Dive Into Your Imagination

SEAHORSE STORIES

Everyone’s dream when they go diving is to find a seahorse. Much like children are fascinated with horses on land, we are fascinated by these strange looking fish underwater! In my imagination I get to explore the ocean by riding seahorses.

When diving in groups it is often challenging when you come upon an animal that EVERYONE wants to photograph. When diving with groups and not production teams, I have learned to let everyone go ahead and wait my turn. On this dive, we had green water, were in 14m/50 Feet and there was RIPPING current. Only experienced divers should have even attempted to take images of this seahorse. As divers and photographers, we need to realize that there are sometimes that you just CANNOT take the shot or else you may damage the reef or hurt yourself.

I waited for everyone to clear the area and knew that I would need more than one angle of this animal if I was going to be able to sequence it into any project. The reason the water was green was because of an algae bloom and plankton mass including mysid shrimp and I was hoping to get the sea horse feeding, but all the other divers had scared the poor little fella so it was in its camouflage and defensive pose.

Editing and Shooting Tips:

As you learn in The Camera Coach, Your Guide to Creating Underwater Video, you need many different angles of a subject to be able to sequence a story together. So the first shot I usually take before I move close is always a wide angle establishing shot. In macro photography, you can still get the wide shot of the scene, many people make the mistake and do not film this. Once I had the establishing shot, I moved in closer for a couple medium and close up shots.

Lighting tips:

We were in deep, green water. I used my lights with my red filter and white balanced off the lighting on the white card. Although the background is more green than blue if I didn’t do this, the background would be washed out. When I moved in closer to film, I did not use the zoom feature of the camera. I physically moved my body and the camera housing and adjusted my focus, lighting and aperture for my new conditions. Because I had already white balanced on my lights, I did not have to re-white balance. I had to be careful not to blow out the white detail in the scene with my lights. I was able to physically pull the lights back away from the subject. Because the animal was scared from the other divers and I was running out of bottom time, I was not able to wait for it the seahorse to feed. Instead I focused on getting a few different angles of this amazing creature. Video is all about motion, therefore the behavior of the animals is crucial. The more you know about the environment, the better your images will be.

I had my tripod on the bottom of my camera housing and pushed down into the coral rubble to steady myself. It is important when shooting close-up animals to be solid and not damage the environment. I will not take any images if I am going to damage the environment, it is really that simple!

Music and Narration:

Depending on where I use this clip will depend on what story I would tell. This can be dropped into just about any program because I have a complete sequence on the sea horse.

Story About the Dive:

To get down onto this rocky reef we anchored in the middle of a channel. The dive guide and boat man decided we could go diving. It was one of my first dives in strong current with my nearly 100 pound camera system. I dropped into the water and STRUGGLING, I finally made it up to the anchor line. I dropped down three feet and thought, oh gosh, now what? How am I ever going to pull my body down this line??? I could not hold my camera, hold the anchor line, pull myself down and equalize! I thought I was going to have to abort...and then the next thing I knew, I had an diving angel sent to me! My VERY experienced buddy and assistant knew exactly what to do! He immediately saw my dilemma and the next thing I knew, I was getting a ride down to the bottom! That was a first time I ever needed assistance like this because of conditions! If I was the dive operator, I would have changed locations before putting divers on the reef, but sometimes in Mexico and developing countries, the locals don't always think the way an instructor does.

Lesson:

Dive with a buddy, sometimes they are worth the extra weight!

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UNIQUE UNIQUE Camouflage is nature’s protection. You are one of a kind. Pair of pink pygmy sea horses, Indonesia

What Makes A Fish, A Fish What Makes A Fish, A Fish is the first DVD in the Dive Into Your Imagination series. This DVD teaches children about astounding fish from around the world.

The Camera Coach® The Camera Coach®, Your Guide to Creating Underwater Video demonstrates and teaches you the necessary techniques needed to produce great video above and below the surface. You will learn shooting, lighting and editing techniques. This DVD teaches you sh

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