Underwater Photography and Videography, News, Forums, Trips, Photo Contests :: Wetpixel.com

The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland's lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban trade in shark fin. Bills introduced into both House and Senate would outlaw sale, trade, distribution or even possession of raw, dried or processed shark fins. Violations would be punishable by fines ranging from $5,000 for the first offense up to $50,000 for repeat infractions. One animal-welfare group has a list of 10 Asian eateries in Howard County and the Washington suburbs that serve shark fin and while U.S. Customs data show exports of shark products, mainly dogfish, from Washington and Norfolk, the broader mid-Atlantic region is a net importer of shark products, with 6155 kilos imported last year, valued at nearly $700,000. Some 800 kilos valued at $70,000 were exported over the same period.

HB 393 is set for hearing on 22 Feb. in House Environmental Matters Committee. Its cross-filed companion bill, SB465, has not been given a hearing date yet.

Apple has released a global update for its OS X Lion operating system that incorporates additional RAW support. Version 10.7.3 adds native support for RAW files from: Canon PowerShot S100, Nikon 1 J1, Nikon 1 V1, Nikon COOLPIX P7100. Olympus PEN E-PL1s, Olympus PEN E-PL3, Olympus PEN E-PM1, Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ150, Sony Alpha NEX-5N, Sony Alpha SLT-A65 and Sony Alpha SLT-A77.

The update is available from the Apple support site or via software update. There is also a full list of supported RAW formats available on the support site.

Steve Douglas presents a review of the Drift HD POV camcorder. The camera itself appears robust and with acceptable image quality. In fact Steve finds that the "imaging is considerably better than almost any of the SD cams of the 1990's and are equal to many of the HDV cams that came out in the last decade". However, the unit's underwater housing seems somewhat limited and Steve discovered that getting support from the US importer seemed to be an issue.

Bookings are now being taken for the Wetpixel Vancouver Island Expedition. The trip will run from 27 August until 4 September, 2012 and is based at God’s Pocket Resort near the North end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. This remote location holds some of the worlds best cold water diving. The venue lends itself to swimming with giant pacific octopus, stellar sea lions, the rich colorful walls at the famous Browning Pass and more.

Spaces are very limited and demand is very high, so please contact trip leader Jason Bradley soon for more information or to book.

The February/March edition of African Diver magazine is now available to download. This issue is a tribute to the diving destination of Aliwal Shoal, situated off the eastern coast of South Africa and it offers detailed advice on dive sites, dive operators and when to visit the Shoal. It also features articles about saving the African Penguin, the Maldives and the featured photographer is Fiona Ayerst.

African Diver Issue 21 is available as a free pdf download.

Apple has announced an upgrade for its Final Cut Pro X video editing app. Version 10.0.3 introduces multicam editing, broadcast monitoring (as a beta), advanced chroma keying, media relink, the ability to work with layered files and an improvement to the way the program uses XML, allowing extended use of third-party software like DaVinci Resolve. These improvements go some way towards answering the criticism about the software's features when it was launched last year.

Apple has simultaneously announced updates to Compressor and Motion. All the updates are available from the Mac App store.

Lastly, as Wetpixel Moderator Drew Wong has posted in the forums, a third-party utility called 7toX has been launched which allows the transfer of projects from Final Cut Pro 7 to version X has been launched in the Mac App store.

Wetpixel has launched its 2011 Picture of the Year contest. This allows the public to vote for their favorites from all 51 winners of the Wetpixel (POTW) Picture of the Week contest for 2011. The POTW contest never ceases to amaze with the quality, diversity and talent that it produces. The public vote for the Picture of the Year will start today, and run through until 28 February 2012, after which the winners will be announced.

The contest has a fantastic selection of prizes available. Solmar V has offered a trip aboard their luxury liveaboard as first prize. Ikelite, who also kindly provide the prizes for each and every POTW competition, has donated a DS161 strobe for the entry voted into second place. Nauticam USA has provided a $1,000 gift voucher for the third placed image, and Reef Photo and Video of Fort Lauderdale, Florida has generously given gift vouchers for $500 and $250 for fourth and fifth placed images respectively.

The contest's voting page is open now so please head on over and cast a vote for your favorite images of 2011.

UK-based underwater photographer and British Society of Underwater Photographers member Linda Pitkin was invited to present a lecture on composition as a part of the Underwater Pixel Zone at the BOOT Show 2012. Her talk covers some of the key areas: Rule of thirds, color, perspective, background, framing, movement and patterns, and the talk is illustrated throughout by Linda's images.

Wetpixel was able to record the talk as a part of the coverage of the show.

Beneath the Sea (BTS) has announced that they have extended the deadline for applications for the BTS/Howard and Michelle Hall "Artist-in-Residence" Grant. The grant is to be awarded to an Artist-in-Residence currently developing an underwater video project and which the $1,000 additional funding on offer would aid in the completion of a final product. The completed video to be shown at appropriate venues throughout the Beneath the Sea weekend.

The new deadline is 15 February 2012.

The Diving and Resort Travel Expo has announced its venues and dates for 2012/13. The Singapore show will be held at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition center from 1 to 3 June, 2012. The Hong Kong Show will be at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, between 15 and 17 December. Lastly, the Shanghai show will be held from 22 to 24 March 2013 at the Shanghai East Asia Exhibition Centre.

Full details of each show are available from the organizer's website.