Robert's Ramblings

          Beautiful Pink Roses

Last week we spent the afternoon in my parents garden and took the time to admire the colours of Spring.


          Bird of Paradise

Complete with resident ants!


          Orange Blossom

The orange tree has not blossomed for years. The recent rain as done wonders.


          Purple Iris

The garden was full of Irises of all colours. The purple ones were my favourite.


          Purple & White

Note sure what these are but interesting to see both white and purple blooms on the same flower.


          More Colour

Another flower I could not put a name to but was most accommodating for the camera, waiting patiently for me to take this image.


          Catherine Wheel

OK, now I am just making up names but at least this one reminded me of Catherine wheels back in the days when we were allowed fireworks. I don't remember any purple Catherine wheels back then!


          Sunny

Until the next post, keep enjoying the blooms of Spring (unless you suffer from hay fever! ) ...Robert

All Photos: Robert Rath, October 2011. Please ask if you want to know more about my images.

          Sydney Harbour Bridge

Last Saturday we headed over to Sydney for a little fun, catch up with friends and even a bit of work. Of course the camera tagged along!


          Syndey Opera House

Familiar Opera House sails in the distance with the Ken Done gallery in the foreground.


          Ken Done Gallery

Beautiful glass art in the Ken Done galley. Note the 'no photographs' sign to the right. I took this image from the street through an open door so I reckon the sign does not apply!


          The Rocks Market

Ghostly images mark the passage of many through 'The Rocks' market.


          Circular Quay

A beautiful sunny day at Circular Quay. ( I am told it was miserable in Adelaide! )


          Jennifer

The piano bar at 'The Menzies' with featured pianist tinkling the ivories!


          Skyward

Lying on the ground staring into the heavens and the stars Sydney style.


          Syndey Opera House

Until the next post, take care out there and keep traveling ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

All Photos: Robert Rath, Sydney, July 2011. Please ask if you want to know more about my images.

          Four beautiful little short-headed seahorses, Hippocampus breviceps, on yellow algae.

On Saturday we headed over to Edithburgh for a lazy diving getaway. No students, no teaching, no courses, no pressure and no expectations. Just Jennifer, myself and my camera gear. We also planned to meet up with fellow 'fish paparazzi' friend Fred but with no expectations on when we would actually get in the water. I had not used my camera underwater for a few months so the time spent in inspecting and preparing every seal and 'o'-ring of my housing and equipment was both meditative and an important part of the day.


          Sand Flathead, Platycephalus bassensis, waiting for a passing morsel.

I dropped below the surface of the chilly lapping water just after 8:30pm. A stark contrast to the cosy surrounds and hearty meal at the Edithburgh Hotel just a short time earlier, this cold and dark underwater world beneath the jetty immediately comforted me with familiar sounds, sights and the animals I just love to watch, photograph and wonder about. As always Edithburgh Jetty was alive with the the critters of the night out hunting, being hunted, being photographed or just hanging around.


          Lightning volute, Ericusa fulgetrum, on the hunt for other molluscs.

In my hour underwater I saw volutes searching for prey, sand snails laying eggs and flatheads waiting camouflaged in the sand ready to gulp in a passing morsel. I found short-head seahorses snapping at passing plankton, helmet crabs scouring the the sandy rubble and baby sea-urchins feeding in the sea grass.


          Unusually unadorned decorator crab, Naxia tumida

One of the most important things you can do on a night dive whether you are taking photographs or not is to spend a little time just resting still. Hover if you can or drop gently to some insensitive bottom and just wait for 5-10 minutes. It is amazing how you become aware of animals around you which were always there but you simply would never notice at a cursory look. Also after a while, animals which you may have originally scared away come back and you get to see what your little spot in the ocean is really like.


          Being eyballed by a beautiful giant cuttlefish, Sepia apama.

When it was time to return to the surface I took one last look around just in case any new creatures had wandered into the sandy clearing below the jetty steps.


          Sea urchine, Amblypneustes pallidus, feeding in the sea grass.

I wanted to linger longer, to take more photographs and to just be part of the scene around me, but time, diminishing air and the cold soon won out as they always do.



Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

All Photos: Robert Rath, Edithburgh, May 2011. Please ask if you want to know more about my images.

