Photo of Diver and Goatfish Wins Underwater Photo Contest.

Whilst out in Egypt I entered an underwater photographic competition with the photo on the left and was lucky enough to be selected as the winner by the judges. I took it on the first dive of the trip at Erg Abu Ramada, when I found a large school of Yellow Tail Goatfish (Mulloidichthys vanicolensis ). I asked the model to swim through the school so I could capture the image above.

Settings used: 1/80s f10 ISO200 @ 17mm, 2 Sea & Sea 110 alpha strobes set to 1/2 power to illuminate the fish.

Shark Photography.

I have just returned back from a week helping on the Longimanus Project. Carcharhinus longumanus, the Oceanic White Tip Shark (left) is an Oceanic wanderer that has seen heavy declines in numbers over recent years due to long-lining and the increased demand for shark fins. The project is currently recording the numbers of sharks and their range by collecting photographs and identifying individuals ad their locations over time. The project has been running in the Red Sea for a number of years and has a database containing over 500 sharks that have been sighted during tis time. for more info on the project click here: Longimanus Project.

Photographic Technique:

For shooting sharks, and any other marine life for that matter, there are a number of rules that will greatly enhance the quality of your photos.

Firstly there is the light and colour drop off caused by the water. The density of the water causes the red part of the spectrum to be filtered out of light in the first 5 meters and as your depth increases the colours decrease until you are left with dark blues and eventually black. To counteract this colour drop off, you can either manually white balance your camera with the surrounding area or use strobes to "paint" the colour back into the picture.

The second rule of photography is to get close to the subject then get closer again :). This is because water contains particulate matter that gets between the lens and the subject and generally degrades the quality of the image. The other reason for this advice is that many photographers take the shot with too little of the subject in the frame.

To shoot the photo above I was using a canon 5D with a 17-40mm f4 L lens and a B+W -4 diopter to correct the distortion caused by the dome port.

As the shark was too far a way for the strobes to light it, I manually white balanced the camera using my hand, as there was no reef / white card available. Camera settings: Top shot: 1/125s

f7.1 ISO 250 @ 40mm.

I have included the second shot to illustrate how close these sharks get, Here he was about 2 feet from the front of the dome port and the shark was getting frisky, you can make out a divers legs behind as he struggles to get out of the water into the zodiac :) Sadly the whole encounter only lasted less than a minute and It was the only dive I was able to do as I managed somehow to get a very bad cold and fever for a couple of days, which, sadly, put an end to my diving.

Carta Si Ladies Italian Open

Marianne Skarpnord won the Italian Ladies Open, the final European event of the season. She beat Laura Davies of England in a 3 hole playoff to lift her second trophy of the season. Afterwards Marianne, her caddie and boyfriend Petter, and I went out to dinner to celebrate in style with... a McDonalds LOL. Sometimes you are too tired to bother waiting for table service at a restaurant, that was our excuse anyway.

The next golfing stop is Dubai in December. But before that I am off to Egypt to try and find and photograph Oceanic Whitetip sharks, Charcharinus longimanus. I'll keep you posted :)

Milan For a Week

The Carta-Si Ladies Italian Open preview started with a trip to Damiani, one of the most prestigious jewelers in Milan, whose clients range from George Clooney to Brad Pit. Diana Luna of Italy, Beatriz Recari of Spain and Christina Kim of the USA spent the morning trying on necklaces, earrings and rings and surprisingly enough, throughly enjoyed the experience. Left is a picture of Beatriz wearing a diamond necklace and earrings worth a combined total of £550,000. As you can imagine, it was not difficult getting the girls to smile for the shots.

Azza Wins in Madrid

Azahara Munoz of Spain took the Madrid Ladies Masters title in her first professional event. She was invited to the event by Double Match, the promotor of the Madrid Ladies Masters. She proved a popular winner with the local press and players alike, having known many of them from her glittering amateur career.

Congrats to Azza on her win, and I look forward to working with her next season.

Catwalk Shoot in Madrid

I was expecting to shoot quite a bit of golf this week but was not expecting to have a catwalk set up on the golf course. Gemma Mengual, an Olympic Silver Medalist and current World Champion synchronised swimmer was modeling her latest swimwear and lingerie collections after the Pro Am at the Madrid Ladies Masters. Gemma and three other models took to the outdoor catwalk for a thirty minute show that drew a large crowd. As I was allowed fairly close to the catwalk i was able to get away with using a 24-70mm f2.8 L lens and the 1Ds MkII with a 580Ex flash. I would normally also use a 70-200mm f2.8 L IS as well but in this instance I wanted to get some wider shots of the crowd and golf course to add a sense of perspective and location.

It was a bit of a scrum with several other photographers and 6 TV crews competing for the best place but I managed to take several decent frames.

Image details: 1/160, f6.3, ISO 200.

Madrid Ladies Masters

I arrived last night at Madrid Airport after a long day of traveling. This event is a limited field event of 40 players, basically the top 40 on the money list. It is a great opportunity to get some shots of individual players as you are not running around to catch all of the leaders.

The course is not the most picturesque but there are a few holes where you can make a picture.

Tenerife Ladies Open Comes to an End

The Tenerife Ladies Open finished today with England's Felicity Johnson taking the title by beating Becky Brewerton of Wales . It was "Flic's " first title so congrats to her.

The blue skies so often associated with Tenerife made an appearance on the last day of the tournament and I managed to get the polariser on for a few shots of the leading groups as they passed on holes 3 & 4. Sadly the sun was over the sea by the end of the prize giving ceremony so the shot I was hoping for, winning player with the trophy and a blue sea and sky behind, was not there.

Tenerife Ladies Open

This week I am in Tenerife, or more precisely, Golf Costa Adeje. The shot on the left was taken at this resort last year but the course owners decided to change the sand in the bunkers from the native black volcanic as on the left, to the more traditional white sand the day after this photo was taken. It is fairly overcast at the moment but am hoping for some bright sunshine ad blue skies as i managed some really nice polarized shots last year, see below. Costa Adeje is one of the most commonly shot golf courses on Tenerife due to its landscape and stunning views across the sea to the Island of La Gomera in one direction and the mountains leading up to Mount Teidi in the other. The fourth hole is indeed a beautiful hole, a par five stretching down to the cliffs above the sea. Looking back up the hole towards the tee you can see the terracing that has been left in place from when the land was used as a banana plantation.

The best shooting is to be had at sunrise and sunset, in the so called "Golden Hours" as you get harsh shadows here during the middle of the day due to the strong sunlight. This means that you have to pick the holes you shoot on carefully during the tournament to make the best of the course and its surroundings. Generally it is best to shoot towards the sea in the morning and the mountains in the afternoon / evening but this depends on the time of year and the position of the sun. Hopefully I will get some great images this week and I look forward to sharing them with you in my next blog entry.

The Solheim Cup Ends..

The USA team managed to retain The Solhiem Cup this time, but only just. It was a fantastic week with massive crowds, sometimes 7 or 8 deep round the greens, and with all the chanting and singing it seemed more like a football match at times. Photography was fairly challenging at times with very dark conditions on Saturday evening meaning a jump to 1600 ISO for the last match, not to mention the 14+ hour days. I'm now in need of a rest as an overnight flight to Heathrow tomorrow should just finish me off :)