June 6th Meeting - Special Meeting with Norbert Wu

by Chuck Jensen
For our Post SEASPACE Meeting we are very fortunate and pleased to have Norbert Wu as our presenter.  Norbert is an independent photographer and filmmaker who specializes in marine issues.  His writing and photography have appeared in thousands of books, films, and magazines.  He is the author and photographer of seventeen books on wildlife and photography and the originator and photographer for several children’s book series on the oceans.  Exhibits of his work have been shown at the American Museum of Natural History, the California Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art.  He was awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) Artists and Writers Grants in 1997, 1999, and 2000.

In 2000, he was awarded the Antarctica Service Medal of the United States of America "for his contributions to exploration and science in the U.S. Antarctic Program."  His films include a pioneering high definition television (HDTV) program on Antarctica’s underwater world for Thirteen/WNET New York's Nature series that airs on PBS.

He is the only photographer to have been awarded a Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship.  He was named "Outstanding Photographer of the Year" for 2004 by the North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA), the highest honor an American nature photographer can be given by his peers.  His newest children's book (with text by Jim Mastro), Antarctic Ice, was selected as an Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Children's Book Council (CBC).  This is one not to be missed!

As usual, the meeting will be at the Bayland Community Center.  A map can be found on the back of this newsletter.  See you there!

May Meeting Recap -
Thanks Jeff

President's Message
What my Camera Taught Me, or Learning to Love my LCD Display

Jet lag has just about worn off after being in Indonesia on the Kararu for two and a half weeks.  It's always the return home that's the killer for me.  For better than a week, my clock says it's 3 am and I'm still studying the back side of my eyelids.  At 3 pm at work, I'm comatose and that's all I wish I could see.  It eventually relents and something approaching normalcy returns to my life.

So, I'm back from 10 days diving and I have almost 4000 digital images to sort thru, toss out, and edit.  What's really amazing about what I'm looking at now is just how many of the shots are actually decent.  Well at least decent from the standpoint of focus and exposure.  The shots that I toss out now are mostly the ones that just aren't worth much even if they are technically OK.  With my old Canon slide system, my discards have historically been about 2:1 due to poor exposure... even when using TTL.

Why the difference?  Am I all of a sudden that much better?  Well, not really.  The difference is having my trusty assistant in my hands on every dive and for every shot.  My new assistant/best buddy is my digital camera and the housing & strobe(s) that go with it.  Going back a step first... one of the only nice things I discovered about 20 boring, cramped hours on airplanes was the chance to read manuals and play with my new Canon 20D camera.  By the time I arrived in Sarong and boarded the Kararu, I pretty much knew where every control was and what I needed to do with them before, during, and after each dive.

The first thing I discovered was that the flash compensation on the camera was off by -1.5 stops.  When I found this out by doing a couple of hundred test shots, it was too late to send it back to Canon to get it fixed.  The answer was to bump up flash compensation by +1.5.  This was just the fix that was needed and for the first 4 days of diving, everything was peachy.  Then on my first dive on day 5, I found out that all of my shots were over-exposed by about +1.5 stops.  Yep, my camera fixed itself.  This is a major bummer if it happens with my film camera since there is no way to know about the exposure shift.  No big deal with my digital camera.  By looking at the images and histograms on the LCD screen during that dive, it was pretty apparent what had happened.  In case you don't know about the histogram, it's essentially a graphical display of the exposure of the image just shot.  Ideally, the histogram profile should cover most of the graph without being bunched up on the left side (underexposed) or the right side (over exposed).  It's really pretty simple to understand and use.  After a few trial shots underwater, I found that setting the camera back to 0 flash compensation brought the images back into proper exposure with the histogram settling comfortably in the center of the graph.  Most excellent, you say?  You betcha, especially when the camera decided to unfix itself on day 8 and I had to revert to +1.5 flash compensation for the rest of the trip.  Without the LCD and my totally anal habit of checking the display after just about every shot, I'm basically screwed.

Although the visibility wasn't really what we had expected, I was still able to break out my wide angle lenses and get some good experience.  Once again, my camera was my best buddy.  I was using dual strobes and by necessity working on manual exposure control.  With a film system, the tried and true approach is to meter for blue water, bracket the strobes, and hope for the best.  In Bonaire last year, I found out that my best wasn't too darn good and most of my wide angle shots ended up in the circular file.  I'm still not that good at shooting underwater wide angle, but I sure learned a lot on each dive by playing with the exposure, strobe power settings, and strobe aim.  It's really comforting to look down after a shot and be able to tell if you have enough light and if over or underexposed, be able to correct it 15 seconds later... or to see that only one side of the image is properly lighted and be able to adjust the angle of the strobe to get that really nice shot.  It's also good to know that when shooting macro on a night dive, it's possible to shoot at f/27 instead of f/18 and still get a good exposure while maximizing depth of field... or learning that the strobe can't quench fast enough at f/11 and the shots are overexposed.  All of this is easy to control during a dive with a little practice.