Tonight I spotted a this curious pair on the breakfast bar when just moments before Jennifer was complaining about some pesky fly. Strangely enough the pesky fly just vanished she said!

My immediate reaction when ever I spot a spider in the house is to catch it and let is go but it soon became obvious that this guy was not going anywhere until he had finished his meal giving me ample time to take a few photos. He actually took a few hours but when he was done there was only a husk of the fly remaining and his abdomen had swollen to twice its original size.



Because I did not want to disturb him with the bright flash of a strobe I was limited to wide apertures, natural light and slow exposures. I like these conditions anyway as natural lighting is almost always, well, more natural


Until the next post, remember to catch and let go, catch and let go. Even spiders! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: And The Spider Had The Fly For Dinner

Last night I spotted a photo competition on the Canon 1Wall website with the theme 'weightless'. As a diver and avid photographer this caught my eye so I looked at some of the entries and started imagining some new photo ideas around this theme. That's when I noticed the competition closed the next day so a change of tack saw me getting creative in the kitchen again in my quest to photograph 'weightless'.

I experimented with quite a few ideas before this final image came together with nothing more than a glass of water and a drop of soy sauce. Unfortunately when I went to submit my entry the competition had closed. Oh well, next time I'll go looking for an image I've already taken but at least I had fun and have a great image to show for my efforts.


Until the next post, get weightless and wet as often as you can! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: Weightless

Last month a few of us travelled to Edithburgh for an underwater photography course. The weather was clear, the water cold and the diving gentle and relaxing. As usual the life under and around the jetty was teaming and we all took some great photos even though the visibility was not stunning. It was here I saw my first leafy seadragon some twenty years earlier.

Edithburgh has never been a great place to find leafy seadragons. There are other places in South Australia more reliable but Edithburgh is such a wonderful place to dive that finding a leafy seadragon or two is such a wonderful bonus to an incredible site.

So where are the Edithburgh leafys? Well in twenty years I have only ever seen a dragon under the jetty three times and this is not surprising really as this is not their natural habitat without the heavy seaweed cover they normally inhabit. To find leafys at Edithburgh you need to leave the jetty and look for large groups of brown algae seaweed. I have found them in every direction from the jetty. To the south, the west and the north. Be prepared to swim a little and make sure you are using a good pair of fins, especially if there is a little current. When you find a large grouping of brown algae seaweed don't just scan the area as you swim past. Leafy seadragons are easily missed due to their wonderful camouflage. Settle somewhere in the middle, be still , watch wait and study. Even if you do not fond a dragon you will notice things that you would never see just swimming by. My experience is that you don't just look and see leafy seadragons. They come into view as you are staring at the seaweed. Almost like magic a dragon will appear exactly where you are staring even though you have stared at the same spot for a while. So be patient and then move on and good luck!

I took this photo of a young adult last month during our Edithburgh course. The little critter was not particularly co-operative preferring to stay hidden in the weed. I'm just happy to say you can still find leafy seadragons at Edithburgh.


Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath, Leafy Seadragon, Edithburgh. Please ask if you want to know more about how this image was taken.

Have a close look at this image and you will clearly see a reflection of myself in the shiny surface of the 'thing' I have photographed but what are you looking at a photograph of? Believe it or not, that reflection is coming from the ball of an ordinary ball point pen. Welcome to the world of macro photography!

I love the way macro brings a world to life around us that we are normally oblivious to as we go about our lives. Just a few minutes in the kitchen will reveal an infinite variety of amazing perspectives if we can get small enough to perceive them or make them large enough to have an impact. The second of these two strategies via macro photography is clearly the easier task unless you are in possession of a shrinking ray gun.

So how macro is macro?

The standard definition of a macro image comes from film camera days where an image 10mm high translated directly to an image 10mm high on a 35mm negative or slide. This 1:1 image ratio or smaller was deemed to be 'macro' while larger than this was simply 'close-up'. Today we use the term a little more loosely as many camera manufacturers proclaim their cameras are macro capable but very few achieve true 1:1 macro. This is further complicated as image sensors in nearly all cameras (with a few exceptions) have a much smaller image sensor than the original 35mm slide or negative.

