Here is a quick ‘How To’ guide on getting some of your camera settings initially set for underwater photography.  Once you get more familiar with them you will start to feel comfortable with changing them to get your desired results.  These will improve your underwater imagery if you take a few moments to get comfortable with them. It is also a good idea to practise these on land (in the underwater camera housing) so you can use them easily underwater.

White balance: Set this to ‘cloudy’ or ‘underwater’ if you have that option on your camera.  These will add more red or warmth to the colour of the picture.  Once you are comfortable with the options provided, have a go at setting ‘custom’ white balance.

ISO: Its a good idea to take ISO off ‘Auto’ and set it to a low setting (100 or 200).  ISO controls your shutter speed, without getting too technical.  So if you are deep or in dark conditions and you find your photos are getting blurry then setting it back to ‘Auto’ to see what ISO setting your camera would choose, you may find that it would adjust it much higher to adapt to the conditions.  A warning though – this introduces ‘noise’ or graininess which is often an unwanted side effect.  However, f it is the difference between getting a photo fo a hammerhead shark or not, I would go with graininess everytime!

Flash: Learn how to turn it from ‘on’, to ‘off’, to ‘auto’.  Why?  Because this will be your most used setting.  If what you are photographing isn’t close enough to touch, then don’t have your flash turned on (this is different if you are using an external strobe).  If you are taking a photo where you want to photograph something in touching distance then have it turned ‘on’ this will add colour to your image.

Want to learn more?  Stay in touch with our newsletters or check out the courses page.

Art for Sharks Charity Art Auction

Art for Sharks 2012.

Art for Sharks is the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s major charity art auction, held each year to raise funds for their work to protect Australia’s precious oceans.  I was proud to be able to donate an underwater image for auction on the evening, and made more proud when a group of people clubbed together to buy the image for someone dedicate to marine conservation.  I was unable to attend on the night due to other commitments but was happy to hear  the event was a great success!  It  featured 30 superb artworks inspired by our wild and fragile oceans and generously donated by some of Australia’s most sought after artists including Sam Leach, Ralph Wilson, Jacqui Stockdale and John Wolseley.

“Art for Sharks would be nothing with out the utter generosity of the artists around Australia who have donated their talent, time and passion to the sea.

Underwater on the HMCS Mermaid wreck site

From the Australian National Maritime Museum:

Wrecks and Reefs
29 November 2012 – 3 March 2013
Through the underwater lens of maritime archaeology, explore four Australian shipwreck sites on remote coral reefs off tropical Queensland – the early colonial ships Mermaid, Porpoise, Royal Charlotte and Cato. Vivid images by expedition photographer Xanthe Rivett follow the team led by the Australian National Maritime Museum and reveal the unique marine environments they encountered.

Join the expedition team on this underwater story of archaeological discovery and admire the natural beauty of the coral reefs and cays, the backdrop of these ship wrecks.

The Australian National Maritime Museum‘s Maritime Archaeology Program is supported by the Silentworld Foundation, the University of Sydney and the Australian Research Council.

The Expeditions

Mermaid Project 2009
In 2009 the expedition team searched for and surveyed the HMCS Mermaid which was wrecked on an unidentified reef system south of Cairns, Queensland, in 1829 whilst on a voyage to Port Raffles in far northern Australia.  HMCSMermaid circumnavigated Australia in the early 1820s under the command of Phillip Parker King, filling in the gaps left by the previous surveys of Matthew Flinders.

Diver surveying the site of the Mermaid. Xanthe Rivett 2009.

Wreck Reefs Project 2010
On an isolated reef system 400 kilometres east of Gladstone, Queensland, the expedition team surveyed and carried out archaeological assessments of HMS Porpoise and the merchant ship Cato both wrecked in 1803, the merchant ship Mahaica wrecked in 1854 and the associated shipwreck survivors’ camps on Porpoise Cay and Bird Island.  On board HMSPorpoise was the marine surveyor and explorer Lieutenant Matthew Flinders who was returning to England, via India, to report on the first European circumnavigation of the Australian mainland.

Frederick Reef Project 2010 and 2012
In October 2010 a small team of divers and archaeologists visited Frederick Reef, an isolated reef system 450 kilometres north-east of Gladstone Queensland, in search of theRoyal Charlotte.  The Royal Charlotte was wrecked in 1825 whilst on a passage to India with soldiers and their families in 1829.  In 2012 the team returned and located, surveyed and carried out archaeological assessment of the wreck site.

