Paper Boats

This afternoon the girls floated paper boats down the stream and I climbed into the FREEZING. COLD. WATER. ...and took some photos. I followed the boat here downstream until it hit a rock and sunk. The underwater camera enclosure rocks!

Forgotten

Rivers Underneath, Part 2

More photos underwater! The stream at McCloud Run was much clearer today, so we went and took some more pictures. The water was freezing. Oh man, was it cold. Well worth the trouble, though. I'm getting a better handle on manually focusing underwater and I've been experimenting with shutter speeds. A slow shutter speed smooths out the water and makes it look very calm and tranquil, while a fast shutter speed captures the texture, water droplets, and turbulence and makes for a more lively shot.

The camera was submerged for an hour and the underwater housing didn't leak a drop, so that's a relief! It's a lot of fun to use and I've already got some ideas for next time.

Rivers Underneath

Last week the underwater camera housing I ordered arrived. My Nikon fit into the housing perfectly and with a bit of apprehension I submerged a camera that I cannot afford to replace... UNDER WATER. Once I checked it several times for leaks and was assured that it truly was waterproof, I began experimenting with taking underwater pictures. This is a whole different ballgame from normal picture-taking for so many reasons, but it's a fun learning curve.

Auto focus does not work at all (which I had read in numerous places before purchasing this rig) and the necessary manual settings required are odd. Underwater photography takes a lot of patience and there's plenty of trial and error involved, but I'm excited to perfect my skills. Below are the results of my second try (cuz the first try was pretty bad!). These photos were taken after a heavy rainfall and this stream had flooded, so there's lots of sediment in the water. The clarity is not the greatest, but I will be back...