So what are your options if you want to bring the very small into focus (pun intended :-)?

A. Purchase a compact digital camera with a very good macro mode.

Many compact cameras are able to focus very close to a subject when placed in 'macro' mode. Even if true 1:1 macro is not possible the results in good light can be excellent. The key with these cameras is their ability to get very close to the object they are taking a photograph of. This is fine when there is lots of natural light but often this is not the case. Often the image is so close to the lens of the camera that light from the flash will be shadowed by the lens and it will not be possible to sufficiently light the subject. Some cameras, notably the Olympus 5060 and 7070, disable the flash in macro mode for this very reason. In most cases however good results can be obtained by using the camera with a tripod and timer and allowing the camera to do a long time exposure in order to get sufficient light.

B. Purchase a DSLR camera with a dedicated macro lens.

This is the best solution if you can afford the hardware and don't mind managing the bulk of large cameras and lenses. Dedicated macro lenses combine the qualities of a telephoto lens with close focus. This provides good magnification of 1:1 or better without having to get too close to the subject. Lots of light is available from in built flash or external strobes and taking good macro images in the realm of 1:2 through to 5:1 is relatively easy depending on the lens. It is worth noting that auto-focus becomes more challenging for the camera at macro ratios greater than 1:1. Lenses designed for macro ratios greater then 1:1 will almost always need to be manually focused even if they are auto focus capable.

C. Use extension rings or diopters with a standard lens and a DSLR camera.

The use of extension rings or diopters creates apparent magnification by allowing a standard lens to focus more closely and hence achieve greater magnification. This is a commonly used by those who already own a DSLR camera and want to dabble in macro imaging. The issues with macro rings are very similar to those experienced by compact camera users, namely the close proximity of the object to the lens and difficulty in both lighting the subject and also in achieving acceptable depth of field. In some cases compact cameras will do better due to their smaller image sensor and associated better depth of field. An image sensor in a compact camera which is only 25% the size of that in a DSLR camera can take the same image at 1:2 image-to-sensor ratio while the DSLR struggles at 1:1.

Depth-of-field Issues

Any time a lens is placed close to a subject it requires a smaller and smaller aperture to achieve acceptable depth of field. For large apertures it is not uncommon to be struggling with a focal plan less than 1mm in depth where anything outside of this 1mm good zone becomes progressively unfocussed. Stopping down the lens to f8, f16 or even f32 widens the depth but at a huge cost to available light and the absolute dependence on strong strobe lighting or very long time exposures. The higher in magnification you go these problems become exponentially worse to the point that 10:1 is really the limit without going to dedicated microscope hardware.

To wrap up I would suggest making a start into the world of macro photography with a good digital compact, a sturdy tripod and an equally good deal of patience. The results from compact cameras can be quite stunning and now with the higher megapixel counts available you have a lot of scope for cropping to achieve even greater apparent magnification. If you already have a DSLR camera I would really suggest aiming to purchase a dedicated macro lens. Extension tubes with standard lenses will always present frustrating problems with low light and poor depth of field although good results can still be achieved with patience.


Until the next post, drink the potion or nibble the cake and see where the rabbit hole leads! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: Self Portrait In A Ball Point Pen

Solitary stigma surrounded by six furry anther. Lilies display beautifully their crown jewels!

Until the next post, take the time to notice the little things in your world! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: Lily Macro

Yesterday I waited for the sunset at West Beach, hoping the sun would peek out through the clouds just before setting. Alas, no such luck. Not even a hint of a gleam before the sun was no more and a sullen twilight settled upon the beach and the ocean.

We'll perhaps no dramatic sunset this time but there is always a photograph to be taken no matter where, no matter what the conditions so snap away I did!
More photos from the evening can be found here in my Facebook Album.


Until the next post, snap away! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: Moody West Beach Twilight

As much as most of us have an innate dislike of spiders they are undoubted fascinating and even if we want them as far as way from us as possible the fascination remains. This photo is of the much maligned white-tailed spider Lampona cylindrata. In this example a juvenile with a body only 2mm in length. The beautiful banded colouring and translucent appendages are due to this spider being so small and will disappear as the spider matures.