Anchor from the HMS Porpoise. Xanthe Rivett 2010

Island and Cays
Expedition teams visited Bird Island, Porpoise, Hope and West Cays to survey the sites of shipwreck survivors’ camps.  These cays and islands along with the various reef systems of Wreck Reefs are now protected environmental areas in the 972,000 square kilometre Coral Sea Conservation Zone which was established in May 2009.

Environment
Accompanying the museum’s archaeologists and divers, from the Silentworld Foundation, were two marine scientists from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science.  The expeditions provided the marine scientists the opportunity to undertake biological surveys and assessments of remote reef systems in the Coral Sea and to seek possible evidence of the impact of climate change on these coral reefs.  The coral appeared healthy with few signs of coral bleaching and there was no sign of the predatory Crown of Thorns starfish which have devastated up to 21% of the Great Barrier Reef in the last 27 years.

Diver Frederick Reef, Coral Sea. Xanthe Rivett 2012

Read the blogs from all three of the expeditions.

Beautiful and delicate the brittle star earns its name due to their tendency to drop limbs if you handle them.  Why?  It is a self-defence mechanism to distract predators in the same way a lizard might drop its tail.
They have five arms which they use to wrap themselves around soft corals like those pictured.  They come in an amazing array of colours, and patterns to blend into their surroundings.  Also found on sandy sea-floors and rocky reefs where they use their arms to move around (which is different to a sea star that uses it’s tube feet to move).

Brittle stars are part of a Class known as ‘Ophuroids’ meaning which are found from the polar regions to the tropics and even as deep as the abyssal depths (5000m).  Ophuroids including the amazing basket stars.

I often get questions through my website and by email from people just starting out in their underwater adventures.  I love this, and please send me an email if you have questions!  All through my career one of my greatest passions and drivers is converting people to love the underwater world as much as me.  So… in 2013 I will post some of my replies to these emails here on my website for others to find and read.  I hope they help.

Question: Having recently beeng to WA for some diving I\’m interested to start learning about underwater photography. Can you give me some advice what I should do to prepare for a course – ie. equipment I should invest in? I’m wondering where your courses are held? And do you ever travel interstate?

Here is what I would suggest:

If you are at the start then invest in a compact camera and housing that can scale up as your ability and interest grows.

For instance if you check out Digital Diver (www.digitaldiver.com.au) you will see that you can get a basic camera and housing for $499.00 (Canon Ixus125 http://www.digitaldiver.com.au/shop/product/i-pcix125).  This will get you shooting but doesn’t have all the bells and whistles.

There will come a point where you want more control over settings and also more features, or you might want to add an accessory like a strobe (flash) or light.  There are also other options like wet lenses (can be attached or removed underwater) for greater macro or better wide-angle as well.  The first accessory I would recommend to anyone though is a magic filter.

Magic Filter

You can decide that you want some of these accessories to begin with, or you may decide that you want to put more investment in a slightly higher spec camera which has more control over settings and will give you more artistic control from the camera.  Something like the Canon S110 ($889 for camera and housing) fits this description.  This will be a great camera and will take you longer to grow out of (skill-wise).  But obviously a higher entry point.

There comes a point when you want the best possible point and shoot camera because you have fallen in love with underwater photography but aren’t silly enough (yet) to make the sacrifice of lugging around kilos and kilos of very expensive digital SLR equipment (yes, I envy people that can fit their camera in their BCD pocket!).  In that case the Canon G12

(http://www.digitaldiver.com.au/shop/product/i-pcg12) with all the accessories you fancy is the ticket.

I have recommended all Canon products above because that is mainly what I have always shot with, and they have rarely let me down.  Go through an underwater equipment specialist like Digital Diver, Dive 2000 or Sea Optics because their experience can save you lots of $$$$.  You can also learn from other people’s experience through forums on sites like http://www.wepixel.com.

In terms of my courses, I currently run them in Cairns, Queensland.  Which is great for anyone who lives here or who is coming to the area to visit the Great Barrier Reef or Coral Sea – and not so great for those who don’t.  To address that, this year, I also hope to offer these courses online – if you want to be a test subject as soon as this is launched, let me know and I will stay in touch!  If you are wondering how do you learn underwater photography through a computer… well it is simple.  There is much more I can teach you out of the water than in… even my vast repertoire of hand signals has its limits!

In answer to your question about travelling interstate, yes.  I travel to hold workshops in different areas where people want to get a group together for weekend workshops of underwater photography and diving.  The best thing to do is get in touch with me.  Due to my marine conservation commitments I haven’t managed many in the past 18 months but looking forward to later this year.
Hope this information helps.

