Painstaking (but fun) First Time - learning the (basic) tricks of the trade (in underwater macro photography)

 I recently bought an old DSLR (my first) from my friend Terence. I have to confess that I've been eyeing his equipment for a long time, and nearly drooling over it - and I do mean his camera and underwater housing, should anyone be unclear on that ;)

I actually can't say that I really learned much although I had the best and most patient of teachers. He tried - I just wasn't a very good student and could not remember or put in practice the advise I received. 

Now that Terence's lovely wife bought him a new kit as a wedding present - or was it that she bought a trip and he the kit - never mind, as a result Terence finally sold off his old camera and the housing. I was slightly in two minds about buying it at first since the camera is already a bit old - but then I realised that with my skills as a photographer it's a prefect deal. I get a well loved but well looked after camera - and it came with a free lesson in underwater camera basic maintenance and an agreement to go out on a  dive trip together for the first time the camera gets wet - well technically it's done that probably about a thousand times with its previous owner - but the first time I get it under water.

I am so happy I went out with Terence. I have had a compact camera before that I used to take pictures with but I never bothered with buying a strobe, just using ambient light was enough for me. If it's too dark then I will not take photos - and that's it. Although I have never been much of a photographer I have taken many shots that were still pleasant memories and souvenirs to keep from various dive trips. After having though I know the baby steps I now had to learn to crawl again.

Take a person who has not got much of any knowledge of photography whatsoever ("Aperture means? Ummm.. it's the size of the hole that lets light in but don't ask me which way round the numbers work..."), a macro lens, a strobe and a new camera - that camera being her first DSLR. Oh yes, and add to that a woman who forgot to bring a memory card and was left with a 1GB mem card (really useful) and who also broke the spring on her underwater housing shutter swivel (don't ask me how - I just turned it to the direction it is supposed to turn and it bloody snapped - and this was even I before got in water for my first dive!) With that background of being a walking catastrophe waiting to happen, how do you think the photos turned out?

Before we get to the dives, a few pictures (taken on my iPhone, not the new camera) along the way to Tioman:

At a god forsaken place at a god forsaken hour. I'm not normally up at the time of the prayer calls!

Reading Bohr's model of the atom. Really, why? :)

...whilst we laugh at him reading it.

Dive 1:
Most of my photos came out black or nearly black. Embarrassing but true. First I did not even know how to correct it, nor was I really even quite sure how to really check on the pictures I took (yes, I found the button but looking at the picture did not tell much to me). I gathered at some point in time that my strobe was pointed completely off but what were all the other things that I did wrong I could not figure out.

Just as some amusement, here are some of the photos I took (sorry I deleted the really black ones already - did not see them being a great use of space on my memory card):

I have no idea why I thought this would be a good angle - but it seems at the time I thought it was...

Lizard was a bit jumpy but I tamed the shrew. In the end it posed nicely - and I took pictures in not-so-great-colours of it.

I edited the colours on this one before posting. Now the lizardfish looks a little blue - but at last its surroundings look a little more realistic in colour.

Is this the best I can do with a macro lens? Please.... Well, the hermit is still cute.

DIVE 2

Dive 2 was a 90-minute dive - we just could not be bothered to come up and go in again. Let's do it one dive - same place anyway. I still struggled a little with lighting (and everything else even more) - but the funny anemone fish that decided to get ah-so-anemone-territorial amused me enough that it made up for my lack of skill to make the dive worthwhile. In the end I decided to try to take a few pictures of it since it was attacking me and my lens already.

Get out of my nesting area you ugly big human!

"I really mean it! Out! Now! Or I'll bite! Well, I actually did already-  but I'll nibble you AGAIN if you don't get out. I almost have teeth, I can bite you - and once I'm done with you I'll eat your buddy. The fact that I'm about 10cm long does not mean that I'm not scary."

I also spent ages chasing these little cardinals - with very little result. Sigh... But it was fun!

 Then I found this blenny on a giant clam - it was in a bit of a crevice and I simply could not reach it - was beyond my skills. But being the stubborn woman I still had to snap a photo of it. My excuse? It was suuuuch an adorable little blenny staring at me.

I also spent a small forever trying to chase little reef fish trying to hide from me under the protective fingers of a table coral. Most of them way too successfully - did not catch any others of them at all except for the reticulated dascyllus, and even he did not really agree to get close enough - so I cropped the photo to make it lok better, haha (Read: i was not skilled enough to take a decent shot that fills the frame)

"Hello there! Who are you? Where do you come from? Why are you here? Why are you chasing me? Got any food for me? Why not? If you have no food, can I eat you? Or that big shiny thing you are carrying? Is that food?"