This little spider has been unfairly labelled as the cause of horrid necrotic ulcers which never heal after a much publicised study back in the 1980s. In fact more recent studies have demonstrated that bites from this spider have only minimal short term effects. On the bad side however the white-tailed spider is a wandering nocturnal hunter and as it likes homes it is probably the biggest culprit of domestic spider bites we have here.


Until the next post, face your fears take spiders you find in your house back out into the garden rather than squashing them! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: Juvenile White-Tailed Spider

The wonderful thing about photography is how it makes the ordinary, extra ordinary. I was in our garden this afternoon and thinking about how much it needed a good tidy. Soon I started noticing all the little things which make a garden beautiful with out that extreme manicured look so common in home and garden magazines. This single camelia flower is a beautiful example.



Until the next post, enjoy your messy garden and take the time to notice the beautiful things! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: Camelia bloom

It did not take long to review the photos. In fact I think this one came just as much by popular demand as by our choices. Either way it's the one we will be using in Jennifer's promotional material.

Until the next post, ... Robert



Photo: Robert Rath, Jennifer Liston, poet, musician and super-model!

We all have heard of the bush tucker treat, the witchety grub, but how many know what happens to a witchety grub when it grows up and gets its wings? Today my daughter brought home this beautiful giant moth found in the school yard. We set it down on the kitchen table and I took a couple of photographs before it when out into the garden.

After a little bit of research we discovered it was an adult witchety grub or wood moth. There are about 60 species of wood moths in Australia of the family Cossidae, the largest having a wingspan of more than 25cm. The life cycle of the 'witchety moth' is rather interesting with the grub living for up to two years before becoming a moth which will live just a few days. This one will only live for a day or two more.

Its always fun to take photos of unusual critters and this little guy was a poser for the camera!


Until the next post, pull out your bush tucker books and enjoy! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath

Yes, the rumors really are true; Jennifer has a third collection of her fabulous poetry completed and now with the publisher for production. There will only be a limited run of these so to make sure you do not miss out you can pre-order your very own copy at White Wave Press.

The other good news is that 10% of the sale price of each copy of Jennifer Liston's third poetry collection will be donated to Ovarian Cancer Australia.

Once again be prepared to be entertained, amused and perhaps at times a little challenged with her beautiful and thought provoking words.

... Robert

Jennifer is about to launch her third collection of poetry and we decided to take some fresh new photos for her author profile. Here is just one of the many I took Sunday evening down on the beach at sunset. A few more can be found on Facebook but to be honest we really have not even started reviewing them.

One thing I tried for these images was using Canon's 100mm F2.8 macro. The one I usually use for those little undersea critters. Well as a portrait lens wide open at F2.8 this lens is as sharp as a tack with just enough depth of field to be manageable.

This photo of Jennifer was taken right on sunset with the sun kissing the horizon with only natural light. She looks gorgeous, doesn't she!

Until the next post, take care out there and enjoy beautiful sunsets as I regularly do ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath, Jennifer Liston, poet, musician and super-model!

Make yourself a coffee and head over to Jennifer's new website, http://jenniferliston.com, which is her own little cobwebby corner of the poetry world!

Be prepared to be entertained, amused and perhaps at times a little challenged with her beautiful and thought provoking words.

... Robert

Yesterday I took a set of images from Edithburgh specifically experimenting with shooting into the sun. Please excuse the backscatter, no cleaning up has been done.

More photo's from the 'Edithburgh Sun Shots' dive can be found here at Edithburgh Sun Shots (Facebook Album) or my slideshow on Flickr.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath, Leafy Seadragon, Edithburgh. Please ask if you want to know more about how this image was taken.

My first recollection of Sausage Jellies is seeing masses of them washed up on our local beaches resulting in them being squished through each other's hair, thrown at each other as in snowball fighting and generally not appreciating what they really were. We thought at first they were some strange jellyfish that seemed to have no sting. Soon someone started a rumour that they were really eggs, but eggs of what?

Well the rumours turned out to be true and indeed the Sausage Jelly is a blubbery mass of thousands of eggs of either the Conical Sand Snail Polinices conicus or the Sordid Sand Snail Polinices sordidus. These little snails are responsible for the very familiar sight of cockle shells washed up on beaches with neat little holes drilled in the side. The Sand Shell is predator and hunts these bivalves, attaching themselves to some poor cockle, drilling a neat little access hole with a rasp-like tongue and devouring the poor little critter now defenceless from attack.