Best regards,

Xanthe

P.S. to stay in touch, please sign up for my newsletter (on the right).

When I am teaching underwater photography, or asked for advice on how to improve underwater photos my first suggestion is to look at the ‘greats’ of underwater photography.  Have a look at some of the most iconic underwater shots or those that you think are ‘great’ and ask yourself:

This week I had the opportunity to photograph mermaids.  Not just any mermaids, these were special – they were in Cairns for a quick visit with the Australian Conservation Foundation to ask people to support marine reserves.  On their way home, they stopped off at Moore Reef, on the Great Barrier Reef, where I caught up with them for a photo shoot thanks to Reef Magic and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

It isn’t everyday that you get the opportunity to photograph mermaids, and that we were amongst beautiful coral gardens on the Great Barrier Reef was even more special.  The mermaids names were: Aradia, Nerissa and Volitania and also out on the reef for the day was Monique and Chris from the Australian Conservation Foundation and my buddy / mermaid wrangler Xavier (big thank you’s to an excellent wingman).  To find out more about what they were doing check out http://www.acfonline.org.au/howdeep or http://www.protectourcoralsea.org.au which is the campaign I have been involved with for the last two years.

I had heard lots of favourable reports on how good Reef Magic’s reef site is for a while and I was pretty excited to be finally headed out to check it out.  Their pontoon is located at Moore Reef, right on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, and the reports weren’t exaggerated.  The team at Reef Magic have really looked after their patch of reef, and they have every reason to be proud.  The plate corals were beautiful, the crew friendly and the weather really came to the party.  However I did have three mermaids to photograph, so I couldn’t be distracted for too long and I am looking forward to getting back out there to check it out further.

The mermaidens, Nerissa (Shelley Dunlop) Aradia (Katie Laczko) and Volitania (Katy Dawson),  promote marine conservation to children and beachgoers in their hometown of Melbourne.   ACF and the Mermaidens visited Cairns with the support of the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC). ACF and CAFNEC are part of the Protect our Coral Sea alliance of 15 international, national, state and regional environment groups.  Three mermaids have joined with the Australian Conservation Foundation as Ambassadors for the national marine reserve network and oceans protection.  They are asking Australians to urge the Federal Government to commit to its plan to establish the world’s largest network of marine reserves. 

More on the marine reserves:
The Australian Federal Government is undertaking a plan to implement marine reserves in our Commonwealth waters (the national marine reserve network) which lie beyond state waters and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.  The network of marine reserves is proposed to cover 36% of Australia’s commonwealth waters, of which 13% will become marine national park (aka protected from fishing and other extractive uses).  The proposed Coral Sea Marine Reserve is part of that network, and once established will protect one of the last remaining intact tropical ocean ecosystems in the world; where populations of large ocean predators – sharks, tunas, and marlin – have not been severely reduced.

The announcement by the Australian government to create a marine national park in the Coral Sea of more than half a million square kilometres  is a very significant step forward for ocean conservation in Australia and globally. The Coral Sea is a very special place.  Not only is this a significant step forward for shark and big fish (pelagic) conservation, the reefs of the Coral Sea are also very unique.  These isolated pinnacles of coral rise to the surface on the top of undersea mountains and provide important habitat and ‘stepping stones’ for ocean voyagers such as sea turtles, sharks, seabirds and whales on journeys across the Pacific.

Its a night when North Queensland, Queensland, Australian and International underwater imagemakers all get to showcase their work.  Award-winning films and underwater photographs hit the big screen in front of an audience in Cairns on the 25th August, and all raising money for the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre and the Minke Whale Research Project.  I have been involved with the festival for the last 3 years, and a board member for the last 2 years.  The Cairns Underwater Film Festival team area a great group of people to work with and includes decades of underwater image and filmmaking experience.  Everyone, without exception, is passionate about the underwater world.

This year we have had a record number of entries into the underwater photo and short film competition, and with a prize pool of over $45,000 it has also attracted many international entries.  On the night there will be lucky door prizes and raffle prizes to help raise money for the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre.

Getting to work with such a great team on such a dynamic festival is incredible.  The real reward will come on Saturday night though.  I am very excited about this year’s film line up with incredibly talented contributers such as Dave Miller, Ross Isaacs, Stuart Ireland, David Hannan and Josh Jensen.  In addition we get to reveal the winners of the photo and short film competition who each get to walk away with an incredible diving adventure.   If you haven’t seen the show reel yet to give you a taste of what is to come then check it out below.  Also get your tickets and read more about the festival at: http://www.cairnsunderwaterfilmfestival.com

Our Coral Sea, Our chance to make it happen!

