Shooting a commercial

Life is tough sometimes, the sun beating down, a heavy load on your back, a certain shot needing a combination of different elements each vital to success, communications from divers to boat and vice-versa, CGI elements to be added later, a team of back up divers catering to props, cables, lights etc. So not much then for a shot which in all likeliness will last 5 seconds.
Gotta love it and would do it again in a flash!

Richard



photoshop@fishnfins.comwww.lightningstrikeproductions.co.uk

A project is in the pipeline that may well be about a pipeline and the natural resources it could destroy. Watch this space for more news on what could be an exclusive into Environmental Philosophy and the people who advocate the risk of oil exploration.

richardwbrooks@hotmail.com

Hi all, so after practically a year and going from a simple Fish ID DVD to a fully interactive educational Fish ID DVD with enough re-edits and menu screens, transitions and links to send me almost completely round the bend it's finally ready!
Over 140 species covering Reef Fish, Nudibranchs, Silver fish, Reptiles, Cephalopods, The Colour Red and Elasmobranchs this is one heck of an educational reference tool.
Each species has it's own information page with ID photo, behaviour and biological notes that you can navigate to from the footage of the critter you are watching.
From Anemone fish to Zebra shark with everything in between including hunting squid, mating octopus, shark mating scars and a whole host of other rarely seen behaviour this is a great visual guide for divers and snorkelers alike.
Available at these retail outlets:
Fish 'n Fins
Belau National Museum
Neco Marine
Etpison Museum

Cheers
Richard



photoshop@fishnfins.com
www.lightningstrikeproductions.co.uk

The Night Sky

January and March this year will be two of the few months when there will be a "Blue Moon".
A Blue Moon isn't actually blue of course it's just when you have two Full Moons in the same calendar month.
This is a timelapse video of it.


A few nights earlier was also exceptionally clear and I took this long exposure of Orion

The Red Giant Betelgeuse is the visibly red star on the left side half way up the picture and is so massive it would not fit inside Jupiter's orbit. It's light takes 640 years to get to us....

Cheers

Richard


photoshop@fishnfins.com
www.lightningstrikeproductions.co.uk

Return to underwater photography

After a break of over 2 years I have at last bought an underwater housing for my SLR camera and not particularly surprisingly I was very rusty!
Starting out with no strobe and making good use of my new status as a dealer for Magic Underwater Filters I set out to capture something of what Palau has to offer.

This image taken inside Palau's infamous blue holes gives some idea of this cathedral sized cavern which can be truly beautiful with the light filtering down from the ceiling.

The next subject has probably been photographed more times than I've had hot dinners so of course I had to have a go too. Jake Seaplane supposedly crashed shortly after take-off in 1944 due to not being refuelled, a reconaisance plane powered by a Kawasaki engine with a 2000km range carrying a 3 man crew. Now a relic of a sad period of Palau's history.



One of the hardest group of fish to photograph with a flash are the highly reflective silver types such as Barracuda, Tarpon etc. This is where the magic filter really helps, manual white balance and getting the sun (and the fish) in the right position help dramatically especially when there are around 100 fish all giving you a looking over. These are Chevron or Blackfin Barracuda and can be found at dive sites like New Drop Off and Blue Corner, they allow you to get very close and are an amazing sight to behold, not at all aggressive each one adding to the huge school as they approach and surround you, each meter long predators.....

I was lucky enough the other day to be at Blue Corner when there was no other boats there, the main group hooked on at 14m and I went to the edge at 18m. There the current was strong and the sharks were gliding along the edge, riding the upwelling current as it surged in. Beautiful animals, honed to perfection, super efficient, some individuals just gliding in loops round and round riding the same spot time after time. I positioned myself as low as possible and waited until one such animal comes into the right postion, hugging the bare rock, straining against the current and resistance to my camera, squinting through the viewfinder keeping the exposure right, at least one picture came out ok!

Take care all,
Richard








photoshop@fishnfins.com
www.lightningstrikeproductions.co.uk

Palau upholds it's No Shark Fishing policy

Good news!
The President of Palau has told the UN that the whole of Palau's Exculsive Economic Zone (EEZ) is to be protected from Shark Fishing providing a haven for these endangered animals.
The Micronesian Shark Foundation who have been fundamental in conducting research and public education programs are extremely happy at this news as they have worked so hard to see this happen.
Divers and environmentalists everywhere I think should also be celebrating this as the shark is becoming so critically endangered in other parts of the world. Hopefully enforcement will stop the illegal fishing that is still threatening to wipe out Palau's shark populations and provide the area with much needed protection.
Words will not stop the fishing, only action.
For a link to a New York Times story please follow this link:
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/pacific-nation-declares-itsself-a-shark-haven/

photoshop@fishnfins.com
www.lightningstrikeproductions.co.uk

German Dive specialists Schoner Tauchen expand website with Fish 'n Fins Promo

As a way to increase our exposure in Europe I have compiled a short film for Schoner Tauchen's website, here is a link:
Fish 'n Fins
if your german isn't quite up to scratch then here is the video itself:


Cheers

Richard
http://www.fishnfins.com/n/Photo-Shop.html
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