Divetalking » Archive
Diving Helmet of the future?
Yanko Design new concept Immersed Senses is the ultimate gadget must have for any underwater explorer. The helmet changes the way a diver sees, hears, and breathes in what normally is a not-so-friendly environment. Nearly made up of entirely glass and LED lights, the most interesting tidbits are the heads up displays giving you up-to-the-second GPS enabled maps, and the unique electrolysis reactor that extracts oxygen right from sea water. Water leaks are prevented by silicone that bonds the helmet to the skin. I want one! Designer: Adam Wendel … Read entire article »
Filed under: Report
Videography Tips and Techniques
Issue 1 Tip 4 Housing and Lighting Lighting is important. Everyone in the industry knows this. You can have the most fantastic camera and housing but without lighting, you can not get the video to look colorful. Videos come out dark in nature with very little color if any at all, depending on depth, sea conditions, etc. So what type of lights should you buy? What features do lights come with? How much will they cost? These and other questions are good questions and the only way to find out is to try. Renting is an option. Rent until you find what you like, then buy. There are a number of places that rent video equipment. It may be a little pricey, but a lot less pricey than purchasing new. I purchased … Read entire article »
Filed under: Photography, Training, Videography
How large is the BP Oil Spill, really?
As of April 20th, 2010 until the oil was no longer monitored, the size of BP Oil Spill may be seen by clicking HERE± … Read entire article »
Filed under: Emergency/FirstAid, Events, Reefs, Report
Videography Tips and Techniques
Issue 1 Tip 3 White Balance White balancing is calibrating your video camera to capture color as accurately as possible. The idea is you tell the camera which color it sees is actually white, letting the electronics adjust everything else using white as the base. We’ve all seen video that have not been properly white balanced. Example is shooting outdoors, then walk indoors, the video may appear reddish/orange. If filming inside, walking outside may make the picture appear bluish or when videoing underwater and the video appears bluish. Almost monotone in color. The color temperature of sunlight is higher than incandescent light, which has a low color temperature. That’s why sunlight looks whiter, bluish than indoor lighting which looks yellow/orangish. When you walked outside with the video camera, the camera was adjusted for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Photography, Training, Videography
Videography tips and Techniques
Issue 1 Tip 2 Color Where to start… Physics! Understanding refraction and absorption. The light spectrum from Red to Violet. When entering the water column, you will notice one of the first colors to disappear is red. Red or green/blue are common filter colors to compensate for the loss of a spectrum of colors lost by water absorbing the wavelength of that color. For example, if looking through the lens with a red filter, from 5 feet of depth things will appear reddish. Continue down the water column and that red you see begins to disappear and the objects begin to appear more natural in color. Red or something close to red is a very common filter. Looking at the graph on the right ->> you see at around 15 feet, you begin … Read entire article »
Filed under: Photography, Training, Videography
Videography tips and Techniques
Issue 1 Tip 1 Panning Getting the shot. When I am looking for/at something to video I try to see it in my mind as a movie that is playing. I try to envision how the video will appear to the viewer. This allows me to frame the shot in ways that will hopefully, through editing provide the wow effect. For example: While looking upwards, pan a school of fish at the same pace the fish are swimming. If they are swimming towards you, even better. While panning with the fish, use a zoom in or zoom out near the end of the pan to add that period to the effect and as a aide in fading into the next scene during editing. Here is an example: [xr_video id=”bd0dc0594d164cba9c5e83084ae95d09″ size=”sm”] … Read entire article »
Filed under: Photography, Training, Videography
Videography tips and Techniques
Issue 1 May 18, 2010 This is my first post on underwater videography tips and techniques. I will post my experiences and observations while filming under water. I hope the notes will serve me in the future as a reminder of things to do while filming as well as serve as a reference for those introduced to the idea of making underwater films, documentaries. I will document my observations and experiences of what it takes to make great underwater video. Areas I would like to cover are: goals and objectives, equipment, configurations, lighting, cameras types and features, housings, buoyancy, gas management, angles, color, white balance, timing, framing, editing and more. Stop by to read the updates of becoming a great underwater videographer. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Photography, Training, Videography
AOW, Blue Grotto May 16, 2010
Sunday, 5/16, students from yesterdays diving returned to Blue Grotto for one more day of diving. They, along with one more diver performed Navigation and Deep dives. all looked good. Some need to work on their buoyancy control, but with more practice should be fine. Feeling neutral is something that will one day just come to you. You iwll get everything just right and the comfort you feel, will be a feeling you would want to repeat. Make note of your configuration/setup and dive it again. Great job to all. Dive Safe. Larry … Read entire article »
