class.

The film employs Multi-Color-Correction Layer technology, as well as a range of other new coupler and emulsion technologies.  The Velvia 100F will provide new professional quality for a wide range of professional applications from the nature and landscape fields to commercial and product photography.  The new Velvia also matches the ultra-fine grain of another Fujifilm product, Provia 100F Professional, with an RMS granularity of 8.

The Velvia 100F Professional is scheduled for availability for the commercial marketplace in the third quarter of this year.  Fuji plans to continue making current Fujichrome Velvia (ISO 50) available for purchase following the introduction of Fujichrome Velvia 100F.

Three Contests at July Meeting

Early in the meeting we will have the May slide contest.  We didn’t quite have time to squeeze it in at the May meeting so it’s been pushed back to this month.  Following the Bureks' program we will have the scheduled July contests.  This consists of both digital and slide competitions with the wide-open topic of macro.  If you have some favorite macro images bring them to the meeting.  Each member is allowed to enter up to 3 images per competition.  Images for the digital contest can be emailed to James Wiseman at james@reefs.org.  For complete contest rules check out HUPS online or refer to your 2003 HUPS Directory.

SEASPACE Photo Gallery a Big Hit
By Gary Merritt

I would like to thank everyone that was involved in making the SEASPACE Photo Gallery a rousing success this year.  First off, I would like to thank Dennis Deavenport and David Lenderman for spending some time with me to come up with the concept for the display boards, and Joyce Burek had the vision to use the Gator Board instead of plywood which not only significantly reduced the weight but eliminated the need for painting or covering them with cloth.  The build team consisted of Frank Burek, George Freeman, Reed (and Daddy) Lenderman, and last but not least Joe Nicklo whom gave up lots of his spare time - and of course Lynn Nicklo for allowing the use of her warehouse to build/store the materials for several weeks.  Also, I must thank everyone that showed up early to help setup the photo gallery and then take it down after the show was over.  There are so many people to thank for this but I must mention the Bureks for taking on the task of cutting enough Velcro to hang 109 photographs (that’s 436 pieces).  I could not have done this project without all of these people.

Secondly, I would like to thank everyone that contributed photographs to be put on display.  The photo gallery gave us an opportunity to show off the level of talent that this club’s membership has, as was evident by the popularity of the display.  Even after all of the work that was put into building and setting up the displays, the photo gallery would have just been "another" booth if it had not been for all of your contributions.

Finally, I would like to make special mention of Houston Photo Imaging (HPI) http://www.houstonphotoimaging.com/ for offering the special discount to support our gallery.  The majority of images on display were printed by HPI and they looked great.  I hope we can continue a good relationship with this outstanding imaging center in the future.

And the Winner Is

Chuck Klein was the winner of the new member drawing.  All new members who joined over SEASPACE weekend were entered into this drawing.  He is the lucky winner of a $50 gift certificate to Houston Photo Imaging.

In answering questions on the Wetpixel website, I have found that many photographers pop in to ask, "I just received Camera X as a gift from my wife, is there a housing available?"  Or even worse yet, "I just bought Camera X, is there a housing available?"  In my humble opinion, this is not the best way to get started in underwater digital photography.  For this month’s column, I will go step-by-step through the different pieces of equipment you may want to buy as an underwater digital photographer, and the best order to purchase them.

1 - Camera: If no one has already bought a camera for you then you should start thinking about what features are important to have in a digital camera for underwater use.  Do you need a 10x zoom telephoto lens?  How much shutter lag can you tolerate?  Etc.  Features that I recommend you look for are:

• Ability to focus close – sometimes called "super" macro mode or just macro mode.
• A wide lens – the wider the better.  Long zoom is not important underwater.
• Ability to use compact flash type II cards (this includes the IBM Microdrive).
• Inexpensive mass produced housing availability is a plus.
• Ability to operate without a preflash.
• Wide availability of housings and a good "pool" of knowledge.

Chances are that the camera you select for underwater use will fit your topsides needs as well.  Absolutely the most important criterion is to consider which housings are available – since it’s actually the housing you will be operating underwater, not the camera.

2 - Housing: There are really two types of housings available for consumer level digital cameras: those made by the big camera companies for "rugged wet-weather use" and smaller production housings made by third party companies like Ikelite and Light & Motion.  If cost is a big consideration, then I would suggest looking for an OEM camera/housing combination from one of the "big boys."  The most popular examples are the Olympus 5050 with Olympus PT-015 housing, the Canon S30/S40/S50 with the Canon WP-DC300, and the Coolpix 4300 with the Fantasea housing.  Any of the above systems is a great start for a beginner underwater shooter.

3 - Strobe/Arm: For your first dives, you should go without an external flash.  Use your camera’s macro mode and internal flash to keep things simple.  For these first dives, remember, you will NOT be able to get a decent picture of anything over one foot away.

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Starting Digital from previous column

So either stick to macro, or zoom all the way out and you may be able to get photos of some small fish.  Get used to using your camera underwater, changing the batteries, and getting the photos off your memory card.  Then you can - and should - move up to an external flash (strobe).  An external strobe will allow you to move back and get photos of larger subjects while still capturing good color.  This will be the biggest improvement to your shots that you can possibly get.  But remember, even with a good-sized external strobe, you won’t get any color beyond about three feet from your lens.  If you opt to go with one of the OEM housings then you will need to purchase a slave strobe, since there will be no place to connect an electrical sync cord to your housing.  This is one of the downsides of this type of housing.  But don’t worry, the slave strobes available work quite well.  What they essentially do is “watch” the camera’s small flash and fire when it goes off.  Look into offerings by Sea & Sea and Ikelite - both of these manufacturers make strobes especially designed to work with digital cameras that use preflashes.  Most (but not all) of the housing by Ikelite and Sea & Sea have a connector where you can attach a sync cord from your strobe so you won’t need to use a slave sensor.

4 - Wide Angle Lens: Once you are comfortable with your camera and strobe system, you may want to purchase a wide angle add-on lens.  These optics, made by Sea & Sea, Inon, Olympus, etc., are threaded so that you can screw them onto your housing underwater.  A wide angle adapter lens will let you get good colorful photos of large subjects while still being three feet away.  In fact, you can literally get a whole diver in one of your shots from that distance.  Lighting up a subject that big will require you to learn how to aim your strobe carefully to either provide even lighting, or to make the subject stand out.

Hopefully this short article will help beginning underwater photographers navigate the confusing landscape of digital photography.  If you understand your needs and your budget, you can put together a plan that will allow you to "work your way up" as your budget allows – while all the while learning how to get the most out of your underwater camera system.

Fantasea’s new entry-level polycarbonate housings for the Canon, Olympus, and Nikon cameras are an excellent way for beginners to experience digital underwater photography.

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!