During my last trip to Bonaire i got to dive with the guys from NightSea and try out their cool filters on my camera to see critters at night as you never have before. fluorescent

There are a few decisions you have to make when it comes to choosing a digital camera to use underwater. If you already have a camera you would like to use you need to make sure there is an adequate housing for it. If you don’t have a camera you need to think about which of the following make the most sense for you:

Point-and-Shoot Cameras

Many people have them already so you often just need to house them. You can get great results with these cameras and they don’t require a lot of investment. In my opinion, Canon and Olympus are dominating this category. Point and shoot cameras are perfect if you do an annual dive trip and want a duel purpose camera.

Digital SLR Cameras

If you already have one and you want to make the investment in the gear necessary to take it under then go for it. It is not the cheap option and I caution you to not make the decision lightly and check out my article on getting into underwater photography.

If you have a digital SLR then you already know what it can do on the surface and you can get the same functionality when you are underwater. You will need to find a quality housing for it and then attach strobes in order to replicate the light on the surface. The digital SLR option offers you the most flexibility and growth potential as you progress in the hobby.

Waterproof Cameras

While technically still point and shoot cameras, there are cameras that are developed specifically for underwater use such as those from Sea & Sea and now the line from Olympus such as the Stylus Tough – 8000 and the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW (no longer available) that are both waterproof to 33 feet. I like the 1030 to get boat shots as well as when I don’t want to carry my large rig.

As you can see there are a lot of options but if you are not sure start with the point and shoot and enjoy diving until you are ready to move up to the next level.

The Lightroom team announced the Lightroom 3 beta — looking for experienced users to help them make it a better product. the beta is available in both Mac and PC formats.
Here is a sampling of the features that you will preview in the beta:

• Redesigned import handling for streamlined and easier file management
• More flexible online publishing options so you can post your images online to certain online photo-sharing sites directly from inside the Lightroom 3 beta (may require third-party plug-ins)*
• Sharpening, noise reduction, and film-grain simulation to help you extract incredible detail and quality from your images
• Portable shareable slideshows with audio designed to give you more flexibility and impact on how you choose to share your images; you can now save and export your slideshows as videos
• Flexible customizable print package creation so your print package layouts are all your own
• Watermarking tool that helps you add identity or other information to your images

The upcoming version of Lightroom 3 will include these features and more, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to download the beta.

You can also help the team by sending feedback through the Lightroom 3 beta Forum on Adobe Labs.

Download the beta from Adobe Labs today!  If you want a full product you can buy Adobe Lightroom 2.0

Essential Underwater Photography Manual is my favorite overview book about underwater photography. Written by Larry and Denise Tackett and released in 2007 it covers a lot of the most current equipment and best practices.

It starts with a good introduction to photography which many people in the digital point and shoot realm never get.   It also goes into many of the unique issues you’ll face when shooting underwater. Such as:

• Distance to your subject
• Lighting for macro and wide angle shots
• Depth of Field and Point of Focus

There are a lot of great tips and tricks for taking various types of pictures both macro and wide-angle.

Depth 40 – 50

This reef is named after the Lone Star Restaurant which sits on shore directly in front of this site.  This is another shallow dive and is a great place for photos.  Once you come down the anchor line you are presented with the reef.  There is a brilliant ledge off to the left of the pin.  There are a number of cleaning stations in this ledge.   If you have a diver go on the outside of the ledge and swim around you can get a great picture of them framed on a section of the ledge which has fused together.
I have seen turtles on this site in the past as well as spotted eels.  This is an excellent macro site.

Depth 15 – 35 feet

This is another wreck of a wreck just out in Georgetown Harbor.  This boat sank in 1932 after striking the wall in port during a hurricane.  When in tact the Balboa was a 375 foot lumber freighter.  Once it started taking on water it made it out into the inlet of the port and sunk just below the surface.  Both the US and British Navy took turns blowing it up into smaller pieces.

Part of the boiler room is still in tact as you can see the propellers in the back side of the dive.   Since this is a shallow dive there is abundant fish life and lot of natural light for photography.

Depth: 40 – 55 feet

This is more a wreck of a wreck.  Over the years the hurricanes have smashed this boat into a large stack of metal plates.  It is still a really cool dive.  I have dove this site a number of times and always see turtles and spotted eels.  The bow is still in tact but you cannot enter it.