longimanus's PhotoBlog

Break

2008-07-14T13:06:58Z

See you soon...

Tree climbers

2008-07-09T15:40:18Z

Take a breath

2008-07-02T15:53:26Z

For my 200. post I wanted to choose something I haven`t posted before… I`ve found these selfportraits I`ve taken last september in the Red Sea. Guide for underwater selfportraits: 1. Make sure you`re left behind the rest of the group to avoid other divers thinking you are crazy (a diver without mask and regulator looks pretty weird) and stay close to boat or reef, in case you loose mask you can ascend safely 2. Lay on your knees carefully on the sandy bottom at a depth about 12 m to avoid stirring up the sand 3. Make sure your BCD is empty of air (you should be slightly negativ buoyant) otherwise later when you have to hold your breath you might ascend off the bottom 4. Make a few test shots with your diving mask on to see light conditions 5. Set your camera aperture priority or fully manual (prefer) and turn on your strobe 6. Remove your mask slowly (now you will see only blurred shapes, nothing more), but make sure you don’t use it, as once dropped, without mask you will not find it anymore… than stay calm and breath slowly to get used to breath without mask 7. Strech you arms with the camera as far as you can to avoid distorsion caused by the wide angle lens (you don’t want to have a nose as big as a house) 8. Now take a very very deep breath (you will need to hold it for about or over a minute) and remove your regulator with your left free hand. 9. Now try to smile and look normal inspite of the salt water burning your eyes and the urge for breath :)) 10. Take several shots while bracketing with the strobe light (it is hard to find the right amount of light for human skin, when too much, you look like dead) 11. Replace your regulator first… than place the camera on the sandy bottom and replace your mask too (you need both hand for this) 12. Make your safety stop and ascend to surface… than see what you did mess up (I`ve forgotten to clear my face off the little air bubbles which make me look unshaved :)))

So glad I spotted you!

2008-06-26T22:02:20Z

"No matter how small I might feel, there’s something or somebody who sees me as colorful."

On the edge

2008-06-25T16:24:46Z

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.” (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr)

Glow

2008-06-24T14:51:25Z

Why are some fish - like the glassfish - transparent? Some fish are transparent because it really helps them to prevent being eaten. Some fish are transparent throughout their entire lives (glass catfish, glassfish, small minnows), and others are only transparent during their early juvenile stages but then grow out of it. Being transparent helps because no matter what the fish is around, the background color shows through, and for all practical purposes, the fish is invisible. (They become visible when cought in the beam of diver`s torches and their body reflects the silvery light) Some predatory fish trigger to the presence of food, not by seeing the prey fish, but by sensing or seeing the shadow of the prey fish passing above it. An interesting thing about the true “clear” fishes (and shrimps). If you have a regular fish, and feed it some food with a lot of pigment in it, the fish will gradually take on that color. This is the same as flamingos getting their pink color from shrimp that they eat. If you do the same with a “clear” fish, no matter how much you feed them a colored food, they will not take on that color.

Giulia

2008-06-19T16:01:42Z

Giulia (two and a half year) - Jamie`s little friend... yes I know, always girls! I wish you all a wonderful and sunny weekend!

The brain

2008-06-18T13:11:51Z

The brain coral (Diploria sp.) These corals get their common name from the grooves and channels on their surfaces that look like the folds of the human brain. There's more than one kind of "brain coral"—several species from two different families of corals share the name—but all help build coral reefs. While staghorn corals grow rapidly to gain new territory, slow-growing brain corals rely on brawn. They hold their ground by being solid and strong enough to withstand the storms that pound more delicate corals to rubble.

Mirror, mirror... (Digital Editing Challenge 19)

2008-06-16T15:11:08Z

"Mirror Mirror On the Wall, Who's the Fairest of Them All?" Please take a look at the work of other participants here! And you can learn more about the digital editing challenge game here!

Symphony in yellow

2008-06-12T14:24:08Z

I wish you a lovely and colorful weekend!