Filed under: Training
AOW Devils Den, Williston, Fl. May 15, 2010
Today started at 4:10am. I was out the door by 4:40 and on my way to meet up with another Instructor and a DMC. Off to Devils Den in Williston Florida I go. I arrive Devils Den at 07:45, check in, locate my AOW students and off to the Den we go. Today the two AOWs and myself performed three dives. Our first was buoyancy. After discribing the cross hairs, displacement, techniques, trim and tips, off to give it a try. I must say, they did pretty good. Some slight over usage of the LP inflator for some yet overall pretty good. The second dive was Navigation. After a surface exercise to learn and understand the compass, off to the water to perform a surface navigation. Then off for some navigation underwater, ending with a buddy … Read entire article »
Filed under: Training
BP Oil Spill Deep Water Horizons Donations Please
Please give until it hurts. Every dollar helps. All proceeds will be provided to Deep Water Horizons. See post on Gulf of Mexico BP Oil Catastrophe Please donate what you can. Every dollar helps! … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Events, Reefs, Reference, Report
Gulf of Mexico BP Oil catastrophe
Dear REEF Members, The Gulf Oil Spill is highly likely to have lasting impacts on wildlife, ecosystems, and people – both locally in the Gulf, as well as regionally in the greater Florida area and possibly throughout the Caribbean. Like you, all of us at REEF have been closely following the news about this unfortunate disaster. While REEF is not directly involved in the response to the oil spill, we are poised to provide baseline data on fish populations in the affected regions if needed. Thanks to the efforts of REEF volunteers, approximately 5,600 fish population surveys have been conducted in the Gulf of Mexico since 1994. This includes over 1,500 surveys along the west coast of Florida, 3,500 surveys in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, and another 600 in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Emergency/FirstAid, Events, Report
General McArthur at the signing of the Japanese Surrender WWII
This is an actual film made of the surrender ceremony of the Japanese to Supreme Commander, General McArthur in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. Actual voice of the General. Japanese Surrender Signing Aboard Battleship Missouri Sunday September 2, 1945. The battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest caliber of guns. Battleships are larger, better-armed and better-armored than cruisers and destroyers. Battleship design continually evolved to incorporate and adapt technological advances to maintain an edge. The word battleship was coined around 1794 and is a shortened form of line-of-battle ship, the dominant warship in the Age of Sail. “battleship” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Events
Paradise Springs, Ocala Florida
Today, Saturday May 8th, I and a friend drove to Paradise Springs in Ocala. We met up with Gerold (Jerry) from Divebuddy. There were a number others who announced they wanted to go, but didn’t make it. It was nice. I was the first at the site. We signed in and drove over to get our best spot and began unloading and preparing to be the first to enter the water while the visibility was good. Dave and I went in along with Michael, who drove out and surprised me being there. We scoured around the place finding a number of figurines tucked in glooves or placed on shelves. I notice on the ceiling what appeared to be ribbon from the formation above. I also noticed that it went around this one hugh piece … Read entire article »
Filed under: Cavern, Events, Travel, Trip Report
Blue Grotto with Lisa Fantastic
Today I met up with Lisa at Blue Grotto for some diving. Lisa and I spoke Friday and since my plans this past weekend did not including diving due to schedule work, and that scheduled work was cancelled, I am free to do some diving. Perfect timing. We met soon after Blue Grotto Opened. We were the first two divers onsite. Lisa Texts me at 07:59 saying she beat me. I respond with OMG!, hoping she would think I forgot, when I was actually just 1 minute away. We spoke for awhile and after about an hour we hit the water. Ooops, gear failure. It appears a spring in the exhaust valve is missing and the BCD cannot hold air. One phone call and 10 minutes later, a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Cavern, Open Water, Report, Trip Report
Highway Cleanup – Jacksonville Reef Research Team
Today, the second event this year 8 of us met at Little Talbut Island State Park to clean up a four mile stretch of highway leading 1 mile north and 1 mile south of the entry to the park. Today was a very nice day to clean. I believe the bag count was around 10. Not too bad. Larry … Read entire article »
Filed under: Events
Dive, Paradise Springs, Ocala Fla. 05/08/2010
You are invited to join me and others in a day of diving at Paradise Springs, Ocala Fla Saturday May 8th, 2010. They open at 8AM. I plan on being there as close to 8AM as possible. Please email me at lars2923@divetalking.com if you plan to attend. Larry … Read entire article »
Filed under: Events, Trip Invitations