This photo of a Sand Snail egg mass was taken last week while diving at Pt Noarlunga. This Sausage Jelly floating in the water presented the perfect opportunity to capture its beautiful form and show off the individual eggs distributed through its mass in way not seen in one simply washed up on a beach.

More photo's from last week's dive can be found here at Sigma 15mm FE First Tryout (Facebook Album) or my slideshow on Flickr.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath, Sand Snail Egg Mass, Pt Noarlunga. Please ask if you want to know more about how this image was taken.

Night diving is always great fun and often full of wonderful little surprises (big surprises are OK too so long as they are under 3m). Last night Matt and myself descended below the ever popular Pt Noarlunga Jetty just shy of midnight. The usual suspects showed up on cue and I got the chance to play a little bit more with my new rig.

About midway into the dive a little squid no bigger than a golfball turned up out on the sand. At first I thought he was one of the local Southern Dumpling Squid. The colours seemed right even if a bit pale, though you can never really tell with cephalopods. Those cute little bug eyes did not seem right though, they seemed too big for a dumpling squid. Shortly after taking this image he rose and swam directly at my camera lens. A behaviour I have never experienced with dumpling squid.

Today I had a closer look at the photograph, the eyes, the colours on the wings and the presentation of the chromatophores and decided he must be a juvenile Southern Calamari (Squid), Sepioteuthis australis.

All up we had a great dive and it was a real pity I could not convince a few other friends to join us. It seems than diving invitations are not so popular after 10pm on a normal working weeknight! Oh well, there's always next time.

More photo's from last night's dive can be found here at Midnight Pt Noarlunga (Facebook Album) or my slideshow on Flickr.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath, juvenile Southern Calamari, Pt Noarlinga Jetty (Night). Please ask if you want to know more about how this image was taken.

Today I noticed a tiny tiny spider in a messy little web high up on the window frame and wondered what it would be like to be a fly! The amazing thing about really little things is how amazing they look from their own perspective instead of ours.

I hardly even noticed this little gal up there and when I did it was really a case of 'so what'. But, once I shrunk down to her size it was a different story altogether! Thoughts of Frodo Baggins being be captured and dragged off by the great Shelob came to mind and in an instant I decided she had to go. Just as soon as I took a photo and returned to human size again of course! You just can't let monsters live in your kitchen. You never know what mischief they will cause.

Nothing in the image gives any indication of her true size. In fact the frame is less than 5mm across!


Until the next post, take care out there and stay away from monsters! ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: Shelalob (Shelob's Australian cousin) ready to pounce!

Port Noarlunga is a bustling beach-side suburb about 40 minutes south of Adelaide. Easy to get to, easy to access the water via the jetty and with the Adventure Blue dive store close at hand makes Pt Noarlunga the most popular shore dive destination near Adelaide.

The main attraction here is an extensive reef system running parallel to the shore and accessible from the end of the jetty. The reef is broken into northern and southern sections with a deep gap separating the two. Depths range from 5m to 15m depending on which parts of the reef you dive.

Too many divers never really get to appreciate the fantastic beauty and diversity of this place because they limit their diving to the end of the jetty and the protected side of the northern reef system. This is especially true for new divers who complete some or all of their open water training here and only see a tiny part of the system. They risk overlooking the rest Pt Noarlunga has to offer because of their associations with their initial experiences.

A good way to really see the Pt Noarlunga Reef in a whole new way is to dive 'The Gap'. Access to the gap is by a 300m snorkel south from the end of the jetty. Yes I know that sounds like a long way but it's a much more pleasant 300m than walking the length of the jetty which everyone is prepared to endure! Just stay on the inside close to the reef and take your time to enjoy the critters in the shallows. You can dive this traverse if you like but your time in the Gap will be limited due to initial air consumption. The Gap is obvious where there is no more reef at or near the surface even on a low tide.

