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Biography of Underwater Photographer Alex Mustard
Alexander Mustard, 30 from the UK, has been an underwater photographer since he was nine years old, and is a total digital convert, currently shooting with a Nikon D2X in a Subal housing with Subtronic strobes. Alex's images have been published around the world in books and magazines, and have won many national and international awards, including four at the prestigious Antibes Festival Mondial De L'Image Sous Marine. He is a Co-Administrator of website Wetpixel.com and is the Digital Officer for the British Society of Underwater Photography (BSoUP).
What I look for in a Dive Operator:
Alexander Mustard, 30 from the UK, has been an underwater photographer since he was nine years old, and is a total digital convert, currently shooting with a Nikon D2X in a Subal housing with Subtronic strobes. Alex's images have been published around the world in books and magazines, and have won many national and international awards, including four at the prestigious Antibes Festival Mondial De L'Image Sous Marine. He is a Co-Administrator of website Wetpixel.com and is the Digital Officer for the British Society of Underwater Photography (BSoUP).
Underwater Photography of Alex Mustard
Latest Alex Mustard's Comments
May 22, 2010
Ha ha. Great stuff, Keri. But who do you argue with after the dive! A benefit you don't mention is that at least your model knows where you want them in the frame. Saves a lot of hand signalling.
Dan Bolt recent came 1st and 3rd in the BUIF Splash-In with self modelled shots, beating all those with dedicated models and without the judges knowing it was him in the photos.
Dan Bolt recent came 1st and 3rd in the BUIF Splash-In with self modelled shots, beating all those with dedicated models and without the judges knowing it was him in the photos.
Mar 25, 2010
@ Andrej - I have never had a camera with enough resolution for me to consider that I could use the digital crop mode. And I could never imagine using it and throwing away half the pixels. The loss Image Quality caused by using is teleconverter is very minor and hard to see. The loss in image quality from only using half your potential pixels is many times more significant. The extra 12MP on the D3x relative to the D3 cost another $3000. If you have paid for them, I'd expect you'd want to use them. So I don't see digital crop as a workable solution.
@ Gerhard - I am happy you enjoyed the article, but I am disappointed that it has left you confused. My failing as the writer! Usually when someone says they are confused - there are many others in the same boat, but not saying anything. So thanks for posting.
So to make it clearer. In this article I have only used DX lenses on a DX camera (D2X) and only used FX lenses on a FX camera (D700). As I said to Andrej, I have not used the in-camera crop and would never want to use it and throw away half my cameras resolution. No underwater photographer uses this seriously.
The Nikon 10.5mm and Tokina 10-17mm are DX lenses. And the Nikon 16mm and Sigma 15mm are FX lenses. When used on the correct format cameras, all these lenses will give a corner to corner coverage of 180 degrees. In either format, the teleconverter will reduce this coverage to about 110 degrees, which can be useful sometimes, but not normally.
Gerhard, I think part of your confusion comes where you state that the 16mm FE is a DX lens. It is not. It is an FX lens, which like all FX lenses also works on DX, just with reduced coverage.
But for the sake of clarity, I should state that all the single images above represent views of 180 degrees (and have not been cropped in camera or in post), with the exception of the anemonefish and the ghost pipefish, where in both cases I used the teleconverter to reduce the coverage of the fisheye (but have not cropped the image).
So in summary there is not more going. These are straight shots, selected because they are very typical for this technique. It is important to appreciate that these types of images can be produced relatively easily replicated with standard underwater photography kit and some effort and knowledge. If you think that there is something more (strange camera setup, Photoshop etc) you won't push yourself to develop your techniques fully. Once you know these techniques well, it is no more difficult to take a good image as a bad one!
I hope that this helps
Alex
@ Gerhard - I am happy you enjoyed the article, but I am disappointed that it has left you confused. My failing as the writer! Usually when someone says they are confused - there are many others in the same boat, but not saying anything. So thanks for posting.
So to make it clearer. In this article I have only used DX lenses on a DX camera (D2X) and only used FX lenses on a FX camera (D700). As I said to Andrej, I have not used the in-camera crop and would never want to use it and throw away half my cameras resolution. No underwater photographer uses this seriously.
The Nikon 10.5mm and Tokina 10-17mm are DX lenses. And the Nikon 16mm and Sigma 15mm are FX lenses. When used on the correct format cameras, all these lenses will give a corner to corner coverage of 180 degrees. In either format, the teleconverter will reduce this coverage to about 110 degrees, which can be useful sometimes, but not normally.
Gerhard, I think part of your confusion comes where you state that the 16mm FE is a DX lens. It is not. It is an FX lens, which like all FX lenses also works on DX, just with reduced coverage.
But for the sake of clarity, I should state that all the single images above represent views of 180 degrees (and have not been cropped in camera or in post), with the exception of the anemonefish and the ghost pipefish, where in both cases I used the teleconverter to reduce the coverage of the fisheye (but have not cropped the image).
So in summary there is not more going. These are straight shots, selected because they are very typical for this technique. It is important to appreciate that these types of images can be produced relatively easily replicated with standard underwater photography kit and some effort and knowledge. If you think that there is something more (strange camera setup, Photoshop etc) you won't push yourself to develop your techniques fully. Once you know these techniques well, it is no more difficult to take a good image as a bad one!
I hope that this helps
Alex
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