Underwater Photography - SENSACIONES.org

Nexus Nikon D70 housing
Nexus Nikon D2x housing
Ocean Optics
Lough diving in
Nexus. Made For The Professional.
an eerie post nuclear glow. The surface halocline
acts like a filter and blocks off daylight, soaking
up whatever sunshine dares find its way over
Connemara
Priced For The Enthusiast.
Connemara.
Moving along the shallows reveals a sandy
by Jerome Hingrat
bottom of broken shells and gravels. Not the typical
mud plain. Beyond the shallows brings you into
Often fished but rarely dived, Connemara deeper waters, and in some areas the slope falls
loughs Nexus are bog diving housings territory at its best. for Nikon’s sharply D70 into over and 20 metres. D2 With series limited visibility,
Sliding into brackish water riddled by a many dwellers are camouflage experts and blend
seasonal cameras downpour might are not your be everybody’s entry into with one their environment, of the it world’s
takes a while to adjust
idea of a week-end in the Wild West...but for and spot them. A lot of these mud hoppers are more
the most frustrated winter extensive diver that I am, underwater there curious imaging than their sea counterparts, systems. they come out to
is sometimes nothing like the peaty waters of gawk at the tourists and hop out of reach.
Connemara. It’s a system that brings together In places, tubeworms superbly have congregated in
Connemara loughs are like proverbial watering huge numbers and developed into full-grown
holes: engineered there is no shortage of them. aluminium Water is not housings reefs. Clumps of and red, orange, a port yellow and range white
a rare commodity around here, above and below, serpula (tube worms) are fanning themselves in a
out of that the heavens lets it comes you in every shoot colour, fisheye salted, gentle to current. super This is tele the closest macro. I’ve seen to All an
fresh, not so fresh or with a seasonal Guinness tint. underwater Christmas tree. Sitting on a hard base
In late
at
summer,
exceptionally
a plankton bloom and
keen
peat water
prices.
of white tubes, they stand out against the muddy
conspire to create visibility averaging chowder-like lough bed. At feeding time, with the reefs in full
conditions. To cap it all, clouds of jellyfish pulsating bloom, the bottom suddenly comes alive. At first,
by don’t help improve the visibility. What a contrast the idea of taking photographs in these conditions
with the See clear waters the of Nexus the Atlantic nearby! system at seemed our fanciful. new Divers showroom have been known on to
Fed with seawater and fresh water from miss the reefs because of the low visibility. Each
nearby London’s rivers, sea loughs Strand.
can bring together an odd individual specimen of tubeworm, when extended,
mixture of life resulting from the interchange with is no more than 2 cm wide. It’s a difficult subject
the sea. A slight current is noticeable with the tide that tested anybody’s macro skills - I first tried to
and water clarity can improve. It is a great spot for isolate the worms and used a 105 mm lens for the
watching feeding shoals pass by. Shoals of garfish
Everything will impress you
added
including
distance from the subject.
the
But
price.
the lighting
and rainbow trout are not uncommon. Depending on had to be spot on (small subject, low visibility),
their relation to the sea, some loughs seem deprived and tubeworms didn’t allow the use of a spotlight.
of any visible life, 7 Bush others House are just teeming Arcade, with Bush it. House In low light conditions, www.oceanoptics.co.uk
it’s tricky to pick the right
With sea loughs, a layer Strand, of brackish London, fresh WC2B water sits 4PAspecimen and compose with no spotlight. I also
over the layer of salt water. In the summer, as the
Tel 020 7240 8193 Fax 020 7240 mounted 7938 diffusers optics@oceanoptics.co.uk
on my strobes to soften the light.
sun filters through the surface, the water takes on This reduced the flash output. After a roll of shots