Once you descend into the Gap it is like nothing else you will have experienced on the inside of the reef. The seascape becomes one of big bommies and thick kelps. You'll notice a big jump in the diversity and size of fish species. Stunning huge schools of Silver Drummer. Solitary Longnose Boarfish, Sweep and Old Wifes, many species of Leatherjacket, Blue Groper, Magpie Pearch, Western Talmas, Hulafish, Dusky Moorwong, Zebrafish and more. In other words, a fantastic cross section of South Australian reef fish. Colours abound with beautiful Sponges, Ascidians and Corals. Huge Gorgonian Fans catch nutrients in the current and many varieties of Algae complete the scene.

Watch your depth and air here as it is quite easy to get down to 15m and your increased air consumption may catch you by surprise cutting short your dive and enforcing a long snorkel back on the surface. With a third of your air used, start your journey back north along the outside of the reef. You can proceed the full 300m north on the outside if you are happy to clamber over the reef on surfacing to get back to the jetty or if the tide is high. Otherwise I'd recommend only going 100m north on the outside and then surfacing. Locate and traverse the narrow channel though the reef here back to the sheltered inside. Descend again, heading north for the remaining 200m return trip.

Good navigation skills are essential to get the best from this dive so make sure you have a compass and are comfortable with natural navigation techniques. Don't worry too much about getting lost though as the worst result likely is to be red faced and endure a long snorkel back.

So if you are a regular Pt Noarlunga diver and have not yet experienced diving 'The Gap', then please make it your very next thing on your diving 'ToDo' list. If you have never dived Pt Noarlunga before then make the effort to spend the time to do two or three different dives here and make sure 'The Gap' is one of them.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert


Photo: Robert Rath: Belinda Rowland admires a stunning Gorgonian during last week's dive.

'Portrait Of A Diver' is one of those images that I just can't work out how to categorise. It was one of those surreal images that you never actually see for real. But the image and everything in is real, exactly as the photo was was taken.

Please comment on what you think you might be looking at in my 'Portrait Of A Diver' and what state my friend Gerry might actually be in?

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath 5DMkII on 'L' plates. (Please ask if you want to know more about how this image was taken.)

This mating pair of Lightning Volutes, Ericusa fulgetrum was a stunning find on our recent midnight dive under Edithburgh Jetty. We had seen a single volute earlier in the dive in the same location so probably the same guy ( or girl, does anyone know how to tell? ).

This brings me to the wonderful subject of night diving and picking your time. Most night dives take place around late dusk. This is more a factor of logistics and convenience with the added advantage of being able to prepare in some remaining daylight. But just as you will see different things at different times during the day the same applies to the night. As a youngster I remember being on holidays when some of the grownups would head out fishing after we had all gone to bed. The reason, picking the time based on the tides.

In and around Adelaide we often have low tides around midnight so if you can delay your start a few hours and don't mind a late night then try a few midnight dives. You will almost certainly see a level of activity different to a dive soon after sunset. Another good time to see different things is in early morning hours before sunrise. The combination of running tide and remaining darkness will again provide opportunities to see creatures and behaviours different again. And finally try a dive just before dawn and watch first light creeping into the underwater world.

Next time you are planning on doing a dive after sunset try and get creative with the timing. Getting in the water at midnight or getting up at 2am is not for everyone but then neither is experiencing the full scope any one location has to offer.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath 5DMkII on 'L' plates. (Please ask if you want to know more about how this image was taken.)

The Southern Pygmy Leatherjacket, Brachaluteres jacksonianus is a common sight under Edithburgh Jetty and always a very cute encounter. This little guy is trying to get some sleep considering it's well after midnight!

He was just one of many wonderful encounters on Friday evening's night dive with our good friends Iain and Susie. Actually Jennifer and Susie ran from the room when I suggested we go for a dive just about the time normal people go to bed. I think Iain only agreed because he thought I was actually joking. The dive that followed was one of our best night dives ever!

Notice something new? Yes, bigger and better photographs! I just love seeing big images and am distressed to find nothing bigger than tantalising thumbnails when I see an image I really like. So from now on I will be trying out a new image size of 900x600. Please let me know what you think and if I should keep with this size or go even bigger! Of course if you really want BIG images we can negotiate an off-site deal!

There will be more Edithburgh images from last weekend along soon. Stay tuned.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath 5DMkII on 'L' plates. (Please ask if you want to know more about how this image was taken.)

