It was chilly in my area this weekend, which makes we wish for either warmer weather or a trip to a warm weather spot. As I scrolled through photos looking for something to post, I had that in my head. Therefore, you’re getting this photo I took from the Bahamas. This was a great spot to spend the day, with the Caribbean Sea on one side and a beautiful lagoon on the other.
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Wow, the weekend goes by fast!! I had a full day, which started with a little bando photography and ended with a nice BBQ with the family. Now, I’m relaxing before I go to sleep. I was debating about what photo to share with you and ultimately decided to go with a beach scene. That said, here is a photo I took in the Bahamas using my drone.
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I’m posting this photo for my friend David. He asked me to keeping posting drone photos…. I don’t know why…. Or maybe I do. Regardless, this is the Carnival Elation from above while it was anchored in the Bahamas.
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Here is another photo from our time at Princess Cay Beach in the Bahamas. And you guessed it, this is also from my new drone.
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Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries. I update and add to them often.
How about a little drone video from Princess Cay Bahamas
Carnival Elation destination stop
You’ll have to forgive me. You might get a heavy dose of aerial photography since I have a new (my first) drone. I got my drone (DJI Mavic Pro) about 2 days before our trip. So, I probably had a grand total of 10 flights with it before we got on the cruise ship. I almost didn’t take it with me since it was so new and I didn’t have any experience with drones. It is extremely easy to fly, operate and get some great video and photos.
Tonight’s photo was from our 2nd day on the cruise when the ship was anchored off the shore of Princess Cay Bahamas. I flew the drone over the ship and took 5 shots straight down (I couldn’t get the entire ship in one photo) and then merged them together in Photoshop later to get this final photo. Frankly, I think this photo is pretty darn good when I think about how little drone experience I had at the time.
By the way, this might be one of the last photos of this ship in its current shape/design. It is going into dry dock very soon and the top decks are getting completely redone (new pools, water slides, etc…). I’m curious to see how different it will look after. Anyway, tell me what you think for this aerial photo.
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We just got back from our latest adventure. We spent a few days visiting family in northern Florida and then hopped on aboard the Carnival Elation for a relaxing cruising. A few days before we left, I got a new toy… I mean a new professional tool. I got myself a DJI Mavic Pro…. And I have to tell you it is great. Within a few flights I was very comfortable with it. So while on our cruise, I captured this photo of the Carnival Elation off the coast of Princess Cay (Bahamas).
I launched the drone from the island and flew it out past the ship to get this angle back towards the shore. Amazing toy… I mean tool. More aeriel photos to come in the future.
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This is a re-print of the article I wrote for Nikon Rumors.com, which they posted on their website on Jan. 11, 2013. You can see that version here: http://nikonrumors.com/2014/01/11/guest-post-shark-photography.aspx/
Shark photography….really???? I know that’s what you’re asking at this very moment. Let me come back to that question.
My interest in photography and scuba diving was engrained in me early by my father. In the 1960’s he was scuba diving on shipwrecks in the Great Lakes during the infancy of recreational scuba diving, as we know it today. He also worked as a professional photographer his entire life, so I grew up surrounded by these activities and his passions were passed onto me. Over the last twenty-five years I’ve completed hundreds of dives in all different environments (lakes, quarries, cenotes, rivers, ice, oceans, wrecks, deep dives, reefs, drift diving, big animals, exotic locations, etc.) in over 20 countries and taken tons of photos. I started taking my photography seriously about six years ago. No big shock that I decided to combine my hobbies and purchased an Ikelite underwater housing and strobes for my Nikon D90. Since then, I’ve upgraded my main camera to a Nikon D800 and focused my photography on three areas (HDR Landscapes, HDR Architecture, and underwater images). I use the D800 for the above-water work and continue to use my Nikon D90 setup for the underwater work.