The Coral Sea Marine Reserve is an important step forward for our oceans.  Show your support for it at: http://www.protectourcoralsea.org.au or add your details in the box to the right.

In June the Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, announced the Coral Sea could become the world’s largest marine park as part of a national system of marine reserves around Australia.  The government is now asking the Australian public to show their support for the establishment of the Coral Sea Marine Reserve. This is necessary to ensure that its spectacular marine life, its coral reefs, sandy cays and underwater volcanoes are preserved for future generations.

One of the things that makes the Coral Sea Marine Reserve very important and special is that it is the first time Australia has setup a very large marine reserve in its waters that will protect the big animals and fish in our oceans, over a large part of their range. Up to 90% of the big fish (sharks, tuna, trevally, etc.)  have been taken (eaten) and we are yet to understand the knock-on effects to ocean food webs and ecosystems.  What we do know if that the big fish play very key roles in ocean communities, and their removal can have significant consequences for coral reefs.  We also know that research from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park shows that areas which are fished have much lower numbers of sharks, even if they are not a species which is targeted by anglers, and on some reefs the shark populations may be as low as 3%.

Here are some important facts on the Coral Sea:

• It is over 200km from the Australian coast, past the edge of the Great Barrier Reef in an area that has not yet been heavily impacted by human activities such as overfishing or water quality issues.  This makes it quite unique, in fact one of only a handful of places in the world where you will find an intact tropical reef ecosystem that could be protected and managed effectively – and we have it here in Australia!
• There are two main areas that make up the marine reserve:

1. The large marine national park zone a long way from the coast in the eastern half of the Coral Sea,  is really an ‘oceanic green zone’ an area that will protect the large marine animals with big ranges such as turtles, sharks, dolphins and whales, that cannot be effectively protected in smaller protected areas.
2. The western half which is still open to recreational and charter fishing plus some forms of commercial fishing (mainly hand collection) but for the most part is protected from long-line fishing.

Here are some facts in general on the new national network of marine reserves that are planned (which includes the Coral Sea):

• This has been planned since the process was initiated under the Howard government.  It is part of Australia’s international commitments to preserve biodiversity and other countries will be following Australia in implementing a similar system.
• It protects underwater environments that would have been protected a long time ago if they were on land, due to their unique fauna, special landscapes and importance to our oceans.
•  96% of Commonwealth waters within 100km of the coast will remain open to recreational fishers (will let you make up your mind on whether this is a good thing) and anyone wanting to experience one of the new marine national parks will have to travel over 200km offshore (again will let you make up your mind on this point).

The good points about the Coral Sea Marine Reserve:
• Nearly 1 million km2 included in the marine reserve.
• Just over 500,000km2 to become marine national park zone.
• Oil and gas exploration is banned from reserve.
• Long line fishing – a threat to sharks, turtles and seabirds – is excluded from 3/4 of the reserve.
• Bottom-trawling which damages sea-floor habitat is restricted to one very small area on the continental slope.
• Increased protection for reefs.

What needs to be improved:
• Zoning needs to be simplified around Osprey and Shark Reefs to ensure protection of the important reef slopes.t This would provide protection for the reef-associated pelagic species, such as sharks, important to dive tourism and also for scientific research.
• Long-line fishing needs to be removed from the waters north of 22 degrees South, and around Wreck Reef. An extended marine national park would provide additional protection for the biologically important Townsville Trough and its canyons, and the beautiful Wreck Reef.

Key Ecological Features:
Reefs protected: Kenn, Mellish, Shark, Vema, Osprey, Bougainville, Marion, Lihou and the Coringa-Herald Complex.
Reefs left open to fishing: Diane, West Holmes, East Holmes, North Moore, South Moore, Cairns Seamount, Willis, Saumarez, Flinders Reefs, Ashmore, Boot, Flora, McDermott Bank, Herald Surprise, Malay, Abington, Tregosse, Frederick, Wreck, Cato Reef and several un-named reefs.
Queensland and Townsville Troughs: These deep areas are important migration pathways and the site of breeding and spawning aggregations. The Queensland Trough will be protected from long-line fishing & trawling. The Townsville Trough could be protected further if long-line effort is removed from this sensitive area.
Queensland Plateau: Home to most of the Coral Sea’s reefs, the Queensland Plateau is also the largest plateau in the world! Most of its reefs will not be protected from all fishing under the proposed Coral Sea Marine Reserve but they will be protected from long-line fishing and trawling.
Southern Seamounts: The Coral Sea is home to a series of underwater mountains (seamounts) which are the result of ancient volcanoes. They attract vast numbers of ocean predators like sharks and host an amazing diversity of marine life. Kenn Reef has been protected but others are still vulnerable to long-line fishing. Removing long-line effort north of 22 degrees South would give additional protection to Frederick Reef. Wreck Reef – a reef atop a seamount – should also be fully protected.
Deep Sea Ecosystems: Unexplored and yet to be discovered deep sea ecosystems protected from sea-floor trawling

