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...

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...

The light from a bare flash can be quite harsh causing deep shadows (Figure 1). This can result in the loss of detail in highlight and/or shadow areas of an image. A softbox can be used on the flash to soften the light (Figure 2). Basically a softbox provides a translucent area onto which the light from the flash is projected. The subject is then lit by the translucent area which is much larger than the bare flash resulting in more even lighting. To date I have made 4 softboxes, excluding prototypes. I use 3 of them on a regular basis for macro photography and I carry these three in my camera backpack all the time.   More...

In mid-October, 2008, I noticed some tiny katydid nymphs in the backyard and I have been watching them grow over that last 3 months. One has finally reached adulthood and I thought this would be a good time to document their growth, especially now that I can more accurately identify the species.   More...

While walking the dogs this morning, I spied some native orchids to the side of the track. I headed back this afternoon to get some photographs. After looking more closely, I found a great number of spike and it appears there may be more than one species.   More...

My AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D lens allows me to get 1:1 magnification when focused to its closest distance. This is great for many subjects but subjects less than around 20 millimetres in length end up being too small in the frame. I've had a Nikon PK-13 tube for over 12 years but one of the drawbacks with the tube is that there is no CPU linkage and autofocus is lost. I recently borrowed a set of Kenko extension tubes from a friend and have been having a lot of fun using them.   More...

My usual technique for shooting macro on the monopod is to have the camera on manual focus, set the focus point and then rock the camera forward or back until the desired part of the image (e.g. the eyes on a spider) are in focus. The monopod means I can hold the camera fairly steady with just my right hand. This frees my left hand for holding foliage out of the way or even steadying the foliage, particularly if there is wind around. The problem I have when holding foliage with my left hand is I have no way to adjust the focus if I want to move closer to fill the frame more or further away because the subject changed its angle. I have recently discovered that I can use the AF-ON button on my Nikon D300 to make focus adjustments but still use my manual focus technique for the actual focusing.   More...

In February 2008, I was introduced to Lightroom by a friend. Almost immediately, I realised this was a great improvement to my post processing workflow, but I was frustrated by the initial raw conversion (as have been a lot of other users). When Lightroom 2.0 was released, Adobe also introduced beta versions of prebuilt camera profiles for use with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) which is used by Lightroom and Photoshop. The profiles were well received but my own testing left me disappointed. After much experimentation and asking lots of questions I determined why my results weren't good and now I find the profiles very useful.   More...

Last Sunday I went for a dive at The Steps at Kurnell. The site is named for the steep steps you have to descend from the car park to the water's edge. The site is just around the corner from The Monument.   More...

I received a Jeff Mullins' Underwater Leak Detector just before I went away on my Undersea trip (only just in time, too) and have not had a chance to write about it. I used it for the 13 dives and one snorkel and I had no problems at all. I guess this is one purchase I hope I never have to find out if it works.   More...

Nikon digital SLR cameras internally store the total number of shutter releases for the camera. This information is then included in the Exif data embedded in each image taken with the camera. The total number of shutter releases is useful to know especially when buying or selling a camera but is also a handy piece of information if you want to get an approximation for the number of photographs taken.   More...

In August I went on my sixth trip on Undersea Explorer. These trips provide fantastic photographic opportunities with subjects ranging from whales (if we're lucky) all the way down to tiny nudibranchs. On previous trips I have taken more than two thousand photographs over 20-22 dives. Unfortunately for this trip, I came down with the 'flu a few days before the start of the trip and didn't recover in time. Out of a possible 21 dives, I only completed 13 with less than one thousand photographs which was disappointing. Despite the 'flu, I did manage to get some pleasing photographs.   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...

While investigating geotagging and GPS loggers for my above water photographs I stumbled on a novel idea for my underwater photographs. While GPS doesn't really work underwater, I can use the GPS altitude field to store the depth of each photograph and set the latitude and longitude to a specific location for all the photographs.   More...

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...