Delicate yet tough. Wild flowers grow in impossible conditions, near the abandoned Bollabollana Copper Smelter, Arkaroola-Mt Painter Wilderness Sanctuary, northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

The photos at this link are extraordinary, distressing and deeply moving giving an emmotional glimpse into the Sumatra tradgedy .

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/2009_sumatra_earthquakes.html

Yesterday's dive at Port Hughes heralded the beginning of a new world for me with my first foray into underwater DSLR photography. Over the past four years I have been using Olympus compact cameras for all of my underwater photography. For the last two years I have been planning my transition to taking a DSLR camera underwater. Finally all of my research, planning, purchasing, customising and doing came to fruition as I stood looking out over Port Hughes Jetty with new rig in hand.

I was very nervous taking 'so much' camera down with me. I double-checked all the seals. I fitted the camera and snapped shut the housing. I fired a few shots to test the strobes. Something was not right but I could not put my finger on it. Then a few more shots revealed to my annoyance that the lens was switched to manual focus mode. So off came the back, out came the camera and I switched the lens to auto focus mode before reassembling everything.

Note to self 1: check lens auto focus switch.

My walk to the dive site was like carrying my buddy's weight belt. This rig must be five times heavier than my compact! When in the water, however, the beast became gently positively buoyant and I forgot about the weight.

Note to self 2: attach a lanyard so it doesn't float away.

My first 10 minutes in the water were spent in a state of paranoia and fear of a drowned camera. I continually peered into the front of the domed port looking for any hint of leaking seawater. After about 20 minutes I had calmed down enough to actually start using the camera only to discover that when I re-assembled the housing I had misaligned the focus preview lever.

Note to self 3: check the focus preview lever when fitting the housing back cover.

Here are my first impressions.

I found the rig clumsy and awkward. Swimming with it felt like I was dragging around a sea anchor. The strobes poked out at all angles and kept bashing the bottom or the jetty pylons. The quality of my shots was all over the place. The photos ranged from being drastically overexposed to being patchily lit as I struggled with all the controls being fully manual. I was rapidly starting to wonder why I had spent all this money. I realised for the first time how reliant I had become on using automatic aperture priority with TTL. I wondered what I had let myself in for.





But now for the good part! Operation of the controls was an absolute delight. The shutter performance through the housing felt amazing, with a sensitive but positive action. I could fire off shots as quickly as I wanted (strobes permitting) without having to manage the eight seconds per frame I was used to from my Olympus in raw mode. The ultra fast low-light auto focus caught me by surprise again and again as the camera was ready to take the shot before I was! In short, every gripe I had ever had with my previous compact experience was not only put to rest but done so spectacularly.

So, even though I did not get any fantastic images from my first dive, I know this will only be a matter of time, practice, lots of diving and just getting to know my way around all the controls.

Maybe I'll never really tame the beast, but we've got off to an excellent start. I know we'll make a great team.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photos: Robert Rath, 5DMkII, Port Hughes Jetty

New housing, initial configuration, first dive, first photograph. This image taken from the bottom of the tank looking skyward is quite a fun shot but after a little while it became evident to me that something was not quite right. After 30 minutes of 'snaps' and subsequent review I noted that the edges of my shots were often soft and my close focus capability was not what I expected. It was time to take a crash course in dome optics to try and understand these issues.

My initial configuration of Nexus M6 underwater housing , FP-160 dome with 40mm extension for the Canon EF 17-40mm zoom was set up for me by the guys at Sea Optics here in Adelaide. David and Carey have looked after me well over the last few years, given good advice and been patient with all my questions. This configuration was a first for them so they are just as eager as I am to get this combination right. After dive one it was time to debrief.

Dome ports provide underwater photographers with the ability to use wide angle lenses without field-of-view robbing diffraction and the well understood underwater magnification factor of 1.3x. For a wide angle photograph, you really need to restore the full field of view and this is what dome ports are good for. Unfortunately they are not always easy to get right, especially if you try and use a lens not actually designed for the job.

