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RDVPhotography

Pizon Reef Shark

From a dive trip to Truk Lagoon on the Odyssey. Must have been 12-15 of these reef sharks swimming around us divers.

From a dive trip to Truk Lagoon on the Odyssey. Must have been 12-15 of these reef sharks swimming around us divers.
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DSC

Aperture f/5.2 ISO 100 Shutter 1/125

upload_date

Dec, 2014

Views

2371

Likes

+261

Awards

People's Choice in Diving Photo Challenge

Featured

Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 15 Photo Contest

Contest Finalist in Marine Wildlife Photo Contest

Peer Award

+96

Superb Composition

+28

Absolute Masterpiece

+12

Top Choice

+10

Superior Skill

Magnificent Capture

All Star

Outstanding Creativity

Genius

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Categories

How do you not get eaten?

Beautiful shot. Is it difficult to get the exposure correct in the sea?

You know what love the fish in this capture voted Marine Wildlife.

PRO+

Hope he was friendly - voted Marine

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Thans very much Kathy, really appreciiate the vote. I made it into the finals.

PRO+

I noticed a couple days ago that replies to comment made via the inbox do not appear here. I want to thank everyone who left me a comment and hope you saw that I replied. Not sure why the replies do not show up under the photo where you each left a comment. Must be Viewbug BUG :D

Crystal clear!

PRO+

That is what I liked about diving in the Pacific.

This is so amazing, voted Amazing ocean!

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Thanks much.

PRO+

Such an amazing shot - voted amazing oceans

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Another Vote, thanks Kathy

Great capture!

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Thanks much Tom. Not doing this type of photography anymore, gave up diving. : (

voted up close

Crystal clear. voted Your summer.

PRO+

Appreciate the vote Gigi. This one has done so well on ViewBug, I should go through some of my old underwater picutres.

voted underwater fun!

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And FUN! it was Gigi. tanks : D

great!

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Thanks, amazing what an older 8 Mega Pixel camera is capable of.

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Whoa, well deserved Awards! Congrats!

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Thank you very much Carol

Amazing, you're very brave!

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Safety in numbers ; ) at least that is what the dive master said.

Congratulations 👏

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Thank you very much Sophie

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Behind The Lens

Location

This was at Truk Lagoon while on a live aboard dive trip aboard the Odyssey in April 2007. We were photographing sharks at Pizon Reef, and there were many white tip and black tip reef sharks at this location. This was my third time to dive Truk Lagoon and this time it was a two week trip.

Time

This particular image was taken at 11:30 AM and was our last dive before lunch.

Lighting

I used two strobes for this image and you can see that allowed me to light up the belly of this beast. The depth was about 45 feet so there was some light from above.

Equipment

I was using a Sea & Sea 8000G housing and camera. A rather simple 8 megapixel camera with only three choices of f stop and a zoom lens that went in 4 steps only. I also had a wet wide angle lens on the front of the housing which I could take on and off as I desired. The settings for this shot was 1/125 sec., f/5.2 at ISO 100 and a focal length of 16mm.

Inspiration

When I first got into diving I did not have a camera, I was still shooting film above the water. When I saw what other divers were getting with digital cameras versus film, I was hooked on underwater photography digitally. I had been to this location two previous trips and figured out some of the best places to hang out for close encounters. This trip I was prepared and waited for the sharks to come my way while staying still and floating behind some coral.

Editing

This was a JPG file, no RAW in this simple camera, so I used Photoshop Elements to process this image. I made simple lighting, contrast and color adjustments.

In my camera bag

In my underwater photography days I carried two cameras, two housings, two strobes, a wide angle wet lens, focus light and tray to mount everything on. I carried two cameras & housings in case I flooded one, so I could be assured of photos the entire trip. I always used two strobes but if I had a problem with one I could get along with only one. I also carried 2 sets of spare batteries for each camera and light and chargers. Also either a laptop or small device to download photos so I could use memory cards over again. I had 2 sets of memory cards for each camera.

Feedback

Read about your subject and talk the dive master about each dive a day ahead and make a plan. In my case it was helpful that I had been here before and not everyone has that luxury, research is your best approach. I research everywhere I go, especially the first time. When I have a trip or place I am interested in I will look for photos others have captured there. I find many social media outlets good for this including Viewbug.

See more amazing photos, follow RDVPhotography

RDVPhotography

RDVPhotography

Pizon Reef Shark

From a dive trip to Truk Lagoon on the Odyssey. Must have been 12-15 of these reef sharks swimming around us divers.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow RDVPhotography

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