Paradise Reef Night Dive

Well, I've been told since I started shooting underwater, if you think your close, get closer. For those that are unfamiliar with underwater photography, a good strobe is a huge must have. The color spectrum is lost as you go deeper so to bring it back, you need to add white light. But water has particles generally not visible to the naked eye. As the light is added the risk of experiencing what is called "backscatter". This is where the particles reflect the light back to the lense creating pictures with white spots and requiring a great deal of cleaning with software to gain a useable image.
Another factor is the magnification of the water, where things appear 25% larger or closer than they really are.This causes one to think they are more intimate with their subject than they really are.
Putting everything together, getting closer reduces the particles between you and the subject and using a strobe up and away allows the light to be directed at an angle where the reflected light will be away from the lense, eliminating or reducing the backscatter.
Now, why am I telling all of this? Well, because at the time we were in the islands, we met Irene as a tropical storm, before becoming a hurricane. She dumped quite a lot of rain on the islands as she passed to the south of us and provided a great deal of run-off into the Caribbean reducing the visability for our diving for the week and added alot of extra particles to have to avoid. The images below were shot up close and personal on a night dive later in that week.

Butterflies - Recent Captures

Working on some Market Place images, decided to post them as well.

Pelicans in Iowa - Who Would Have Thought!

As the pictures from the recent posts show it was exciting to see the Bald eagles again. A real surprise was when heading to Des Moine we stopped by Red Rock Dam to see if there were any eagles near the open water. And yes there were but not near the number that were at the power plant in Ottumwa. But the real surprise was the flock of pelicans we found. I would never expect to see pelicans inland away from the coast, but my mother-in-law's husband acted like he was surprised they were still there. I guess they must be there year round which was a real blessing for me. There was quite a number of geese there also, but I was definitely more interested in the pelicans. Some of those pictures follow:

More American Eagles from the Midwest

This will be the last of the Bald eagles from our Christmas trip to the midwest. However, the next post will be what was a surprise for me while out there. But you will have to wait to find out what the surprise was.

More Bald Eagles From Ottumwa, Iowa

Here is the second installment of the Bald Eagles from Ottumwa, IA. Its been a great opportunity. Blue skys would have made these pictures more appealing, however I have to accept and do the best with what is available. Overcast skies was the order of the whole week.

Bald Eagles in Iowa

Once again while in the Midwest over the Holidays, I had the opportunity to go to Ottumwa, Iowa to photograph the Bald eagles. Just as last year, it was a fridged 9 degrees, but the wind wasn't as bad as last year. This made it more bearable. And believe me, when the opportunity arises to have access to so many American eagles, I for sure will brave a great deal. I was amazed at the different color patterns these fine specimens displayed. I had to do some minor research to be assured that some, as in the first picture, were indeed Bald eagles. But apparently, they are just young birds that have not sexually matured having white head and tail feathers. Their maturing process could take up to 5 years.

Soaring, with an Ottumwa neighborhood in the background.

With the northern waters frozen over, the power plant in the background creates the warmer open waters for feeding.

This last picture shows how they were perching in the trees along the Des Moines river below the power plant.

Belize Fauna on the Way to Lamanai

In June, I went to Belize on a missions trip. At the end of the week we took a boat ride up the New River to the Mayan ruins at Lamanai located in the north. The trip took about an 1 1/2 hrs. making numerous stops to view and photograph the jungle wildlife.