Keri Wilk

I want one.... in a housing! Check out a live demo of it here:
http://allthingsd.com/20111019/lytro-demo-at-asiad-video/

Atta boy, Matt! Congrats buddy!

Thanks for all of the great snoot examples, Hergen/Kerri!

Thanks for taking the time to document your manufacturing process, Jean! I find all of this very interesting, and appreciate you giving everyone an inside look at the work going into your housings! Can't wait to see the next installment :D

Keri

Thanks, Alex - Not having a scapegoat for my many botched shots was certainly disappointing :D And Good point about the hand signaling. Although, I'm not sure what's more annoying - attempting to guide someone with clumsy hand signals or turning each dive into a cardio exercise, doing laps back and forth to the camera to review images.

Dan's winning images certainly speak volumes about this technique's merit! But, man, what a pain in the butt it is to execute...

Alexey/Steve - Thanks for the kind words!

Peter - haha! I've got a wig and some estrogen pills to eliminate the problems you pointed out on my next trip... :)

Thanks for all the comments everyone. Sorry for being slow to respond... I just got back from Costa Rica this morning.

Mark - To narrow the beam as much as possible, I used all black inner snoot surfaces to cut down stray reflections. The thin white tubing sticking out of the snoot can be slid back and forth as much as I want.

Mohammed - The intensity of the light coming out of the tip of my snoot is actually less than the strobe when it is un-snooted. When the strobe was set to full power with the snoot in place, the limit for proper exposure (@ ISO200, 1/200s) was around F/25. So, in my case, shooting with this gear is actually less harmful than normal.

Alex - Thanks back at you for letting me use your photos!

Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone. I'm glad you found this information useful! Let me know if you've got any questions, and I'll be happy to help out with your DIY projects.

Thanks for the congrats again, Todd.

Never interrupt me in the middle of a top notch puppet show like that again, Matt.

Great shots, Matt! You're giving me crazy lens envy over here, man.... :D

This is a Longfin Damselfish (Stegastes diencaeus).

It is very similar to the Beaugregory (Stegastes leucostictus) and Cocoa damselfish (Stegastes variabilis), but lacks a blue wash on the upper head and dorsum that they both have.

Keri

Continued from above (I submitted the comment before I was finished typing it!)

RE: SubSee vs MacroMate - However, I can tell you that we had a team of optical engineers design our multi-element optical systems from the ground up, resulting in extremely low levels of chromatic aberration, and crisp edge performance. And, while the Macromate is indeed made from much thicker plastic (making it "more substantial"), it comes at the cost of being about twice as heavy as the SubSee system.

RE: "3X" - The amount of magnification attainable from any given positive diopter lens (SubSee, MacroMate, Epoque, etc.) is directly related to the focal length of the primary lens it's coupled with... so when a +10 diopter SubSee is combined with a 60mm lens, you'll get negligible magnification increase... with a 105mm lens, around 2.2X... with a 200mm lens, around 3.5X... and so on. The longer the focal length, the more magnification can be 'milked'.

RE: +5 vs +10? - The reason some people choose the +5 over the +10 is that you'll have twice the working distance to play with (20 cm compared to 10 cm). So, you'll want to use the +5 when trying to photograph subjects which are relatively shy and unapproachable. The added working distance (and smaller magnification) also makes the +5 generally easier to use.

RE: Getting in the way? - Rarely. If it does get in the way in a particular situation, I've always found that by simply rotating the adapter around the port by some amount, there is usually an orientation that allows the shot that I'm going for.

Hope that answered your questions! For more information, check out www.ReefNet.ca


Keri

Hi Robert and Shawn - Sorry for the delay in response... as Matt indicated, I've been traveling throughout Indonesia and Israel for the past 2 months, but am now back home (unfortunately...).

To answer your questions - I've heard that the Macromate is somewhere between a +7 and +9 diopter lens, while the SubSee comes in two strengths (+5 and +10 diopters) I haven't had the opportunity to do side-by-side comparisons with the Macromate, so can't comment confidently on image quality.

scubamrzena/gzo - I'm glad you enjoyed this article. But remember, these are just a few common lighting techniques... think about where the light is coming from, and be creative with your compositions!

Keri

Thanks! A little tricky to get, but well worth the trouble.

Karen - Thanks for the comment :) I guess all of that book learnin' I did at university wasn't a TOTAL waste of time... lol

Enje - Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed this article and learned some things.

Stay tuned for more...

I'm glad you found this part informative, Karen! More to come soon :)

Keri

surreal. looks like a mini ice sculpture! great shot.

Nancy - Thanks! The next article will be coming soon... check back throughout the week.

Jeff - LOL! Well, not sure about being a "Master of Super Macro", but I appreciate the comment! Thanks, my friend!

Cal - OK, so how about you teach me about pool model photography in exchange?? :D

Maybe tee means only the internal flash was used? Great shot either way.

Motek/jcsgt/Jason - Thanks for the comments!

This was just a primer... the really useful stuff will be in the next few sections, so stay tuned! :)

Keri

Thanks, Amir! Your love for macro photography is pretty obvious when looking at the photos you've been taking lately. You certainly have a keen eye for the little stuff! Keep it up.

Keri

Thanks, Karen! Glad you enjoyed them. :)

WOW, Alexander...amazing images!

Talk about evolution...this gem would've made Darwin proud! Nice shot Jeff, and thanks for the nudi-shooting tips.---Keri

lol hey Danny, it sure was a fun time! It was very nice to meet you, thanks for being so friendly and making me feel welcome. Hope to be sent back next year!

Good to meet you too, Oren. Too bad we didn't get any "fun dives" in, since we were too busy gathering competition images! Unfortunate that I didn't win anything, but at the same time, VERY fortunate to have come so close. Looking at it as an "almost win" versus a "loss" :) No problem about the SubSee, I hope you got some good shots with it! Stay in touch.

Very nice to meet you too. Too bad you only made it out for the last day! I think the competition should be extended by a few days, so things aren't as rushed...but still was very fun. Glad you and Oren like my SubSee macro lens, I used it to get the picture of bubbles above. Stay in touch!

Looks like the rightmost girl in the second photo has no feet...I guess your images 'knocked her socks off' pretty hard?! haha Good work my boy, can't wait to see more.

Thanks Andrea, those comments mean a lot coming from you! I've been a great admirer of your work for some time. Kudos back at you for your new book, it's beautiful, and I would've been honored to be a part of it. Maybe you can include me if you make the sequel: "The LUCK of Underwater Photography"...it was dumb luck to stumble across that little guy. I've gotta say, it was liberating shooting buck-naked... :)

Yes Matt, the world will have to wait...I'm going to ease that one into the world like an old man into a hot bath. lol