At some point in time I got tired of chasing moving objects since I seemed not to be able to get much of any good pictures of them and decided to test out my camera on things that move less, such as:

Coral - and I did a really bad job on this one.  What was I thinking? In what way is this an interesting angle? 

Deadmans fingers - but even that moved too much and I was clueless enough not to be able to get my light right.

Clams - but they looked much prettier under water than in my picture. I need more practise!

NIGHT DIVE

Ok, I left THAT light at home in Singapore that Terence said I will need on the night dive. Great. On top of that I left both of my torches in Singapore - at the point in time of which I was wondering whether I had actually managed to bring any equipment at all for this trip. How many things did I forget to bring? Muppet.

I borrowed a torch from Terence and left my strobe on. That was kind of fun but I could not see anything in the light of the strobe so I did also turn the borrowed torch on. Terence found a really cool devil scorpionfish (but did a bad job with the identification claiming it was not a devil. I did check under the pectoral fins and saw the bright orange and yellow colouring. Sorry, Terence :) ) This one was particularly calm - did not move a single millimeter although I pretty much pointed my camera in its face. Fun.

The first shot was my best one, surprisingly enough.

I dont know why I took this from above it instead of right from the front. The angle does not really show its big eyes. Oh well - next time a better job.

Then I found my friend the very big hermit. He was a funny dude - as hermit crabs always are.

My friend the hermit was trying to check out my camera lens - and my light was pointed behind it and I did not manage to focus on its eyes. Sigh. I'm a lousy muppet photographer...

Don't ask - just another example of what newbie photographers think is a great angle. But I like pencil urchins - is that an excuse enough for taking bad photos of them?

DIVE 4 (Sunday)

We jumped on the boat (dives 1-3 were all on house reef in Salang, at Dive Asia) and headed off to Chebeh. Terence loved the abundance of anemones and clowns - and I have to say I did not mind them, either, although I'm not really yet good enough to take passable shots of them.

Stay still you stupid clown so that I can take a picture of you!

We spent the last 15 minutes of the dive chasing blennies on a small reef plateau. Terence got a couple of excellent shots, whilst mine are a bit too far away from the subject. Again - gotta save something for next time, right?

Blenny flying.

Blenny again.

DIVE 5

We did still do one more dive - but as I wanted to test my camera battery life I had not charged the battery on Saturday evening. I took four experimental shots at the beginning of the dive (all turned out black), filled my memory card, had to delete photos - and as I got them deleted - blink-blink-blink - I was out of battery. Hahahaa! Oh noooo.....

I spent the rest of the dive having a staring contest with a goby, and looking for little things for Terence to take pictures of. I found one cute flabellina nudibranch - a completely baby sized on as well. Terence has  a great shot of it - but I'll leave that for Terence to share.

As a result of spending a lot of time in the water being confused over my new equipment I still found myself coming back with much more excitement than what I left with. I thought I liked macro photography - and now I have for the first time decent enough equipment  for that. Best of all, I also have a dive buddy who also has the patience to hover around in an area of 10 square meters for 15 minutes. It's not easy to dive with a photographer and the best thing to do is to go diving with another equally camera crazy person. Soon again - either with another photo enthusiast - or with hte risk of annoying the heck out of my next dive buddy :)


Last but not least: The mandatory sunset shot (taken with an iPhone, not my new camera)

View from Dive Asia on Saturday evening.

Moose in Bangkok

Moose has not travelled for a long time. Although living in Singapore is kind of like always being an adventure - Moose is after all, a handsome Finnish Moose and not some ugly Singaporean monitor lizard. Still, although the country of the Merlion (that according to some Miss Singapore candidate was an animal species that became extinct in the 1930s) is a comfortable and fun place to be in, sometimes Moose needs a Real Adventure. What better place for an adventure than Thailand.

Unfortunately to Moose he needs to drag that stressed out T woman around with him, and this time T was - although after a lot of coin tossing (indecisive procrastinating hopeless woman, Moose says) of the opinion that this time it's time for a nice, relaxing holiday. Not one of those where you wake up in a backpacker in bangkok and wonder where your Finnish friend has disappeared, naked, without money, phone or passport. T claims she does not need another holiday like that. Moose has never gone missing, but Moose still kind of understands. Ok, ok, we'll stay wherever T wants to.

On a (way too) early Saturday morning Moose found himself at Changi airport sipping a Moose sized cup of coffee. Moose can drink coffee like a Finnish secondary school teacher.

