Three more ray shots - truly at random - I seem to have 686 others from that morning shoot alone....

Paul C

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Click to view attachment

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Hey, is that kryptonite??? Oh noooooo

Such amazing week!
Thank you Alex so much for your effort about all of us. Your knowledge and your real motivation made us to think totally different underwater...was really something special.
Also thanks to all people from my group...all of you are so nice and I hope to see some of you very soon again!
Predrag Vuckovic www.extreme-photographer.com

I can see why! Fantastic!

What is your secret (since I shall have to work out how to try this without Alex's advice)?

Tim

Hey Tim,
Thanks! I think I was able to make a lot of nice images that morning for a couple of reasons. The early morning light was dancing, coming in and out of the clouds giving us lots of variation to experiment with and I had a magic filter on the 10-17 that I'm sure helps the midwater blue to darken up a little. I think that the biggest thing that helped me was having the time to think and setup shots. In my normal diving I'm still struggling to force myself to work a subject long enough to get a credible shot. I guess it's a holdover from my film days. On this morning Alex set us up in the perfect situation. Lots of great subjects, coming by every couple of minutes for two and a half hours kinda makes it hard to miss. You could shoot into the light, across the light, whatever you wanted, just setup and eventually a nice ray would come by and model for you.

And oh yeah, Alex spent two hours the night before telling us how to do it.

Cheers,
Steve

... and he sold the Magic Filter?

I am most impressed by the reflection.

Tim

I'm back home now (while Alex's second course is still running, argh!) and wanted to post a few of my photos. I only got to make two dives with the group, but had a great time! Here is a shot that Alex suggested - taken at the High Rock wall site:



And here's another shot of Alex - up on the top of the reef:



These were both taken w/ the 1DsIII w/ a 15mm fisheye + 1.4x TC

I'm bummed that I didn't get to make the stingray city day after seeing all these great shots. Again - argh!

Cheers
James

Actually Alex didn't push the filter. I had it on from the day before and was too lazy to take it off. I've been working on getting reflections for a while, trying to understand how to do them well consistently. When I asked Alex afterward, he said they are almost always there, it's just that most of us don't frame the shot to include them. Guess you still need to "shoot up" even in 5 ft of water. My only claim to fame is that in this case when I saw the reflection flash in the viewfinder I was sharp enough to hit the shutter.

Nice shot James, love the first one. Too bad you couldn't stay longer. Is the second group taking any pictures or all they all at the pub?

Cheers,
Steve

My guess is Alex is keeping them too busy to process any of their pix! Either that or they lost their internet connection :-P

Cheers
James

I'm soooo in envy Paul! Maybe I just need to quit this local cave crap and fly south in stead.

However, I wonder if the light in your middle picture is for real or if you have overcooked the WB?

timo

We missed you Timo - the WB may be a bit off - we started early (dawn) and this was shot a little later with the WB from the dawn.

Having said that the sky was really off and on cloudy which meant that I was continuously buggering about with ISO and shutter speed so at times near the dawn the cloud did give a reddish tinge.

Anyhow maybe I just had an 'arty' moment - maybe it was just wind (no response required thanks mate).

Paul C

Paul,

Just use the wb eyedropper and click on the sand - that should fix it up for you. If it's not a RAW file then go to curves or levels and you'll get an eyedropper there too.

Cheers
James

One last of steve w. on the hunt at daybreak

Been busy shooting. We did our end of trip slideshow over lunch today. I am really looking forward to putting together a gallery of the shots from this week. Some really fantastic images by all.

Alex

Wow !!! have we got any of Alex getting out of the shower... or standing still... or having a poo...or smiling in a weird fashion...

Lol... sorry but i just canny help it...

Dive safe DeanB

LOL, great Victor, it figures that there are two rays right behind me. What's a matter Dean? That's a great shot. It's got everything, sunrise, multiple subjects, rule of thirds, tells a story, stud model in Black rubber. I thought that was right up your alley. It's for sure going on my wall. Hey Tim can you drive over and buy Dean (if I'm bored you can't have any fun either) B a drink for me? Sounds like he could use it.

Looking forward to the gallery Alex.

Cheers,
Steve

Got one of him eating Cheeto's, will that do?

Here's a few pics from the 2nd week with Alex in Cayman. Amazing week with tons of great diving and photo opps. Thanks again Alex!

Jonathan

here's one more

Love that seahare shot Jon - great concept! Oh and the crossed stingrays aren't bad :-)

Back in England now. Sunny here.
I'll get on with making a gallery in the next day or so. Will depend how quickly people email their permissions/photos.

Alex

Greate Alex, looking forward to this gallery.
Many great pictures.

Is it possible to post the foto info like shutter, iso... with the pictures. I find it very helpful
to learn from the pictures with this info.

When do you plan next Madness in the Cayman?


Dag Hansen
Waiting for my 5DMkII Aquatica UWhouse

I am still trying to collect up images and permissions from everyone to post a gallery of underwater shots from the workshop. But in the meantime you can check out this wonderful collection of topside images taken by Preddrag during week 1. Really capture the atmosphere of the event.

http://www.amustard.com/?page=caytop09_gal&subpage=photo

You can see more of Predrag's amazing photography on his website.

Here is one of me from the "topsides" gallery testing my ring-flash in the pool:


And here is some photo instruction in action - or just me having a go with someone elses camera!


Alex

I hope that the members of WETPIXEL will enjoy with our pictures at least a bit as we did on Alex's amazing workshop on Grand Cayman.

Predrag Vuckovic

Guys and gals,
You owe it to yourself to spend some time on Pedrag's website. You'll see some amazing images. It's hard to believe he's just getting started with his U/W work. We'll be hearing from Mr. Vuckovic again.

Cheers,
Steve

Hi Guys,

I have got permissions and images from about half the group now - and since I am off again at the weekend - I decided to create a gallery. If you have not sent your images in yet - I'll update this on my return.

Here is the gallery

Generally I stuck to the rule of just 2 images per photographer - although I stretched the rules a little in a couple of cases when I just couldn't choose.

Alex

Steve...thanks a lot! I hope that we'll dive again together soon
Article about Alex's workshop on Grand Cayman is now available on my website!
Read and enjoy

Wow, your pics are beautiful!!!

WOW I'm just blown away. The same to Alex's site.
Now I know I have a long way yet to go with my pictures. But that is a positive thing I think

Great stuff everyone (I was out of town and saw this thread was started, but neveer got a chance to go through it since then.)

Looks like everyone had a blast.

Hopefully 2010 will be the year I finally make it to Alex's workshop

scott_nielsen & Nextwo...thanks a lot for your kind comments If you are intersting here you can find my last photoshooting (last week with pro free skier for front page cover)
Grand Cayman 2010 workshop with Alex will be again fantastic for sure...I am already in