‘Operation Sea Gate’ scientific underwater SCUBA expedition with the mission of exploring undocumented geo thermal vents off the volcanic Isla San Luis in the Sea of Cortez featuring the SCUBA photography of Chris Van Loan.
The Prometheus Design Werx Expeditionary Team comprised of members of Bay Area Expeditions and underwater based TV producer Dale Pearson. The mission objective: to gather samples of liquid, helium 3 gas (H3) and biological mass near the vents. Scripps Institute of Oceanography analyzed the samples and published the findings.
I was honored to be invited for my photo skills, but had no prior diving experience. I crash course certified in SCUBA.
Shooting underwater based or SCUBA photography has a multitude of challenges and requires technical understanding. I had to close the housing perfectly to get it to seal. Even a grain of sand in the sealing surface will cause it to flood. The AquaTech housing worked perfectly and my 5D MkIII survived along with a 16-35mm f/2.8 lens. Wider lenses tend to have fewer issues with shooting in the water. Many use fish eye lenses even wider than the 16mm. The camera was neutral buoyant in the housing.
Even getting proper focus in the water can be difficult. Even a small spec like object between the camera and subject, resulting in the auto focus becoming distracted. The camera also sees a false image projected in front of the subject because things appear magnified in the water. Consequently, the camera focuses in front of the subject resulting in a front focused image. Balancing low light availability in dark water, with enough depth of field to pick up the actual subject through the projection is crucial. Shutter speeds never seem fast enough to combat the surge, and the subject and camera constantly in motion vs letting in enough light. Having a camera like the 5DMKIII with good high ISO performance is an advantage.
The familiar controls on the camera are replaced with unmarked wheels, knobs and levers on the housing. I familiarized myself with housing controls enough on-land enough to help me operate the camera intuitively underwater. I dove in, dropped to the rally point, put my eye to the range finder and felt right at home with the familiar feeling fo viewing things through the lens.
The light plays amazing dramatic effect on subjects and backgrounds and the ability to shoot in 3D around the subject. This opens new compositions impossible on land. Check out the video at the end I created from the teams GoPro footage. Audio of team underwater radio communications via full face dive masks provided by Ocean Tactical Systems.
Click here to read the Prometheus Design Werx article on Operation Sea Gate featuring more of my SCUBA photography.
Read about snow camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains with PDW, Exploro.co, and Bay Area Expeditions click here.