Photographing sharks in their native environment is one of the things I love most. So back to the question about “shark photography…really?” Yes really!! Now I realize that scuba diving isn’t for everyone. And scuba diving with some of the most dangerous animals on earth really isn’t for everyone. I’ve had countless people ask me why? Why risk it? Why would I even want to be that close? Why get in the water with these animals? In the end, the answer is the same….. I love seeing these beautiful animals up close and for those brief encounters trying to just experience the moment. I don’t find them scary and have never been threatened by them for a second. I honestly don’t think they see humans as anything other then something odd in their world. In the past I’ve dove with Great Whites, Tiger Sharks, Lemon Sharks, Reef Sharks, etc…. So when we were planning our last trip and decided on the Playa del Carmen area of Mexico, I knew it was an opportunity to dive with and photograph Bull Sharks.
Mark from Phocea Mexico
So I booked my dives in advance with Phocea Mexico (http://www.phoceamexico.com/). I must say they were the friendliest, most well organized, and greatest value of any dive operator I’ve encountered in all my travels. During the months of November through March, they do a daily Bull Shark dive about a quarter of a mile out from the main swimming beach in Playa del Carmen Mexico. Earlier in the day, I completed two reef dives with them and saw Bull Sharks in the distance during those dives. On all of my past shark dives, the crew used chum to get the sharks to come in close to us. Not here!!!! We literally took the boat out from the beach, went over the side and quickly dropped to the sandy bottom at about 60 feet deep and waited. Within minutes the sharks found us and came in close for a peek at the visitors in their territory. After about ten minutes the numerous sharks got bored of us and moved off…..I thought. Later when we started to swim back up to the boat, one of them followed us right up to the surface. Nothing like looking down and finding a 10-foot Bull Shark right below your feet…. I loved every minute.
On the Bull Shark dive, I photographed them using my Nikon D90 in the Ikelite housing with two Ikelite strobes. I had the camera set in Manual mode at f8, ISO 100, and 120th of a second, RAW format with the shark about 10 feet away. Top side, I used Photomatix Pro to tone map the image and convert it into a black and white (B/W) image in Photoshop CS6. I felt converting it into a B/W helped make the shark pop out of the image. The original picture was very blue since there isn’t much light to distinguish colors below 30 feet. The color image was a little flat.
Great White Shark - Guadalupe Island Mexico
Tiger Shark in Bahamas
Great White Shark
Bull Shark
Bull Shark
There are times, when I wish I could just get in the water
and dive. I’ve been lucky over the
years with opportunities to dive in a ton of great warm water locations such as
Bermuda, Guadalupe Island, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Bahamas, Mexican Cenotes, La
Paz, Roatan Island Honduras, Curacao, Aruba…just to name a small few. I’ve also been very lucky to have had
experiences diving all kinds of ship wrecks in a number of Great Lakes places
like Mackinaw Straits, Whitefish Point, Lexington, Munising, etc….. In short, they have all been amazing in
their own way and I truly love diving.
When I can combine my three favorite hobbies of scuba diving,
photography and travel together; it is even better…especially if my wife (and
best friend) is with me.
I got to dive at Christmas while we were in Miami, but sitting here tonight, diving is all I can think about. I wish I could go tonight, but it will have to wait until my next trip, which includes stops in places like St. Maarten, St. Kitts, and St. Lucia. I know I’ve got some great diving ahead of me…. I just need to wait…. So in the mean time, I’ve been looking through some of my diving pictures. Which probably doesn’t help my desire to dive tonight.
So tonight’s picture is of a wild Atlantic Spotted Dolphin that I took a picture of while on an ocean crossing aboard a charter dive boat going from Fort Lauderdale to the west end of Bahamas. As we were traveling, we saw a pod of five dolphins swimming near our boat. That’s all it took, we grabbed our mask, fins, and snorkel (I also grabbed my camera) and we all jumped in the water. We got a wonderful 30 minutes of playtime with the dolphins. They stayed until they got bored of us and then took off. It was a great life experience and I’ll remember it always.
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