With summer and hopefully some hotter weather approaching, my mind has drifted back to the idyllic days spent last August wandering around in the ancient city of Athens and the wonderful cerulean enclosed Aegean island of Milos.
It has been a very long time since I have immersed into water so clear and joyously vibrant with its dazzling myriad of turquoise tones. I immensely enjoyed getting lost watching the caustic light dance along the seabed and the way it rippled across everything it gently touched. The fish were sparse enough but still fascinating to watch as they darted around searching for shade as I passed. Watching Saddled Seabream with their inquisitive nature float past having a peek, Ornate Wrasse dipping in and out of crevices, White Seabream gliding by, was mesmerising. I could do this easily all day, every day, the landbased concept of time slows down underwater, everything is immediate and in the present. One of the oceans ambient charms perhaps.
Needing to travel light I was able to get a dome housing, Go Pro, and Cressi small foldable fins and snorkel gear in beside the usual sun-trip luggage. For a relatively cheap and portable means of getting shots in the water, the Go Pro 7 was a good option to have, as were the fins and snorkel, the mask wasn’t great and let in a good bit of water, fogging up some. The dome housing was a no-fuss brand found online, which worked well for a while, but eventually, towards the end of the trip, it got scuffed and started leaking droplets in. You get what you pay for.
The hardest part of it all was trying to reduce the beading on the dome port “glass”. I tested rainguard, candle wax, saliva beforehand etc.. but to no avail. It seems your best option was to get your split-screen shot or footage in before the water ran off the glass as it would then invariably leave those pesky droplets.
I shot with Protune turned off in the camera, and edited footage in lightroom preferring to tweak the output to match the individual shot. All-in it has been hugely fun and rewarding to go back through the images and footage and bring back to mind a blissful, wonderful moment of time. I’m looking forward to getting back into the blue ( green-grey here) and learning and exploring more.
I may have been googling housing for DSLR’s lately, dreaming of clearer shots.. 🙂
I’ve attached the warm water lightroom preset here, that I used as a base to finalise the images, feel free to download and adjust as needed.
April 13, 2020
Trip