Hi Guys,

Sorry for the late post. Welcome to the forum, I hope to contribute as much as I can and hope to learn from you guys as well. I am a hardcore Nikon user and just got a D2x in January and it rocks ! For those who don't know who I am here is a brief backgrounder
I started taking pics at age 8 with an instamatic 110 camera. I got my first SLR when I was 15 and today aside from my D2x I have an F5,F4,F100,N90 plus 3 Nikonos 5's and a Nikon RS. I first got published in 1987 and I now contribute to various publications around the world. I have publish 4 coffee table books (Phil Coral reefs in Watercolor with Rafael Cusi, Anilao with Ed Cu Unjieng,The Ultimate oriet and Bahura). Anilao won the grand prize for books at the World festival of underwater images in Antibes, France in the year 2000. I am currently working on 2 books one on El Nido and the other for Manila Golf Club:Smoke:

Hey Guys,

Lets give Gutsy a big welcome to our forum! It took him a while to post since he is so busy with all his projects but now that he is here, expect him to be active. For those of you who don't Gutsy, he is an internationally recognized nature and underwater photographer. We are all glad that he will be taking his time to share with us his experience and techniques.

Welcome on board Gutsy!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Since this is Gutsy's forum, we will break our rules slightly and allow mild profanity in this forum, but only in this forum.
So WTF are you all waiting for?

Nick/Gutsy, I am wondering if you two are related?

I shoot with my Oly 5050z u/w, because of it's capability to shoot in raw as well as macro. I have not purchased a strobe and have struggled getting decent u/w shots. Is one strobe enough to achieve good u/w images or would you recommend more than one? (of course it is still up to the one clicking the camera)

Your Anilao book is really really great. I'm looking forward to see your work on El Nido! I think it is one of the best places on earth. Just wondering how it will look like in the hands of a master.

All right!!!

A Master... A Nikon... truly the few and the brave. :D

Gutsy

hi I'am currently studying to use a f90x with ikelite casing. I would like to ask you what are the best dive sites you can recommend for macro photography with focus on shrimps and sea horses.

archie

Sir Gutsy, i reaaaallly love your underwater photographs :Grin:

jr, hell ya we are related, but you wouldnt know it by looking at my golf game compared to Nicks. regarding your strobe issue, you need two strobes to achieve great shots, especially when shooting macro. It looks unnatural to see macro shots with shadows. when shooting wide sometimes you can get away with one strobe, but if your lens is really wide then the lighting will look spotty at best. if you want to salvage your shots without strobe it can be done in photoshop by adjusting the curves,levels,hue and selective color (black).
oh and one more thing , if you are serious about underwater photography, ditch your oly 5050 and get a digital SLR.

archie, hope you are using strobes with your f90. The best place to shoot macro in the philippines is Anilao. shrimps can be found in all dive sites and seahorses in Basura (Thorny not horny) and pygmies in cathedral and back of sombrero

ray, thanks for the compliments

Thanks Gusty, I already have a 20D. Interesting suggestion on getting a housing... serious u/w photos... I wonder if there's a big market for u/w photos?

gutsy,

yup I do have ikelite strobes for the f90x and as I'am currently using a d70s I will be thinking of buying another ikelite for this cam if already available. I also use a nikonos v which was our first ub=nderwater camera.

thanks for the info.

archie