Monotone and Black and White Series 6-11
Working in monotone and black and white can liven up a composition
I don’t usually do a lot of work in black and white, but I decided to give it a shot. I always tend to think of black and white and monotone photography as a last resort for photos that don’t work in color, but the truth is that they can really make a composition sing. Some of the photos below have already been on the site in color, and some are completely new.
In other news, I had a run of rather bad luck in the last few weeks… My Canon G9 bit the dust last week, and my main hard drive on my server failed as well. The good new is that I sent the camera off to Canon to get repaired, and I expect it to be a relatively simple and inexpensive fix based on the research I conducted (fingers are crossed). As for my hard drive, I replaced it and got it back up and running within 36 hours. The bad news is that I hadn’t really counted on spending all that money, and it looks like I will be without my G9 for up to two months!
Luckily, I have my Canon Powershot D10 as a backup camera. It is much more limited than my G9 in that it is more of a point-and-shoot affair with much less manual control, and I am limited to 10 meters (about 33 feet) in depth. While I won’t be able to take it very deep, I have already heavily modified my rig to work with my D10, allowing me to use my strobe, my stacked Inon macro lenses, and my wide angle dome. All my alterations are completely home-made, and it even looks pretty cool. I spent all last week tweaking the setup and perfecting it. My initial tested are pretty good, and I just have a few minor light leakage issues when using the wide angle lens to patch up. I even hacked the camera with the use of the CHDK custom firmware in order to utilize RAW format. With that last touch, I can last a few months and keep shooting without missing a beat while waiting for my baby to get repaired. I think I will post pictures and details on how I set up my Canon D10. Some people might find it useful, and it might even spur on some further ideas on making the D10 a legitimate shallow dive camera.
I have a bunch more photos coming this week. I’ve been doing a lot of shooting these last few weeks, and a deluge of photos is coming your way soon! Enjoy the photos.
Dive 3-27-2011 – Missing the Boat
I pulled out the old Inon Macro lenses this weekend.
So I wake up at 8:00 am on a Sunday, get everything together, and drag all my equipment down to the port to go diving with the CIPA. I arrive right on time, and lo and behold… The boat’s not there, and everyone is gone. Now anyone who knows me knows that 9:00 am is not my best hour of the day for higher level cognitive function, so I decided to sit and ponder my situation. About five minutes later, I get a text from my girl noting that it was daylight savings this weekend.
I forgot the change my clock forward and I literally missed the boat.
Having hauled all my gear down to the port, I decided to make the most of it and I went for a quick dive out at Coco Beach. It didn’t let me down. I ran into the same Doris Dalmatien that I ran into a few weeks ago. Only this time, he left his feeding tuft open long enough for me to get a really nice shot.
Other than that, I have a few nice macro shots (I worked heavily with my Inon Macro Lenses this weekend) from my afternoon at Cap D’Ai. I spent the day out there on Saturday, and boy was the weather nice.
I leave you all with a wonderful quote that I came across this week. These are supposedly the last words of Shakespearean actor John Barrymore (1882-1942). “Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.” That guy sounds like he would be awesome to meet.
Additional Tips On Using Stacked INON UCL-165 M67 Lenses For Underwater Macro Photography
Dual INON Lenses For Macro Photography
Thought I’d post an update on some additional tips that were submitted to me from jcnavarrog through Flickr. He offered some useful tips as to how to best use dual stacked Inon UCL 165 M67 macro lenses that I thought were worth sharing.
Camera Settings:
1. No matter how light or transparent the subject, whenever using stacked Inons, set your camera settings to: f8.0, ISO 80 (ISO 100 if can’t use 80), macro mode and flash compensation +2.
2. Zoom the lens all the way in (full zoom)
3. Set the camera to manual focus
After you have your camera properly configured, you simply get your camera within a few inches of your subject, and simply “rock” your camera slowly back and forth until the subject is in focus. At first, this can seem pretty difficult, but with even a few minutes of practice, you can start to get the feel for this technique. I have used this technique myself, and I can report that you can get far closer to your subject using this method. The photos below were taken using this method. Again, thanks much to jcnavarrog for the tips. Also, I have another article with more information about using Dual Inon Macro lenses for underwater photography here.
Using Dual Stacked INON UCL-165 M67 Lenses For Underwater Macro Photography
Dual INON Lenses For Macro Photography
My Inon UCL 165′s changed the way I shoot underwater photography, and I am so glad I got them to compliment my G9. I almost didn’t buy them, but after hours and hours of research, I finally decided to roll the dice. It really was a roll of the dice too, since I could hardly find any information on how to use dual-stacked Inon lenses, and what they actually did. I only knew that other photographers were using them with much success. I couldn’t find a good guide on exactly what they did, how to use them, or how to attach them. I just had to put it all together for myself. Hopefully this guide will help those of you who are looking into it get the information you need with much less effort.
