After a month of poor weather, I finally got to go for a dive yesterday. The dive was at Shiprock on Port Hacking, which is a very popular dive site, well protected from rough seas. I remember doing a night dive there some time in the early 1980s but don't know exactly when as I don't have it logged.   More...

I have had a minor annoyance with the design of the tray handle that came with the housings for both the D70 and the D300. No matter how much I tighten the mounting bolts, there is always a certain amount of movement between the tray and the housing. After thinking about it for over 12 months, I finally did something about it last night and made some spacers out of aluminium.   More...

I hear stories of people losing their photographs. I also hear people asking about the best methods to backup their data. I thought people might get value from reading my backup methods, not because I think mine are the best, but simply to provide ideas for some possible methods.   More...

I have three lenses that I currently use for underwater work, Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II, Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D and Tokina AT-X PRO DX 12-24mm f/4. Each lens has its strengths and weaknesses and each is more appropriate for certain subjects. Unlike above water photography, you can't change lenses while you are underwater, so you must choose the lens before the dive and live with it for the whole dive. Additionally, unlike above water photography, you need to minimise the amount of water between the lens and the subject so lens choice is somewhat more important. Below are my opinions of my three lenses and the sorts of dives/subjects I shoot with them.   More...

When I publish my dive photographs, I like to include an approximation of the depth at which the photographs were taken. I can do this because the camera records the time a photograph was taken and my dive watch and dive computer log their depth at 5 second intervals. Combining this information allows me to determine the depth.   More...

I have done a few dives of late with my Nikon D300 in the Ikelite Housing. I'm pretty happy with rig and getting better at using it with each dive. While I still prefer the Nikkor 18-55mm for its flexibility, especially when the potential subjects at a site are not known, I just love the results from the Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 in the flat port. I haven't yet done enough dives with the Tokina 12-24mm to know if I like it yet.   More...

On Sunday I dived at The Monument at Kurnell with some folk from St George Underwater Centre. This was my fifth dive with the D300. I was expecting a mixture of subjects so I took the 18-55mm lens in dome port to give me some flexibility.   More...

While walking the dogs through Mount Sion Park yesterday afternoon, I noticed a large golden orb weaver, Nephila sp. just off the path. On today's walk, I took the D300, 60mm lens, SB800 flash with collapsable softbox and monopod and got some nice shots.   More...

In mid-February a friend provided a demonstration of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. I was quite impressed and thought I would evaluate the product to replace my current workflow. It has been an interesting experience and I have to say it is not an easy tool to pick up.   More...

Since starting to use Adobe Lightroom, I have found a number of occasions where I am unable to manipulate a Nikon raw file (NEF) to my satisfaction using Lightroom's raw converter. In these cases, Nikon's CaptureNX does a much better job and so I needed a way to simply launch CaptureNX from Lightroom when required. The problem with Lightroom is that it assumes that any external editor can't do the raw conversion and so converts the raw file to a standard format such as TIFF and launches the editor with that file. This means that I don't get the benefits of the raw conversion in CaptureNX. I devised a workaround which works quite well.   More...

Last Sunday I went for a dive at Oak Park, Cronulla with Tim Everest and Colin Keene. This was my fourth dive with the D300 in its Ikelite Housing.   More...

In December 2007, I made a softbox for use with my flash. It has worked extremely well and I have got some great photographs with nice soft lighting. The problem with the softbox is the shape means it is not easy to carry around (other than in use). After thinking about it for a while I realised it would be fairly easy to make a collapsable version which will squash flat and can easily fit into my pack.   More...

I have had my Nikon D300 for a couple of months and I now have an underwater housing for it. I have used the housing on one dive so far and am reasonably happy with the results.   More...

After 4 weeks of trying, I finally got accepted as a contributor on Alamy. Note that this doesn't mean they (or I) think that I'm a great photographer. I think it is more to do with me working out the tricks for getting accepted.   More...

I have noticed a few hits to my site from people looking for information on resetting the file sequence number on a Nikon D300. I suspect they made the same mistake as I made when they got their new cameras. I will document it here in this article so they don't have to wade through my D300 one.   More...

It has been nearly 3 years since I bought my first digital SLR, the D70. The camera has served me well with some 14.5 thousand shutter actuations. I have used it both above and below water and while I only have a few complaints, it was time to upgrade. At the time the D300 was announced, I was already contemplating an upgrade. Once I saw the specifications for the D300, I knew I had to have one.   More...

I bought my Nikon SB-24 flash in 1991 when I bought my F-801s. The flash has served me well for over 16 years but I do miss the TTL exposure control that I had with the film cameras and I have been using it with the D70 in manual mode. I thought it was time to get a SB-800 and so I bought one.   More...

I took a photograph of an orb weaver in the backyard on a week or so ago using the Nikon D70, Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 and Sunpak GX14 on the DIY macro bracket. I was pleased with the composition but felt the image was lacking something. I sought some advice from the folks at NatureScapes.Net and the general consensus was the lighting was too harsh and I'd be better off with a softbox to diffuse the light. I didn't have one so I thought it was time to make one to fit my Nikon Speedlight SB-24.   More...

I have decided to start a blog so I can share ideas, experiences and other information that I hope will be relevant to some readers. The frequency of the blog articles will depend on my available time as well as the number of interesting ideas I have.   More...