Santa Cruz, Channel Islands Dive Report

Photos from the first Underwater Photography Guide trip of 2010

24 of us set sail on the Peace boat to Santa Cruz Island for some Channel Islands diving, with camera and video recorders in hand. We left at 3AM, and the 3 1/2 hour journey to Gull Island, at the southwest corner of Santa Cruz, was fairly smooth except for an hour of bumps as we crossed the channel from Ventura to Anacapa Island.

As we arrived at Gull island, Santa Cruz - The sun was out, and California Grey whales surrounded the boat! They were all over the place.

Photo by Carl Gwinn. F11, 1/1250th, 300mm

Careful Composition in your Underwater Photos

A lesson on underwater composition

With a little bit of work, you can get good compositions in your underwater photography. Very good compositions, however, can be very difficult. 

No matter if you are using a compact camera or a dSLR, sometimes the slightest movement of the camera can throw off a composition. Such is the case for a composition like this 3-inch long Coralline Sculpin, taken at Santa Cruz island in the northern Channel Islands.

New Instructional Underwater Photography Video Tutorials

Video series to help beginner underwater photographers

The Underwater Photography Guide has added a series of free instructional underwater photography videos.

Topics covered in the videos include strobe positions, avoiding backscatter, adding wet lenses, basic composition and avoiding hotspots. Check back often for new videos, which will be added every couple weeks.

PMA 2010 cameras, lenses, other new stuff

I visited PMA 2010 as press today, which got me free wireless, coffee and bagels. I also checked out some new cameras and lenses. Here's a quick run-down of the stops I made and what I saw: