Author: travel67

Underwater Leak Detector

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One of the major issues with underwater photography is the possibility of flooding the housing with water and damaging the camera. I believe the majority of cases of flooding don’t occur due to some catastrophic failure of the housing (crumpling under the pressure) but rather an imperfect o ring seal due to a spec of dirt or a hair. In these cases water may trickle rather than surge inside the housing. If you’re busy checking your gauges, or you’re diving at night you may not notice the water until it’s too late. Some housings come with a built in leak detector, but for those that don’t, a quick visit to UWleakdetectors.com is a good idea. For 36 dollars you get a little bit of circuitry, velcro and some blue tack that may just save your equipment from a dunking. With regards to my housing I checked with Ikelite and it turns out that there is a control on the housing that allows you to press the lens release button. Now this has been pointed out …

Karate Masters Portrait Project – Behind the Scenes

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A few behind the scenes photos that James took on the last shoot. You can see the black velvet background I set up behind them and the strobe with beauty dish on a light stand. The strobe is connected to a flash generator which plugs into the wall. This is a much more cumbersome setup than simply using an hotshoe flash but I like the power, recycling time and flash duration I get with the studio gear. I’ve mentioned it before, but when traveling or in the studio it’s great to be able to show the subject you’ve just photographed or the client the image. The large screen on the back of the camera is pretty good for this, but tethering the camera to a laptop (now possible with the 645D) would make this even better (but far more cumbersome). With a clean black background and without the need to do beauty retouching, pretty much what you see on the back of the camera is going to be the final image. Back home I sort …

Dusk at Cape Zanpa

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Cape Zanpa (also spelt, or arguably misspelt, Cape Zampa) at dusk. This was the first time out shooting with a new shift setup for the 645D. I used a Pentax 67 45mm lens with a Zörk ProSA-P67 adapter. This adapter not only allows you to use 67 lenses on the 645 camera but also allows you to raise or lower the lens to correct converging verticals when shooting landscapes or architecture. More details and images should follow over the next few weeks.

Synchronized Freedive Photography

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Freediving is diving without the use of SCUBA gear. Jacques Mayol (as mentioned in my Yonaguni posts) was one of the world’s most famous exponents of the sport. While my parents were visiting Okinawa I took them snorkeling at Cape Maeda. I brought the K5 camera and housing along, held my breath, and got some shots of them exploring the reef. My dad brought along his W60 waterproof P&S and at one point we took photos at the exact same time. It turns out that freediving and photography are a tricky mix. As a photographer you’re often limited by battery life, memory cards, imagination and talent, but removing the ability to breathe is perhaps pushing things a little too far. Until I’ve developed gills, I think I stick to doing most of my underwater photography with a tank of air.

A Swift Adventure – Iheya Island, Okinawa

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Last weekend, I went over to Iheya Island with fellow photographers David and Jose. It’s a 90 minute ferry ride from Unten Port on the Motobu peninsular. Rather than rent a car when we got there, we all bundled into my little Swift. One of the advantages of a small car is that it makes the ferry ride cheaper. The weather wasn’t great while we there, thick clouds at dawn and dusk meant there were no spectacular sunrises or sunsets. It was, however, a decent opportunity to explore one of the islands I’d never been to before. And because I didn’t get all the shots I wanted I have a good reason to go back again. One of the island’s attractions is Kumaya-gama a large cave beside the ocean that holds a small shinto shrine. I think the plastic buckets you can see on the floor to the right of the shrine are to collect droplets of water dripping from the rock. At other religious sites in Okinawa such as Sefa Utaki, this water is …

In the Studio – Catron

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A fun studio shoot with Catron, makeup by Summer Johnson. Lighting setup was the same as in the recent shoot with Yuki. To give the final image a little movement, I brought in a desk fan from my office and asked Summer to point is at Catron’s face. I  shot several frames as the exact result is unpredictable, but  was really pleased with the image we created.

In the Studio – Yuki

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A few studio images of Yuki that she can use to update her portfolio. We shot three looks; natural, casual and formal. I kept the style of image simple with a grey background, but used 5 lights: a beauty dish as the main light, a softbox providing fill, two strip boxes for rim light and a hotshoe flash pointed at the background. A far more complicated setup than the single light karate portraits, but for beauty shots it’s great to have both the option to use more lights and the time to work with them. Makeup by Summer Johnson and jewelry provided by Ledeen Diamond Co. Boutique.