Moose and appropriately sized coffee at 5.30am.

Eventually Moose got to Bangkok and after T had almost accidentally obtained a Rabbit Card from the Skytrain station Moose boarded a train towards the hotel. Slightly reluctantly though, because Moose could not really understand what Taitti needs a Rabbit for when Taitti already has a Moose. Rabbits are puny little animals, besides they are not very intelligent, either. Moose is more handsome - and not at all jealous.

"Puny Rabbit. Hmpfh."

"OK, maybe I will not complain about not staying in the backpacker place." Moose thinks.
"Moose could get used to this luxury travel. Fund out they have a spa and in-room massage.
Moose can't decide which Moose wants." 

At the Madison restaurant Moose used his charmer skills and got lots of compliments from the female waiting staff. "Oooohhh, so cute!" Moose is smiling. Moose does not mind being called cute, as long as the girls like him. Waitress also thought Moose is a lucky Moose because Moose get to travel the world yet she has never been outside Thailand. Moose is feeling lucky. In particular Moose understands how lucky he is to stay in Four Seasons hotel for free of charge (free because T is picking up the bill, hahaha).

Moose and fancy-named seafood soup.

T ordered chocolate moose for dessert!
Moose was horrified, they dip my brothers and sisters in chocolate and eat them. Stop!
But then Moose realised he may have misunderstood.
"THAT kind of chocolate mousse. (Excuse my French, it's obviously really bad.)
Mmm... I'm changing my mind, I'll have some of that!"

In the afternoon Moose decided to go sightseeing. A train ride to a random station, a long walk and some temples sounds like a perfect plan. Moose was not born yet when T was last time visiting the famous sights of Bangkok so T decided to show Moose around. Moose likes that.

Moose also found some friends from the forest! Bambi, Snowhite and the little birds seemed to have gone for a bus ride in Bangkok. A little far from home, but why not, even Snowhite needs an adventure now and then. Surely getting away from that evil stepmother and that perhaps-ah-so-handsome-but-ooh-so-boring-prince is a welcome change. Besides, Moose is better company than any prince.

Moose finally found it's way to Wat Arun (after Taitti had taken the longest possible route through some boring side streets and undersides of the bridges of Bangkok.

Because of Taitti's slow pace, Moose only reached Wat Arun around 3.45 - and the temple closes around 4pm. On top of that, it started pouring with rain as soon as Moose arrived. Moose was still rather entertained, because T had of course not dressed up appropriately for a temple visit (hello who wears the tiniest little board shorts to a temple - the fact that Moose himself wears no pants whatsoever is irrelevant here. Moose is a Man and Moose is always decent.) T therefore got approached by a young Bangladeshi monk, who asked first for money and then for T's email and  "Skypie ID". Can't believe T gets targeted even at temples. Hopeless case. In any case Moose wanted  picture of T's "new friend" as evidence for the Moose blog.

On the way across the Chao Phraya river to Wat Pho (a ferry that cost 3baht for Taitti and Moose had a free ride), Moose had an excellent seat. Moose refused to go any closer to the side of the boat - it was raining and moose don't like rain.

T did much better at Wat Pho. They do also provide clothes for ignorant tourists like T who have no clue of an appropriate dress code. T also got herself a guided tour - according to T that was a good idea since last time she was here (over 10 years ago) she had no guide and missed out half of the temple grounds. This time our friendly guide helped Moose take several pictures with the statue of the reclining buddha and even told T that she has to look well after  Moose because he might otherwise be left behind and never be found again. Moose agrees - and although Moose liked the temple grounds, Moose is no monk!

Wat Pho and Moose Pose!

Hmmm. Moose thinks these pictures of massage points posted all over the temple grounds look kind of like the before and after photos that T's trainer posted on FB of himself. Well, the difference is that T's trainer might be slightly more handsome - but just about equally naked.

Because it just continued raining, T and Moose eventually gave up on sightseeing and retreated to the hotel. The next day Moose just followed T around for some shopping - and almost got himself in trouble.

"Woops! I think I may have ended up in bad company.
Happens so easily here in Bangkok."

"I wonder which one of these thrones would be the most appropriate for my royal status as Moose the Monarch?
I quite like the golden seat - although NOTHING can beat a throne made of ice cream. That's it! I'm buying this one. Shipping to Singapore, please. Oh, and send the bill to Taitti."

After a visit to the spa it was time to check out the night market. Honestly, a rather boring place. Moose and Taitti agreed on this one. Chatuchak might be hot - but it's got some charm to it. It's all part of the experiene. This one? It was kind of like Chatuchak meets Resorts World on Sentosa. Nah. Not for Moose.