There's an old truth for underwater photographers: your best subjects always show up for exposure 37 on your roll of 36.  It's no different with digital except on my system with a 1 GB card, it happens when I get to exposure 99.  Yes, it is possible to shoot that many shots in an hour, and Jackie Reid would probably tell you that it's possible to fill up a card with twice that many shots.  Now it's one hour and 95 shots into the dive and I hear tanks being banged like a Balinese Gamelan orchestra (mostly incoherent noise to my ears).  I look up and see the lights flashing my direction and I hustle over in time to see a little tiny blue ring octopus posing next to a starfish.  WOO HOO!  This is why I dive with a camera and submit myself to 2 weeks of jet lag.  And according to the laws of underwater photography, I only have 3 more shots on my memory card.  Bummer?  I think not!  I take my meager 3 remaining shots and while Eric and Karl are bothering the devil out of the poor blue ring, I'm frantically calling up images and deleting the less bad ones.  I get 6 deleted when I glance up and see the frantic little bugger lift off and start swimming straight for the light on my strobe.  Hey, they little guy is not in a good mood and he can kill me with one bite!  Backpedaling and trying to get focus lock on the free-swimmer isn't working real well with my macro lens, but he finally decides to settle down on the reef and flash his blue rings, letting us know just how PO'ed he is about the whole situation.  I blow the next 6 images and go back to deleting shots like crazy again.  Déjà vu dude!  He's off and swimming at my strobe again and I'm doing the Raja Ampat rhumba trying to get focus lock on the poor critter.  Same result, but this time he finds a more photogenic piece of coral on which to land.  After another 7 shots, he decides that the show is over and retreats into a crevice.  Jackpot baby!  I managed to convert 3 spaces on my memory card into 15 shots all in the space of about 4 minutes.  Life is good.  The dive gods are in a fine mood and I'm in heaven.  I have no idea if the 12 images I deleted to photographic purgatory were worth having or not.  Who cares?  Not me, I can assure you.  I'm Earnest Hemmingway and I'm standing out in the African Seringeti with my foot on the side of a magnificent lion that just met a noble death at the end of my beautiful rifle.

A lot of the things that you can learn from your digital camera can't be learned underwater.  The LCD screen just isn't big enough to see if things are in focus and things like depth of field are best seen when viewing your images on a computer after the dive.  You do get some idea of composition but it's not as easy as it might seem at first.  What does work to your best advantage is being able to see just about every camera setting on every shot you've taken.  When I see something that I really nailed, I can call up the details and learn how I actually managed to do it.  Likewise, the truly horrible shots have a similar tale to tell, and I probably learn more from studying my mistakes than the ones that were done correctly.

Diving with a digital camera isn't all ice cream and cake, however.  It's not as simple as tossing another roll of film in the camera and feeding your system freshly charged batteries.  Now we have to deal with downloading images after every dive or two.  If you have a gigantic memory card and don't take a lot of enormous-resolution images, you might get away with downloading shots once a day.  In my case, it was after EVERY dive.  After awhile, it just gets automatic.  Remove and replace batteries and memory, swap lenses and ports, snap the latches, and take a test shot to make sure it all still works.  Downloading is best done while eating since it takes 10-20 minutes, depending on how much memory is being transferred and how fast your laptop is.  Then the fun can begin.  Previewing images after each dive is addictive for me and apparently for most of the other photographers on the boat.  Of the 11 guests and 6 divemasters, 9 were shooting digital cameras, 2 digital video, and one was using a Nikonos V.  I guess the revolution is over and digital must have won.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I'm in love again and it feels great.  Nevertheless, it's all a bit like breeding elephants.  There's a lot of noise and action up front and then it takes another 18 months to see the results.  That's a bit of an exaggeration, but editing and managing digital images takes a lot of time if you do it correctly.  I personally think that it's worth the effort and it looks like a lot of other people feel the same way I do.

HUPS' next meeting will be our Post-SEASPACE extravaganza.  Our invited speaker, the world famous Norbert Wu, will be giving us a glimpse into his special world.  We expect to have a large turnout at Bayland Community Center at 7 pm, June 6th.  I can assure you that you won't want to miss this memorable meeting.