"Great Barrier Reef Turtle"

A day to celebrate one of the most loved marine creatures.  Bold statement?  Maybe but then there is a reason turtles are so loved by humans, we have had some pretty good connections over the years.  While today many of us don’t think twice about going snorkelling or scuba diving to interact with the marine environment, this is really a modern phenomenon.  Turtles have been coming onto land to lay their eggs for thousands of years, and in Australia, places where this happens such as Heron Island, the Whitsundays and more recently Mon Repos near Bundaberg have had people flock to them to see these creatures.  In a time before entering the water was commonplace this was an opportunity to see a marine creature and connect with them. Of course it also provided the opportunity for the sport of ‘turtle-riding’ and also harvesting turtles for turtle soup, their eggs were used in biscuits (!) and their shell of course was commonly used for decorative items.  These places are now at the centre of turtle conservation efforts.  When the annual turtle harvest at Heron Island was conducted they thought there are so many turtles and so many eggs there is no way they could affect their numbers by harvesting them for meat.  Of course now we know targeting the breeding females before they get a chance to lay their eggs, combined with the low survival rate of hatchlings had terrible consequences.

What I find fascinating about this little bit of history is how we not only learnt (slowly) from our mistakes but also our change in perceptions towards turtles.   In just 50 years we have gone from riding them down beaches and commercially harvesting them for food to placing them firmly on our ‘favourites’ list as an icon of the underwater world.  This has change has happened alongside the evolution of recreational diving ad snorkelling – when we have started entering the ocean and started appreciating the beauty of the underwater world through recreational activities. Additionally it was the scientists studying the turtles at Heron Island alongside the turtle cannery operations that first noticed the impacts of the industry.    It was only when our knowledge of the exploitation of the species caught up that we realised what impacts those industries were having.  Fast forward to today where science is slowly uncovering the impacts of overfishing globally (often too late to save an industry) and it seems we are still caught in this destructive cycle of exploitation first, science and consequences later.  Thankfully there is also a growing number of people involved in giving a voice to the environment and looking after our threatened species.

Marine turtles are often called the ancient mariners of the sea, and when you spend time with a beautiful old green or loggerhead turtle, their heads crusty with barnacles, you cannot help but wonder at the stories they could tell and the sights they have seen.  You also have to respect them, to get through decades of ocean travel unscathed is no small feat.  Turtles have been swimming in the sea for more than 150 million years, they first appeared during the age of the dinosaurs and have changed little over the millennia yet never before have they had such a dangerous ocean to swim in.  But, this is a post to celebrate the beautiful turtle not talk about the threats it faces.

Six of the world’s seven species of marine turtle live in the waters around Australia, and all occur within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and in the proposed Coral Sea Marine Reserve area. These are:

• Loggerhead – Endangered (As assessed by IUCN, Australian EPBDC and Qld Nature Conservation)
• Green – Endangered (IUCN), Vulnerable (Australian EPBDC and Qld Nature Conservation)
• Hawksbill (misfortune of prettiest shell) – Critically Endangered (IUCN), Vulnerable (Australian EPBDC and Qld Nature Conservation)
• Flatback – Vulnerable (Australian EPBDC and Qld Nature Conservation)
• Olive Ridley – Vulnerable (Australian EPBDC and Qld Nature Conservation)
• Leatherback – Vulnerable (Australian EPBDC) and Endangered (Qld Nature Conservation)

So far I have had the opportunity to photograph the Loggerhead, Green and Hawksbill.  It is always great to see them in the wild, your heart jumps into your mouth and it leaves you with that very happy feeling that you just experienced something special. In direct contrast, last year I also went down to the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre to scratch the back of one of the sick turtles they were caring for in the aftermath of the Queensland floods.    Seeing the work that volunteers put into looking after turtles up and down the Queensland coast and also in the Gulf of Carpentaria is inspiring.  Here is a short list of some of the great groups doing some of this good and important work.  This is my World Turtle Day Salute to you!

Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre

Ghost Nets Australia

Sea Turtle Foundation

Turtle Care

Mackay Turtle Watch