"Who in their right mind would ride a ferry wheel where half of the lights don't even light up?" Moose asks.
"Someone who doe snot much value their life? Or someone who wants an unexpected adventure?"
Besides, it's raining, so I'll just hide in Taitti's bag and wait for the ride home.

More posh adventures for the Moose on Monday at the Mandarin Oriental thai buffet.
Moose even found some Moose sized soup bowls - although T used them for vinegar and chili sauce, stupid woman.
The dessert mountain still made up for the disappointment with the incorrect use of the soup bowls. But next time, T, you better ask them to serve me my own tom yam from one of those tailor made soup bowls.

All fun comes to an end and eventually Moose found himself in a taxi on the way to airport. It was fun travelling again, and Moose will visit Bangkok again.Even if he has to put up with the company of the Puny Rabbit. It was worth it.

Moose Joins a Gym and Does a Good Job as a Personal Trainer ....according to Moose....

Baby Moose thinks that he could do with a bit of  workout and decides to join a gym. Above all, Moose thinks T could exercise a little more - so Moose is heading to the gym to keep an eye on whether T actually gets any exercise done, or whether she spends all of her time just chit chatting with her trainer. There is a high likelihood that T is only talking - she always does.

"Here I am! Hand me my locker key, I'll test this place out and if I like it I might sign up for a membership, too. Although why bother, I'm so small I can just sneak in on Taitti's bag. Nobody will notice." 

After being a little disappointed that this gym does not have t-shirts and shorts in Moose size, Moose still decides to have a workout. 

"The smallest size you guys have is a human size S? What's that? Where are all the mini sized clothes? This is Asia after all, they should make clothes in smaller sizes here. Oh well, I'll wear my Finland t-shirt, it's always appropriate to do some extra publicity for the homeland."

Yet, Moose will start with first observing T. Moose suspects T might attempt to skyve.

Moose thinks Moose should take over from this trainer. Hadi is way too nice to T.
Moose had better observe this more closely. "Come on, a little faster, that does not even look difficult. I said faaasteeer! " 

Moose got bored of watching T. "Useless" , says Moose. "She will never get fit at this rate.
I shall just leave her with that trainer (yeah, good luck with training that one...) and have a look around.
I'll start with a little warmup on this treadmill."

"Where is the button for 'Vertical Climb' on this machine", Moose wonders.
"This flat surface is way too easy for me, I am after all used to running around in a Finnish forest."

"I don't know why Taitti thinks it's so difficult to try to stand up on this swiss ball.
Look, I can do it! Learned one word from Hadi today that suits this situation perfectly: Easy."

"Hop, hop, hoppety-hop, jump-jump-jump. Haha, rules don't apply to Moose.
Sometimes it's good to be small."

"T keeps saying this is hard and always complains to Hadi about climbing this one. Not tough at all -
I'm already on step number 3 and it has only taken me about 15 minutes. Moose is Super Moose."

"Ok, I can lift this kettlebell. I'll just first need to get all the way to the handle.
Just a little jump and I'll be there. Show T how this is done."

"Oooh, here I am. NNNGGgghhh. Hmmm... Try again, piece of cake. Hnnngghh...
Hmmmpppfhhh... Stupid weight...." 

"Let's do some abs instead. A lot. Moose is a Man, after all.
Well, not a man but a male moose, almost the same. Actually tougher than any man,
because Moose is a moose."

Moose can do a plank. Almost. Ha, this is easy, too. 

Moose is a litle exhausted. Moose will lie down here for a while after all that exercise.

"Could I have a cold drink, - oh yes and a pile of fresh hay?
What you are not going to serve me a cold drink? Any hay? No!
Well, at least change Taitti's personal trainer.
I have observed this and the current one is way too nice for her.
But don't tell her I asked to change,
just tell her Hadi does not want to train her anymore because she's too lazy.
Find someone really mean and evil. Great, thank you!"

"Now that I've done my good deed for the day (well, T wouldn't agree but it's for her own best),
I can take a shower. Bah, the water does not reach me. But that's ok, moose don't like showering anyway."

"Hooray, they have a sauna!" Makes a Finnish Moose happy.

All wrapped in a  towel after his almost-a-shower and the sauna.

"This hairdryer is a little big for me. Hmmmm.... What could I think of?"

Oooohhhh, awesome, a spin dryer. Perfect for  drying Moose.
Moose is going for a real spin now, yippeee! See you later!"