And don't forget to come to SEASPACE this year.  It's being held at the Reliant Arena for the 2nd year and it's a fantastic opportunity to see all of the new diving equipment, talk with dive operations from all over the world, rub elbows with the wet and famous, and help HUPS have another successful SEASPACE.  This year, HUPS has been invited to do the photo display with ~ 90-110 photos artfully displayed for all to see (get your photos to David Lenderman).  Joe Nicklo is heading up our HUPS booth at SEASPACE.  It will be a very active place recruiting new members, selling raffle tickets, etc.  On Saturday evening, HUPS will be showing a 9-minute digital show at the Film Festival (kudos mostly to Christa Loustalot for putting it all together... it's impressive).  See you there.

Dennis

Digital Image Editing – Part V
By Pat Miller - HUPS & SEASPACE Webmaster

So, if you want to brighten or darken images that are a little too dark or light, and/or increase contrast, first use Levels - Histogram and then Curves to adjust exposure (see articles in March and April 2005 newsletters).  Then if you want to adjust colors use Color Balance (see May 2005 newsletter).  And Hue/Saturation is the next tool you might use to fine tune color.  My plan is to use the tools in order and make small changes with each tool, so at the end I have achieved subtle yet definite improvements, while I keep the picture looking natural.  It takes some practice and judgment developed from practice.  Look at the image critically first and decide how it might be improved.  You may not want to use all of these steps, but to know how you can improve an image you need to know what the tools can do.

Click on "Image" on the menu bar, then "Adjustments" (or "Adjust") and "Hue/Saturation..." to see the Hue/Saturation tool.  In Figure 1 are two views of the dialog box, one with the default Edit: Master selection which allows you to modify the entire color range, and the second showing the Edit: dropdown list where you can select which colors to edit:

Figure 1

Move the Hue slider back and forth, and the colors shift.  Move the Saturation slider to the right and colors get more saturated, primary colors more concentrated; move it to the left and colors get less intense.  And the Lightness slider controls overall brightness, which is useful when you are editing individual color ranges selected from the dropdown list.  With Edit: Master selected, using the Lightness slider to change overall brightness is a bad idea - instead go back to Levels - Histogram or Curves to adjust overall exposure.

Here are a couple of extreme examples to show Hue changes with Edit: Master selected, the first with Hue at -60 (Figure 2) and the second with +60 (Figure 3). Notice how the colored bar along the bottom moves as the Hue slider moves, to indicate the amount of color shift occurring.

Figure 2

Figure 3

And here (Figure 4) is an extreme example showing the Saturation slider moved to +50 with Edit: Master selected:

Figure 4

The first thing you might want to do when you use Hue/Saturation at first is crank that Saturation slider up to see the colors "pop" out.  It seems like an easy way to punch up a picture - but fight the power!  (Put down the pliers, Eugene!)  By increasing saturation too much, you are concentrating colors into the primary colors and starting to wipe out the secondary, more subtle colors.  The results can begin to look garish and unnatural as in the last example above.  If you want special effects then have fun, but my intent is to enhance and keep it natural.

Here’s an example of how I might use Hue/Saturation instead.  I have made some Levels and Curves adjustments to the picture of the hogfish in the examples above on the left.  Thinking about color, I then decided I wanted to accentuate the reddish brown color on the fish a little, and I wanted to dial out some green since the background is so green.  So I selected Red from the Edit: dropdown list and fiddled with the sliders a bit (left side of Figure 4).  I decided a slight Hue shift of -4 made the reds a little more reddish brown, a Saturation increase of +6 made them a bit bolder, and a Lightness change of -6 made them a bit darker so they stand out a bit more compared to the light colors on the fish.  There are virtually no reds in the background so these changes affected only the fish.

With the tool still open, haven’t click the OK button yet, I selected Green from the Edit: dropdown list.  I turned down Saturation slightly to -8 and Lightness to -2.  The fish has some green, such as the eye, and I didn’t want to change that too much, so these were pretty slight changes.  If I wanted more change to the green background while leaving the green on the fish alone, I could have used a selection tool such as the Lasso or Magic Wand to select only the background, then I would Feather the selection by some pixels so my changes would blend smoothly, and then use Hue/Saturation only on the green background.

Figure 5

Figure 6

These are very slight changes and the result may not be very obvious.  But after I made small changes with Levels - Histogram, then Curves and finally Hue/Saturation I can see a visible improvement.

Ed. Note - If you have enjoyed Pat Miller’s multi part series on Basic Digital Editing you should attend his digital editing seminar at SEASPACE.  It is being offered at 12:00 on Saturday and then again at 3:00 on Sunday.  For more information on SEASPACE seminars check out: http://www.seaspace.org/seminars.htm

Digital Photo Backpack Review
By James Wiseman

A few weeks ago, I purchased a KATA 103 backpack for toting around my digital camera kit.  I haven’t taken the bag on a dive trip yet, but I did use it last week for a day trip offshore where I photographed an offshore platform from a helicopter and made an engineering and site photography visit.  To get there I flew on a commercial airliner, took taxicabs and finally a helicopter - at no point did I feel I was missing any necessary equipment and I never feared for my camera or laptop.  The bag met and exceeded my expectations.  Read the full article below to see photos of how I laid out the pack for my camera equipment.

