Blue is a recurrent
color in my photography, a color I have always felt drawn to, therefore it’s no wonder that I feel a special connection with the ocean. In the past years this has developed into a passion for scuba diving, pushing me to dive in different locations and achieve various certifications, the latest of which being the PADI Rescue Diver. Add to that a loved for big animals and this is how this story began…

“You’re underwater and you see the thing that you were taught your whole life to fear and it doesn’t want to hurt you and it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.” These words pronounced by filmmaker Rob Stewart remained impressed in me ever since watching his documentary Sharkwater and I became somewhat of a shark advocate. Then, after reading in the pages of a diving magazine about the opportunity to dive with sharks in the waters of the Bahamas I remember feeling very excited at the idea and started looking for an opportunity to do it.  Two weeks ago the opportunity presented itself under the form of an email from Royal Caribbean with some cruise specials I couldn’t pass on. After (re)packing my scuba gear and a few clothes I was off to a 4-night cruise to Nassau, Coco Cay and Key West.

A couple of times I closed my eyes and saw myself entering the water with sharks swimming all around. It didn’t quite happen that way. I glanced over the surface of the ocean near the boat and not seeing any I thought “maybe the sharks are not here yet, or maybe there aren’t that many” so I took my long stride forward and splashed into the sky-blue waters of the Atlantic. My mask on, I looked down and indeed, there were sharks everywhere. I grinned and waited for our guide to give us the signal to submerge.

We descended to about 40 feet to a sandy floor, the visibility was excellent: sharks everywhere, we stopped counting after 40. They averaged 8 to 12 feet long and 400 to 500 pounds, most of them female, which are bigger than males. We soon realized that we were not part of the food chain and relaxed, getting more and more comfortable with their presence. In fact, watching them swim so effortlessly, more like sliding or gliding, instilled in me a sense of peace. There have been a few times in my life when I have felt at peace with nature, and this was one of them (one day I’ll write about the other times). As if the sharks were just a background to an idyllic scene, we slowly swam down to 70 feet toward the edge of the wall, a place that drops to a depth of 6,500 feet and encountered many other types of marine life: from very large and curious groupers to the biggest eel I’ve ever seen (more like the size of a boa), sea turtle and the ever present lion fish (a beautiful but invasive species that now calls the Caribbean home).
We slowly ascended back to the boat with our air tanks just out of the red zone (some days I really wish I was a fish… or a shark, rather) and got briefed about our second dive: shark feeding.

“Keep you hands tucked in” was the most important warning. When feeding, sharks protect their eyes with a membrane and become therefore blind. Flailing our hands about could confuse them and make them think our hands are bait. “Sharks will be very close to you, inches away. If you are uncomfortable with that distance shake your head and we will move the bait box away.” Turns out that inches away was a bit of an understatement when I got gently slapped in the face by a 10 foot specimen, but none of us shook our heads.

Shark Diving in Bahamas

With us spectators sitting in a circle, the feeding began. We were told on a typical day you’d expect about a dozen sharks, today we had nearly 50 around us. When the first bait came up rush hours started with sharks of all sizes (all large sizes) throwing themselves at it, trying to get the bite. The lucky one grabbed the bait stick and didn’t release it, taking it for a stroll before finally dropping it after several minutes. The feeding continued with sharks speeding all around us, trying to take the quickest way to the bait, which often meant bumping us in their quest to get the succulent fish. The most audacious ones even trying to get their noses and mouth inside the bait box while the feeder pushed them away. Between feeding sessions the feeder would grab a shark and rub her hand above the mouth of the animal while this would quietly stay in place enjoying the rub, not unlike a house kitten… a 500 pounds house kitten.

We returned to the boat with very little air left, trying to squeeze as much as possible out of this experience, but with a renewed respect for these beautiful and perfect creatures. This turned out to be one of my most enjoyable dives and not just for the sharks and the other marine life, the blue here has something special.

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Where: New Providence, Bahamas. Stuart Cove’s diving company

How to get there: Major airlines fly to Nassau from many US Cities. Many cruises stop in Nassau for a full day. Stuart Cove will pick you up at your hotel or at the port.