What are stacked INON UCL-165′s?
The INON UCL-165 is a special Macros wet lens that allows photographers to get more magnification from their macro shots. This is not to be confused with zooming in on a subject; you will have to get up-close and personal with your subject in order to use them at all. I was a bit disappointed when I first got my lenses at how close I had to get to my subject to use them (I was under the impression that they would give you the same macro from farther away, but this is not the case).
Tiny Crab Taken with Stacked Inons
Most of the time, when shooting a subject with my macro lenses on, my camera lens ranges from practically touching the subject to shooting from several inches away. Don’t buy these if you want to shoot really mobile critters or things that spook easily close up.
The unique thing about the INON lenses is that they are threaded on both sides (67mm thread), meaning they can be attached one directly on top of the other, so you are not magnifying only once, but twice. This is what we mean by “stacked” lenses. Below are some dry-land shots that illustrate the difference between no lenses, a single lense, and stacked lenses.
Canon G9 in Canon WP-DC21 Macro Mode with No Lense
Canon G9 in Canon WP-DC21 Macro Mode with Single Inon Lense
Canon G9 in Canon WP-DC21 Macro Mode with Stacked Inon Lenses
How Do I Use Them?
There are a few things you need to know about how to attach and use INON Macro Lenses. First of all, there are two basic types of mounts for these lenses, “bayonet” mounts, and threaded mounts. The difference between the two is how they attach; bayonet mounts attach with a quick turn and click system, and threaded mounts, which need to be screwed on. The bayonets mounts are much quicker to attach and detach, and thus are generally preferred. Threaded mounts are more universal in that there are many adapters that you can buy to attach threaded lenses to a wide variety of cases. You will have to do some research to find which mount will work with your case. As far as the Inon macro lenses go, the UCL-165AD is the bayonet mount, and the UCL-165 M67 is the threaded version. The lenses are identical except for the mounting system. Be sure to be check which one will work with your case before you buy.
Also be aware that each case is different, and unless it is a dedicated case manufacturer (i.e. Ikelite), you will likely have to purchase a some sort of after-market adapter to attach a wet lens. In my case, with the Canon G9 and the Canon WP-DC21 case, the only available adapters were of the threaded variety.
In order to take macro photos, you will have to use some sort of flash. This is due to the fact that macro photography reduces the distance to the subject, an in the process significantly shortens the depth of field. The only way to counter this is to shoot at a f-stop of 6.3 or higher. Shooting any lower that that will yield very small depth of field, and you will have only a very tiny portion of your shot in focus. Unfortunately, this rules out using natural lighting under almost all conditions underwater, since a higher f-stop will allow a much smaller amount of light in.
As far as a flash goes, you have two options: using the internal flash, or using external strobes. I won’t go into too much detail with this in this article, but external strobes are generally better to use if you can afford them. If you can’t, there are some neat tricks that can yield some really high-quality macro results without an external strobe. All you really need is a few tools, a piece of metal, and some time in order to create a few simple mods that can get you by with just your diffuser. Learn more here: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25455. I currently don’t use an external strobe, but am planning on getting one eventually for two reasons; I am sick of dealing with excessive backscatter in my photos, and my wide-angle attachment blocks my internal flash, so I will be forced to get an external arm if I am ever going to use flash to shoot wide. In my opinion, one can easily get away without an external strobe for most situations with some work, but it is better to get a strobe if you can.
Halo effect when used on terrestrial subjects
Lastly, if you are looking to use these lenses for dry-land photography, stop now. These are designed specifically for use underwater, and they take advantage of the light refraction qualities of the water to function. I tested them out myself with a 67mm threaded Sigma lens that I have for my DSLR, and I can verify that it is not suitable. What happens on any subject with depth, (you can’t see it on the coin examples I shot above, since they are a flat plane) is that you get a blur or halo effect on the subject as it moves away from the lens. Click to enlarge the rose photo to see what I am talking about. It is pretty evident.
Well, that is all I can think of for now. Hopefully this helps anyone who is interested in getting started with macro photography using stacked Inon UCL-165 lenses.
[Update: I got a few extra tips from a fellow Flickr member on how best to use Inon lenses for underwater photography, I made a post about it here.]
I will leave you with a quick gallery of photos that I have shot using my Inons:
