A different kind of diving experience in Mexico
By Dan McGanty and Helen Brierley

Swimming with Dinosaurs in Mexico

Dan McGanty and Helen Brierley
A different kind of diving experience in Mexico

You’ve done it all and seen it all underwater, right?  Challenge!  How about 12’ crocs up close and personal?  If you are struggling with ‘just another pretty reef’ diving – and are willing to suffer a bit of rough and ready – then a trip to Chinchorro Bank has to be the remedy for you.  The bank is a shallow expanse of reefs, mangroves and a bit of dry land, 30 miles off the southernmost Caribbean coast of Mexico, just north of the border with Belize.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With a life-long passion for anything water-related, Helen and Dan take every opportunity to race sailboats in Southern California and scuba dive anywhere in the world.  Both Helen and Dan learned to scuba dive in the early 80’s, Helen in the UK and Dan in New York, and they currently call Los Angeles home.  Helen also serves as Board Chair for Reef Check, the global marine conservation foundation.

ALSO BY DAN MCGANTY AND HELEN BRIERLEY

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The new addition to Canons full-frame cameras with specs and recommended lenses.

Canon 6D Mark II Camera Review

Canon 6D Mark II Camera Review
The new addition to Canons full-frame cameras with specs and recommended lenses.

Celebrating the National Camera day, Canon USA Inc., has timely announced their new full-frame camera, EOS 6D Mark II.  The camera has been designed for the advanced-amateur photographers. It has been 5 years already since its predecessor, 6D, has been released and both topside and underwater photographers are thrilled with this announcement.

The camera is packed with great features such as 26.2 MP CMOS sensor, the dual pixel AF similar to the the 5D Mark IV, DIGIC7 Processor, touchscreen, wifi/gps and a lot more. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chino Mendoza , is an avid diver and underwater photographer and tries to go everytime he can.  He is based in Manila which is a few hours Anilao which is the “critter capital of the Philippines”  He likes to shoot macro and his favorite subjects are nudibranchs and frogfishes.

Get in touch with him via email at lorenzo@bluewaterphotostore.com

View Chino's work:  Facebook     |     Instagram

ALSO BY CHINO MENDOZA

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Create New and Unexpected Images with Common Household Items
By Indigo Bolandrini

Creative DIY Bokeh

Creative DIY Bokeh
Indigo Bolandrini
Create New and Unexpected Images with Common Household Items

You would expect a 15 year old girl to be begging her mother to buy her nail polish so she can lighten up her nails with the snazziest new trend. However, in my case, I’m begging for nail polish for my underwater photography craze… yes, you read that right. So, how exactly does nail polish correlate to underwater photography? And what does this have to do with bokeh

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Indigo Bolandrini is a 15 years old, and a passionate underwater photographer. She started diving when she was 11, and since then has been hooked on this magical hobby. At 12, Indigo became one of PADI’s youngest Junior Master Scuba Divers, and now has just over 700 logged dives, and an around 25 certifications from different agencies. Indigo has become extremely eager to save our deteriorating oceans and hopes to use her photos to make a positive impact on the marine life that inhabits this world. 

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

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Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


How to Get Results Using a Snoot for Underwater Photography
By Brook Peterson

Acting Snooty!

Brook Peterson
How to Get Results Using a Snoot for Underwater Photography

Snoot photography can be a fun and rewarding way to up your game in underwater photography.  Besides being a quirky word, a snoot is a tool photographers use to manipulate light. Underwater, it is most often used in macro photography, but can be a valuable tool for wide angle shooting, especially in less than stellar conditions.  Take a look at the following images to get an idea of what a snoot can do. The image below was taken using two strobes to light the subject.  Although the image is not a bad one, it is a little bit busy and can be made much better.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brook Peterson is an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer who enjoys capturing the beauty of the under water environment throughout the world. She is an original member of the SEA&SEA Alpha program. Her work has been featured in both print and online magazines.  She is the owner of Waterdog Photography and authors a blog on underwater photography and techniques.  More of her work can be found at:

www.waterdogphotography.com  |  Facebook  |  instagram@waterdogphotography_brook.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

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Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


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Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


A different approach in creating interesting and unique underwater photos.
By Matthew Sullivan

Taking Vintage Lenses Underwater

Taking Vintage Lenses Underwater
Matthew Sullivan
A different approach in creating interesting and unique underwater photos.

 

In the constant quest for new and unique images, photographers in general come up with any number of interesting ways to make their photographs stand out. Underwater photographers are no exception. Generally this leads to two things. Lots and lots of experimentation and failure, and/or some fantastic creations.