When: Year round, but in the winter months for comfort I recommend wearing a 5mm wetsuit, the water of Bahamas is not always warm.

What to bring: Diver certification card (only certified divers can participate in the shark diving /feeding program); a good level of comfort underwater and around wildlife; underwater camera with a wide angle lens (better if a fisheye), if not, a GoPro2 video camera is a great and much cheaper alternative, for $299 you can take HD 1080p video and 11MP photos up to 10 fps.

What can we do to help sharks?
The most important thing we can do is becoming aware of their importance in the oceans and the risk they face. Here are some useful links:

Sharkwater

Sharkwater’s Facebook Page

Sharks Research Institute

Chili Peppers at the market in Campo de' Fiori

“There’s too much food on this ship” – I couldn’t believe I just said that, talking to a couple in the elevator. Well, the problem is not that there’s too much food, but rather that there’s too much good food and it’s all free and available 24 hours a day. But let’s roll back to a few days earlier…

Navigator of the Sea: the name, although inspiring, means little to anyone who hasn’t been on a cruise and meant little to me up to the moment I boarded this 1,120 foot long ship. My friend was on his sixth Royal Caribbean cruise, this was my first ever. My elevator arrived on deck 5, the Promenade deck and I couldn’t contain a “wow.” One thing is seeing a cruise ship promenade on photos, another to experience it with one’s own eyes. I can consider myself well traveled: two weeks ago I was in Tokyo, Guam and on my way to Palau, Micronesia. Next week I might  be in Hong Kong, Stockholm  or who knows where (I, unexpectedly, ended up in Paris), but I still looked around with a sense of wonder at this architectural prowess. Only four days later the Promenade has become almost like a home, still an amazing place, yet much more familiar. A little bit like Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A. to the cast member (that’s how Disney calls its employees, a title I carried for five years) who has worked there for years. I’ll cross the Promenade waving to a new friend, stopping to engage in conversation with another one on my way to the gym, the running track, the climbing wall, the Schooner piano bar or just wander around to see what’s going on.

The arrival to Civitavecchia harbor was uneventful, a short train ride on one of the new Eurostar from Rome’s main station Termini. The four days preceding the cruise were just the opposite. My friend and his family had rented an apartment in one of Rome’s loveliest square, Campo de’ Fiori. This proved to be an excellent choice, not just because this came to be cheaper than getting a hotel room but also because the location was hard to beat. Situated in the heart of Rome, a five minutes’ walk from Piazza Navona and ten to fifteen minutes from the Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna, The Vittoriano, Trastevere and its charming restaurants and so much more. The fully furnished and cozy apartment offered a lot in terms of convenience and comfort, therefore our days in Rome, with myself playing tour guide to my American friends, were a non-stopping succession of events which included, of course, tours of monuments and sampling of the local cuisine, with several visits to my favorite artisanal ice cream shop “Gelato per Passione” owned and managed by the lovely Sonia (the Nutella gelato is to die for). We even managed to squeeze a trip to the Medieval town of San Gimignano.

Neptune in Piazza Navona

Rome being what it is, the photographic opportunities abounded. The challenge remained finding that original angle to give our photographs a touch of originality to distinguishes them from photos taken by millions of other tourists every year. One can find originality in a fisheye shot taken from the Gianicolo, the famous hill in Trastevere or in a long exposure at night of Trevi’s Fountain. It’s certainly fun to walk the old city, camera in hand, exploring its little streets and many fountains. My lens of choice is my Canon 24-105L, great for most occasions. I would also suggest packing a fisheye and a super wide (14mm or 16mm) and a light, discrete tripod. I do fine with my Gorillapod, although for long exposures you’ll want something bigger and sturdier.