After a first round of googling, I discovered the existence of three key magic parameters in getting a dome configuration right: 'dome focal point', 'virtual infinity' and 'entry pupil'. The first of these is quite easy to get your head around. The focal point of a spherical dome is at the radius of its curvature. The second, the virtual infinity is some point in front of the dome where everything from you out to infinity has been compressed. The general rule of thumb here is three times the internal dome radius. In other words, if you have a dome with a radius of 8cm, then the entire undersea world will exist as a virtual image somewhere between the surface of the dome and the virtual infinity at 24cm. The last and most mysterious of these magic parameters is the 'entry pupil' of the lens. This is the point through which all rays of light converge within the lens on their way to the CCD, imager or film pane. It is generally the same point where the aperture control of the lens is placed. Now just to really mess with your head, it's not the real location of the aperture but the virtual one, and it moves around as you change zoom, focus and F-stop setting!

A bit of searching will reveal a host of techniques for locating the entry pupil location of a lens. This is a hot topic for photographers who stitch together multiple photographs for panoramic image creation, especially panoramas involving objects at close range. My favourite method involves simply placing your camera on a sheet of blank paper and drawing two parallel vertical lines up the left and right edge of the image as seen through the viewfinder or preview screen. Take away the camera and then extend these two lines to find where they cross. This is the point within the lens where the entry pupil exists. You will need to repeat this for all combinations of zoom length, focus and aperture and then use the average.

Armed with a bit of knowledge I sat down with my gear, rulers, paper and pencil and here's what I found my initial set-up actually looked like geometrically:

Figure 1. Evaluation of Initial Optical Performance



Test Details

Housing Nexus M6
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm F4.0L
Body: 5DMk2
Port Dome: Nexus FP-160-6/41345
Port Extension: 40mm

Evaluation Range Zoom: 17mm, 26mm & 40mm
Evaluation Range Focus: 0.28cm & Infinity
Evaluation Aperture: F4.0 (chosen for worst case)

Aim: To determine required geometric corrections.

Findings

All test/measurements were done at F4.0 on the assumption that this is the worst possible F-stop to get right. Subsequent measurements show a small movement in 'entry pupil' location as F-stops changed, but insignificant compared to the benefits of smaller apertures.

What I found was that the lens appeared to be located 30mm forward of the optimal location based on dome curvature. In an ideal world I'd just add another 30mm of extension and repeat just to confirm the measurements were correct, but alas, nothing is simple with underwater photography. Moving the dome forward will create significant vignetting of the image as the dome structure obscures some of the light and competes as a virtual aperture. This is because the dome is not a full hemisphere.

I plan to experiment with a combination of diopters and extension lengths to address the following three issues:

a) Correcting the entry pupil location to assist keeping the entire frame sharp.
b) Removing the vignetting associated with moving the dome forward.
c) Bringing the virtual foreground closer to the dome surface for better close focus performance without losing infinity.

My next two tests will be done with:

a) An extra 20mm of extension and a +2 diopter, and
b) An extra 30mm of extension with a +4 diopter.

I will write about my rationale for their selection in a later post along with my results.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

I recently became the proud owner of Nokia's new n97. One of the included trial applications which just blew me away for its 'utility' value is 'JoikuSpot' by Joikusoft.

Please visit my post titled Finding The J-Spot On The Nokia N97 at Innovation Mentor for my thoughts.

...Robert

A couple of weekends ago we were in Edithburgh again joining Paul McDonald for his first PADI DUWP course. It was fun just being involved without leading the course. A chance to just dive and take photos and be with a bunch of people who love diving and cameras. Over the weekend we dived at Edithburgh and Wool Bay. I even had the chance to do my first night dive here in ages even if it was cut a little short as I watched the tide rising inside the lens of my torch. Oh well it had served me well for more than 15 years so time to get a new one anyway.

I am delighted to say that Mr. Ray was here under Edithburgh Jetty again to pose for our cameras. I have seen this ray on many dives here over the last year and I am convinced it is the same ray. So officially or not I am declaring Mr. Ray an Edithburgh local.

I'll be posting a few more images from this weekend over the next few days so keep an eye out for some of the interesting critters we came across.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that's what you do! ) ...Robert

Photo: Robert Rath C7070 1/125s at f/3.5 ISO200 Inon UWL100-28AD Lens, Strobe + Natural Light