 

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matthew Sullivan is an underwater and conservation photographer based out of Los Angeles, CA. For more of his pictures follow him on Instagram.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5 full frame fisheye preview and initial thoughts
By Matthew Sullivan

Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5 Full Frame Fisheye Lens Pre-Review

Matthew Sullivan
Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5 full frame fisheye preview and initial thoughts

It was a long time coming, but Nikon has finally released another full frame (FX) fisheye, this time an 8-15mm 3.5/4.5 zoom. Full frame Canon shooters will be familiar with this lens as Canon has long had the Canon 8-15mm f4L Fisheye lens

The lens does not telescope so retains the same barrel length throughout the zoom range. It also has Nikon’s optical coating for increased optical performance

Reviews: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matthew Sullivan is an underwater and conservation photographer based out of Los Angeles, CA. For more of his pictures follow him on Instagram.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


Learn how to use the spray can tool to add keywords and metadata to your images

Lightroom Tips & Tricks: The Spray Can Tool

Learn how to use the spray can tool to add keywords and metadata to your images

One of the challenges of keeping your images organized and easy to locate stems from having a well-defined strategy for adding ‘keywords’ and ‘metadata’ to your images. I wanted to share with you one of Lightroom’s most useful tools for quickly adding this information to your images. Getting into the habit of labeling your shots is a worthwhile investment of time and this useful tool should make the work fast and simple.

 

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Erik Lukas is an active diver and photographer based in Los Angeles, CA. He is a volunteer scuba diver at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. You can expect to find Erik diving many of the amazing Pacific Ocean sites of Southern California, camera in hand, at any chance he can get.

See more of his underwater photography on Instagram at SeeUnderSea, or visit his website at www.seeundersea.com

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


In-depth review of the Fantasea Sony a6500 and a6300 housing for macro and wide-angle, tested through a series of 30 dives in the Philippines
By Brent Durand

Fantasea FA6500 Housing Review

Brent Durand
In-depth review of the Fantasea Sony a6500 and a6300 housing for macro and wide-angle, tested through a series of 30 dives in the Philippines

Fantasea, known for the great performance and fantastic value of their compact camera housings, has entered the mirrorless housing game with the Fantasea FA6500. This new interchangeable port housing works with both the Sony a6500 and Sony a6300. For this review, I shot the Sony a6500 on 30 dives during the Bluewater Photo workshop in Anilao, Philippines.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brent Durand is a weekend wanderer and story teller from California.

Brent is an avid diver and adventure photographer, and shoots underwater any time he can get hands on a camera system. He can be reached at brent@uwphotographyguide.com.

Follow Underwater Photography Guide on Facebook or Instagram.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


Detailed review of the Sony a6500 mirrorless camera for underwater photo and video, tested for macro and wide-angle across 30 dives in the Philippines.
By Brent Durand

Sony a6500 Camera Review

Brent Durand
Detailed review of the Sony a6500 mirrorless camera for underwater photo and video, tested for macro and wide-angle across 30 dives in the Philippines.

The Sony a6500 was announced very soon after the a6300; so close in fact that the camera was just becoming available as I was shooting for our a6300 camera review. Needless to say, the Sony a6500 features some nice upgrades.

Reviews: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brent Durand is a weekend wanderer and story teller from California.

Brent is an avid diver and adventure photographer, and shoots underwater any time he can get hands on a camera system. He can be reached at brent@uwphotographyguide.com.

Follow Underwater Photography Guide on Facebook or Instagram.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


This detailed look at the underwater animals of Vancouver Island will have you packing your drysuit and camera gear right away
By Aaron Halstead

Portraits from God's Pocket

Aaron Halstead
This detailed look at the underwater animals of Vancouver Island will have you packing your drysuit and camera gear right away

A couple years ago, I would never have guessed my vacation time would be spent packing an ever changing assortment of dive gear into checked luggage and carry-on camera gear, hoping on a series of planes, diving, and then repeating that process all over again.  To further complicate airline luggage rules, you also have these bulky dry suits and undergarments to pack and you begin to think, why would people do this to themselves?  Put simply, because it's so worth it!

Article: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aaron Halstead is an avid diver, critter enthusiast and underwater photographer living in Southern California. He is pretty addicted, send help.

More work can be found on his InstagramWebsite, or Facebook page.

SUPPORT THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE:

The Best Service & Prices on u/w Photo Gear

 

Visit Bluewater Photo & Video for all your underwater photography and video gear. Click, or call the team at (310) 633-5052 for expert advice!

 


The Best Pricing, Service & Expert Advice to Book your Dive Trips

 

Bluewater Travel is your full-service scuba travel agency. Let our expert advisers plan and book your next dive vacation. Run by divers, for divers.

 


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