TerryGoss-viewbugadds-9
Jan, 2013Views
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Jaw Dropping
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Outer Banks, North Carolina; specifically, just out of Morehead City, on the wreck of the Spar. It's a big, beautiful, upright & intact wreck in shallow water (115 feet at the bottom, give or take), surrounded and covered with a variety of sea life.Time
The weather that week was great, so I was able to do up to three dives/day on this wreck, which they said was unusual. We would start in the early morning for the first two dives, and the afternoon boat left at about 3pm (?) Strong sunlight is a real plus, as there is a thick layer of turbid, silty water just below the deck of the wreck (about 70-80ft down), where visibility dropped to only a few feet for most of the morning.Lighting
SO HARD to light in these waters. my shots ranged from horribly underexposed to outrageously overexposed, sometimes within the same sequence. The really good, clear shots you see from this region are typically done by people who not only really know what they're doing, but have multiple dives in these waters specifically. It went from light to dark all morning, and the afternoons could be much worse if all the day's divers silted up the bottom.Equipment
I usually travel with two Nikon D300 bodies, Aquatica housing, Sea & Sea YS90 strobes (older, underpowered...) on Ultralight arms & clamps, Nikkor 12-24mm, 105mm macro, & Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lenses. I can't recall if I used that or my older Nikon D70s on this trip.Inspiration
Sand tiger sharks are so cool & weird, and contrary to their toothy appearance are actually extremely docile and casual. (Sorry to burst the implied backstory of the "scary shark!"....) In these waters, not only were the sharks plentiful and reasonably cool with being surrounded by divers, but they would often be enshrouded by massive clouds of sardines (or mackerel? Not sure of the species), which were surreal to watch on their own.Editing
Unfortunately, all of my shots from this trip required severe tweaking in order to be palatable. This is my favorite shot from the week, and it was terribly overexposed; it was the clearest little patch of water I had all day, and my rig was still set to compensate for very dark, low-vis water. Next time.......In my camera bag
When I'm at home or about the neighborhood, I only use an iPhone. For traveling, I'm stuck with baggage fees: I have a 50-pound Pelican case for the underwater rig & parts, and carry two Nikon D300 bodies in my backpack, usually along with my Nikkor 18-200mm, 105mm macro, 12-24mm, and the killer Tokina 10-17mm fisheye. Then there's all the dive gear, and as a result I travel with very little clothing or non-essentials. (You don't need any extra clothing on dive boats though, seriously.)Feedback
Plan on spending your first dive here exploring the wreck, and seeing what's there; then experiment with different setting for different critters & lighting. For the next dives, you can really hone in on what you want to get - my last two dives on this particular wreck were spent literally sitting on the bow, not moving for about 30 minutes. When I got a big shark to approach me with no other divers around, she literally stopped in front of me and I was able to get an uninterrupted ten minutes with her, all alone. :)