In a well rehearsed

Denali truly is a haven for a landscape, as well as a wildlife photographer. In just a day I saw more wildlife than what I’d see in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in a year. By mid-afternoon yesterday I watched a large number of caribou walking lazily across a valley, two rams and many sheep, two wolves, ten grizzlies, four bull moose, two golden eagles and so much more.
The mountains were hidden by what felt like perennial clouds and the rain was nearly incessant, but that made for richer greens and allowed me to take some spectacular landscape images. If you come here for a limited time, as I did, take a green bus to Wonder Lake and if you’re lucky enough your driver will give you plenty details about the place and will be capable of spotting wildlife before anyone else sees it, mine did. The bus stops whenever somebody shouts “Stop! I saw something!” and that increases the amount of time it takes to get to destination, but remember: it’s about the travel itself. With so many alert eyes on board it won’t be long before you get your chance to come home with the photograph of a bull moose or grizzly you always wanted to take. My personal recommendation is to seat on the driver’s side of the bus, heading west, as you’ll be directly facing a more dramatic landscape as well as areas where the animals are more likely to be. This was just an explorative trip for me, already knowing that I would’ve wanted to come back, and it gave me ideas of what to do next time I visit Denali; how to manage my time in the park; what to do and see and most importantly what to bring. My gear of choice this time was: my Canon 7D (I left the 5D Mark II at home as I wanted the extra reach of the 7D but didn’t want t be bothered by the weight of two bodies), Canon EF-S 10-22mm for those special landscape shots, Canon EF-100-400mm L IS, Canon EF-24-105 L IS. These two ended up being the most used lenses, particularly the 100-400 which made more than one person jealous. Sure, I was wishing I had the new Canon 800mm, but how many people can hand-hold that lens for more than 10 seconds without getting tired? (Without even considering the nearly-prohibitive price of that lens ).Also, remember that you’re on a bus for a long time, therefore you’ll have vibrations and bumps and the 100-400 is a lot easier to handle, hiking with the 800mm might not be wise. Moreover, with the 7D crop factor it becomes an actual 160-640mm lens. When the bus stops because of nearby wildlife you cannot get off as park regulations forbids that, but you can get off the bus at any other time and hike from there until you’re ready to jump back on-board, which could be an hour or a week later, according to your taste and preparation
The other accessory that has become essential to me is my Cotton Carrier, no more hiking getting bruises on my neck or back pain (read a review here). I also brought a circular warming polarizer but I never got a chance to use it. With so many wildflowers in July it’s also a good idea to bring a macro if you enjoy capturing the details of plants and flowers.

In photography and Image Processing HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a technique that allows a much greater range of light intensity from the lightest to the darkest area of an image than a regular image produced by a common camera. Tone mapping techniques aim to reduce the overall contrast so that an image with greater luminosity range can be displayed on devices that are not capable of showing that range while, at the same time, maintaining localized contrast. This can also be exaggerated in order to create artistic effects.
True high dynamic range photos can be obtained by capturing multiple shots of the same scene with different exposures  and merging them in a software like HDRSoft’s Photomatix. This is what I use for all my HDR needs.

Now, I can already hear some of you groaning: “HDR looks so fake…” – Well, it doesn’t have to. As a matter of fact, HDR can look as real as human eye can see (remember that our eyes can see by far a much greater contrast than the sensor of the best camera in the market), or as artistic as you want it to be. In my experience as a photographer I came across all sort of HDR/Tone Mapped images and I can guarantee you that a job well done cannot be always told apart from non-HDR/Tone Mapped images.