Shown is my 1DmkII body with 70-200 lens, a Sigma 15mm Fisheye, Canon 24-85USM, Sigma 12-24, and Canon 580EX flashgun.  Also shown is my laptop AC adapter.  I still had room for 2 of the KATA velcro-secured mesh bags which I used to secure miscellaneous items like a lens cloth, sensor swabs, etc.  In the bag’s compartment pouches, I packed my passport, camera manuals (yes, I still need these) filters, extra AA batteries, and my MP3 player and headphones.

Compared to other bags on the market, such as the Lowe Computrecker and the equivalent Tamrac bag, the KATA 103 is smaller and doesn’t carry as many lenses.  On the other hand, it’s got much more padding and hard-panels to protect your equipment.  It’s also got some extra features that the other bags don’t have.  My favorite is the built in camera strap that comes with the bag and can be clipped onto the front shoulder-strap D-rings.  This essentially lets you carry the camera on your chest while you’re hiking for instant access - something I’ve always wanted.  The other nice feature is the moisture wicking neoprene panel that goes between your shoulders and the bag - for added comfort - as well as a ribbed panel that rests against the lower back, allowing for cooling airflow.  I can see how all of these features will combine to make this an excellent hiking camera-pack, not just a travel pack.  Of course, it also comes with an external mount for a camera tripod.

For $160, I would recommend this pack to anyone who does outdoor photography.  It’s also an excellent travel-pack for traveling underwater digital photographer as it should hold all of the lenses we need.

QUICK TIP

Monthly Contest Results

May 2005 - Macro

June - No Contest

Because of our special post SEASPACE presentation by Norbert Wu we will not have a photo contest at the June meeting.  You can start picking out images for the July contest.  The July topic will be "Red, White and/or Blue."

At typical monthly meetings we will have both slide and digital contests.  Entries for the slide contest should be brought to the meeting.  Entries for the digital contest should be e-mailed to photocontest@hups.org at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.  This mailbox is reserved for entries only.  If you have a question regarding the digital contest e-mail Dennis or James.  Complete contest rules are here.  If you do not follow the rules for digital entries your images will not be judged.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.

SEASPACE is Here

The event us hardcore divers and underwater photographer wait all year for is here.  There is no better place to learn about diving gear, dive travel opportunities, uw photo gear and techniques.  Where else can you buy a new camera housing, attend a seminar or workshop to learn how to use it, go to the film festival to find photographic inspiration and then book a dive trip to go get those great shots?  We are very fortunate to have such a world class dive show here in Houston.

SEASPACE is June 4 and 5 at Reliant Center.  Take it all in.  Check out the booths in the exhibit hall, attend some seminars and workshops, and do not miss the film festival Saturday night.  All the information you need can be found at http://www.seaspace.org.

HUPS will of course have a large presence this year.  We will be providing images for the print gallery smack in the middle of the exhibit hall, will will have a nine-minute show at the film festival and we will have our booth to promote HUPS and seek out new members.  If you want to help out it’s not too late - contact Joe Nicklo.

Not only is this a great event for serious divers, it’s also great for non-divers to learn more about diving, travel and other outdoor sports.  SEASPACE now has numerous attractions for kids.  They love it!  Tell your co-workers, your neighbors, people on the street. It’s fun for all.

Good Going Jackie

HUPS member Jackie Reid placed second in the wide-angle category of Scuba Diving Magazine’s 2005 Photo Contest.  No stranger to the winner’s circle, Jackie won this one with an awesome shot of a manta ray.  Jackie’s image and the other winners can be found on page 57 of the April issue.  Thanks to Pat Miller for submitting the information on Jackie’s win.

Even Newsletter Editors Win Sometimes

David Lenderman just found out he won, gulp, Best of Show in the EPIC underwater photography competition.  His winning image is a close up of a Caribbean Reef Shark created with a good old Nikonos V and 28mm lens.  To see David’s shot and the other winners check out http://www.epicphotocontest.org/ just click on the 2005 Winners button at the bottom.

If you have recently placed in a photo contest don’t be shy let us know.  E-mail information to underh2o@ev1.net.

1st Place Digital Jackie Reid ©2005
Created at Wakatobi with Seacam-housed Fuji S2 and one Ikelite 200 strobe

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!