There were times when a photographer would have to give up a particular shot (or be very creative about it) because the light just wasn’t right. Your classic example would be a dark interior with bright light coming from the windows: you want to show the interior as well as the scenery outside of the windows but the sensor of your camera (or the film) cannot resolve such a high contrast; it’s either one or the other. Photoshop has many times come to our help: if the contrast isn’t excessive we could create an adjustment layer and modify highlights, shadows, etc. in a particular area of the image. In case of excessive contrast, though, that technique can only get a close approximation to reality, I’m saying a close approximation because for as powerful as it is, Photoshop cannot create data that is not there, the missing highlights were not captured in the first place, and the part of the image that is too dark cannot be lightened over a certain amount or it will become highly noisy. Landscape photographers face scenes with high contrast all the time and many times we have been able to overcome this problem by using a split neutral density filter. Unfortunately it only works when there is a net distinction between the dark side and the bright side of the image, as when we are taking the photo of a sunset over the sea. Suppose you want to shoot a “tunnel” created by a canopy of trees where the ground is dark, the canopy itself is brighter and the “end of the tunnel” is really bright; or maybe you want to shoot the movement of the waves under a boardwalk. Fortunately, for these and many other situations, HDR software comes to our help. There are many programs out there, and even Photoshop CS4 can merge to an HDR image (with a serious lack of options and a serious lack of speed), but in my opinion the best one in the market is Photomatix. I don’t want to get into fine details because the web abounds of reviews of this excellent program as well as tutorials so let’s just take a look at some of the features…

First of all, Photomatix is very easy to use, you can actually drag and drop images in its interface and with just a few clicks that don’t require anything more than following on-screen instructions you get your first HDR image. For the power users, though, the possibilities are nearly endless. There are so many ways to tweak you final results that you could spend hours playing with it (and you probably will).
The program comes as a stand-alone as well as plug-ins for Photoshop CS2, CS3, CS4, Lightroom and Aperture. At the start-up of the stand-alone application we are presented with an empty window and a small menu window (the Workflow Shortcuts window). Click on “Generate HDR image” or “Exposure Fusion” then browse and select or drag & drop the images that you want to use (these can be either RAW or JPEG). In the next step we choose if we want to align hand-held images and how (I find that the option “matching features” gives better results); Reduce Noise and Chromatic Aberrations, Reduce Ghosting Artifacts (in case you have movement in the images, like leaves); and then some more options that are specific to JPEG or RAW. We click OK and let the software work. After some time which varies on the complexity and size of the image, the file format, and how powerful your computer is, we are shown a preliminary version to which we will apply Tone Mapping using standard setting or customizing any or all of the many options available. After playing with the interface for a while we can create a pretty realistic scene. We can also save a lot of time with the Batch Processing interface that is filled with options ranging from the number of exposures to the Color Profile and a lot more.
As I mentioned, the software can do an alignment of multiple exposures for hand-held shots. I prefer to use a tripod, but it’s not always possible and the results I’ve seen with the automatic alignment are great.

Photomatix comes both in 32 bit and 64 bit versions for Windows and Mac. The 64 bit version naturally only runs in 64 bit Operating Systems. A 32 bit Operating System can only address up to 3 GB of RAM because of physical limitations that cannot be overcome. If you want to use 4GB of RAM or more you need to use a 64 bit version of the OS or this will see the amount of memory but will not be able to address it. My main computer is a custom built PC with Windows 7 64bit and Photomatix 64bit runs flawlessly on it. If you are upgrading your PC from XP or Vista to 7, the good news is that the upgrade DVD contains both versions. As with all upgrades there might be some incompatibilities between old 32bit software and a 64bit OS but so far (and I was a beta tester of Windows 7 64bit since July 2009) I have found none; even Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.0 come with 32 bit and 64 bit versions. On the plus side, if you have more than 3GB of RAM your PC will always run at the very least a bit faster in the 64bit version. Personally, I don’t think photographers and video editors should be allowed to use 32bit Operating Systems

These are the version of Photomatix and Plug-ins available for sale:

Photomatix Light is a stand-alone program which allows the merging of bracketed exposures into one single image with Tone Mapping or Exposure Fusion and also does an automatic alignment of hand-held photos.

Plug-In for Photoshop CS2, CS3, CS4 provides a tone mapping method for this well known Adobe software.

Photomatix Plug-In for Aperture 2.1 or higher provides HDR Tone Mapping, automatic alignment of hand-held photos, and options for reduction of noise and chromatic aberrations in HDR images.

Photomatix Pro is a stand-alone program with options for Exposure Fusion, HDR Tone Mapping, Automatic Alignment of hand-held photos, reduction of ghosting, noise and chromatic aberration in HDR images, Batch processing and includes an Adobe Photoshop Lightroom plug-in. It can also convert a single RAW image into a pseudo-HDR image with Tone Mapping and an option to modify the White Balance.

Photomatix Pro Plus Bundle includes Photomatix Pro as well as the Photoshop and Aperture plug-ins.

HDRSoft has agree to provide a 15% Discount using coupon code:  LucaDianaPhoto

EXAMPLES:

This is the final result optimized in Photoshop for contrast in the windows

HDR Tone Mapped from 3 Exposures on tripod

HDR Tone Mapping Final Result 3 exposures

Exposure Fusion of 3 images

Hiking is a big part of the landscape and wildlife photographer’s life and mine but this means that we often return home with lower back pain and a chafed neck caused by the camera strap. I also find annoying having the camera hitting me  repeatedly in the stomach while I walk with the strap around my neck. My old Minolta 9Xi suffered major scratches from constantly hitting my belt. Some time ago I purchased a camera backpack which does the job of easing the carrying part, but what if the situation arises when you need your camera quickly in your hands? Take the backpack off your back, open it, remove the camera, watch the critter go, place the camera in the backpack, wear it again and keep hiking without that unique shot. I’m sure this situation is familiar to many photographers.

Fortunately, the smart people at Cotton Carrier thought of a system that allows for the camera to be in the near-ready position at all times and reducing the fatigue from carrying it around your neck. The system consists of a vest that wears comfortably under or on top of any other garment and can be fitted with a side holster (sold separately or as part of a package) that allows for carrying a second camera. I often hike with two cameras: my Canon 5D Mark II fitted with the 24-105 L and the Canon 50D (soon to be replaced by the 7D) with the 100-400 L, in this case the side holster is a welcome addition. For the times when I’m only interested in shooting landscape, I can remove the holster or, using a rubber band, I can even use it to carry a small bottle of water.
I took the Cotton Carrier out for a few test hikes and I was immediately surprised by how well it distributes the weight around the shoulders/upper back area. The vest, actually, is streamlined enough to allow the use of a backpack on top of it. For my test hikes I picked a variety of terrain: flat, uphill, downhill, in thick brush, off-trail and rocky. In all these situations the Cotton Carrier revealed itself to be of great help. In some of them, like hiking on rocky uphill terrain off the trail I’d say it was nearly essential. Not only could I stop worrying about my camera swinging around, but I was able to use both my hands to gain a solid grip on the rocks while ascending. On flat terrain I also took a test run, jogging moderately without touching the camera to see if the carrier would come in handy in that situation. Every once in a while I find myself having to run from a spot to another with the camera strap around my neck while holding it by the lens. Needless to say after a few yards the fun is over. Not only was I able to run faster with the Cotton Carrier but the weight of the camera was once again greatly minimized.
The system comes in black only, the new model has just been upgraded with a hard anodized aluminum hub (the part that gets screwed at the base of the camera) and at first is a little hard to lock but the company has informed me that after 20 or so ins and outs it will slide more smoothly; which in my experience turned out to be true . The package comes with an instruction sheet (with photos) for a step by step set-up as well as a care and maintenance sheet. It took me only minutes to set it all up and adjust it to my body without even taking a look at the instructions (but do make sure that the arrows marked on the hub points in the right direction). The vest will fit a small person as well as a large one as the straps and Velcro are highly adjustable. The system is covered by a 1 year warranty against manufacturer’s defects.
There is an additional accessory for tripod use but I did not get a chance to test it. Toward the end of the day there were times when I completely forgot I was wearing it.

With winter approaching, as I often shoot snow sports for magazines I look forward to wear this over my winter jacket while I snowboard. Skier photographers will be able to use their poles while still carrying their camera at the ready. This system has definitely revolutionized the way I carry my gear.

In conclusion, my impression of the Cotton Carrier system is highly favorable. It’s light, comfortable, efficient and once folded small enough to pack anywhere: luggage or backpack. It will definitely become an essential part of my photographic equipment. Prices start at $109. Accessories are also available.

Click this text to go to the COTTON CARRIER website