Blue Shark diving off Rhode Island

[Jonathan Bird]

A while back, Todd (tkelly here on uwphotochat) and I were talking about doing a Blue Shark dive this summer since I haven't done one in a couple years. We chartered Charlie Donilon's new and improved Snappa (http://www.snappacharters.com/) for a day of shark diving. We rounded up a few more divers to make a full boat and headed out on Friday morning for a full day.

We had an absolutely perfect weather day--flat calm, sunny, and just enough wind to push the boat along while chumming, but not too much that would make the waves big.

The day starts by driving 2-3 hours offshore. We go about 35-45 miles out since the sharks are pelagic and are more common offshore. Some days we get into the gulf stream and find exceptionally clear water. I have seen over 50 feet of viz out there on a good day. Unfortunately, we were not that lucky on Friday. We had maybe 20 feet of viz. But on the plus side, the water was 74 (!) degrees!! I was actually too hot in a 5mm suit.

Once we get on site and start the chumming, we throw the shark cage into the water and wait. Nobody uses the shark cage, but Charlie brings it because we are supposed to use it. It's there in case a big mean shark shows up. But the blues are puppy dogs.

Normally it goes one of two ways for me--either the sharks show up in half an hour or less, or they don't show up at all. This trip was the first time that they took 2 hours to show up, but we didn't get skunked. So after sitting around shooting the bull for 2 hours, Todd yelled "Got one!!!" and started throwing on his gear. We all followed suit with suits and splashed in, hoping 7 divers wouldn't spook our one shark. It didn't. He hung around, making passes, until a few more sharks showed up and we ended up with 5 big blues circling the divers. That's certainly not as many as we have had on some trips, but plenty for people who are not so comfortable in the water surrounded by sharks.

I spent most of the time shooting video because I didn't have any HD video of blue sharks. (All my blue shark footage goes back to 1995-2001 and it's in standard def). After I had shot a whole tape of video, I switched to my still camera. All the plankton in the water made the stills a lot more challenging with the strobes than shooting ambient light with video. Nonetheless, I got a couple decent shots.

After shooting some stills, I popped up and asked Charlie to start tagging. He tags for the NMFS as a volunteer and I got some video of him tagging, as well as a few stills of tagged sharks. If you want to see a video of this basic trip, this was one of the first blue world segments we ever filmed:

http://www.blueworldtv.com/s1_e01.html

It was a great day, and I remembered how much I like this trip! I think I might have to go again next summer. (Todd goes about 5 times a year...he is hard core).

So Todd, lets post a few up for these guys!

Jonathan

[Andrew]

Sounds like a fun day out! Looking forward to seeing some pictures... :D

Andrew

[sorvju-f]

A while back, Todd (tkelly here on uwphotochat) and I were talking about doing a Blue Shark dive this summer since I haven't done one in a couple years. We chartered Charlie Donilon's new and improved Snappa (http://www.snappacharters.com/) for a day of shark diving. We rounded up a few more divers to make a full boat and headed out on Friday morning for a full day.

We had an absolutely perfect weather day--flat calm, sunny, and just enough wind to push the boat along while chumming, but not too much that would make the waves big.

The day starts by driving 2-3 hours offshore. We go about 35-45 miles out since the sharks are pelagic and are more common offshore. Some days we get into the gulf stream and find exceptionally clear water. I have seen over 50 feet of viz out there on a good day. Unfortunately, we were not that lucky on Friday. We had maybe 20 feet of viz. But on the plus side, the water was 74 (!) degrees!! I was actually too hot in a 5mm suit.

Once we get on site and start the chumming, we throw the shark cage into the water and wait. Nobody uses the shark cage, but Charlie brings it because we are supposed to use it. It's there in case a big mean shark shows up. But the blues are puppy dogs.

Normally it goes one of two ways for me--either the sharks show up in half an hour or less, or they don't show up at all. This trip was the first time that they took 2 hours to show up, but we didn't get skunked. So after sitting around shooting the bull for 2 hours, Todd yelled "Got one!!!" and started throwing on his gear. We all followed suit with suits and splashed in, hoping 7 divers wouldn't spook our one shark. It didn't. He hung around, making passes, until a few more sharks showed up and we ended up with 5 big blues circling the divers. That's certainly not as many as we have had on some trips, but plenty for people who are not so comfortable in the water surrounded by sharks.

I spent most of the time shooting video because I didn't have any HD video of blue sharks. (All my blue shark footage goes back to 1995-2001 and it's in standard def). After I had shot a whole tape of video, I switched to my still camera. All the plankton in the water made the stills a lot more challenging with the strobes than shooting ambient light with video. Nonetheless, I got a couple decent shots.

After shooting some stills, I popped up and asked Charlie to start tagging. He tags for the NMFS as a volunteer and I got some video of him tagging, as well as a few stills of tagged sharks. If you want to see a video of this basic trip, this was one of the first blue world segments we ever filmed:

http://www.blueworldtv.com/s1_e01.html

It was a great day, and I remembered how much I like this trip! I think I might have to go again next summer. (Todd goes about 5 times a year...he is hard core).

So Todd, lets post a few up for these guys!

Jonathan

Nice to hear that Todd is still in the game:)

Viz looks better in Snappa's web pages...:rolleyes:

I have newer seen blue shark, but somehow I have gotten feeling that they can be mean.

Jonathan great that you got your HD footage...but guys pictures are really telling more.

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Here are some pics....

I'm doing this in Jukka style...a few a day, just to keep you coming back!! :D

Jukka, I am like you. I love the stills and the video. The stills are a lot easier to share for sure, and can be a lot more artistic in my opinion. But on the other hand, video allows a lot more creativity (and work!) to edit together a nice story. A well-edited video is a lot more engaging to people than simple stills. On the other hand, a poorly edited video is a lot less engaging!

[Jonathan Bird]

I have newer seen blue shark, but somehow I have gotten feeling that they can be mean.


Not at all. They are absolutely mellow. You can pet them as they swim by.

[Jonathan Bird]

One picture of me from Tim Geers:

[sorvju-f]

Here are some pics....

I'm doing this in Jukka style...a few a day, just to keep you coming back!! :D

How it has taken so long time:D

I am working with 45 min film of diving finnish treasures ( = wrecks ) and I have to admit that that project has really taken me...I love to do it...target ready after 2 years, but also planned to take Oscar statue as best document approad:p...so I know what you are speaking about.

But to leave stills...NEWER

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Absolutely great set of pictures...I love them = have to go there!

Jukka

[Andrew]

You book the dates Jukka and make sure there is a spare place :D

[Clay Coleman]

I'd like to do that as well. That first photo is a great pose. All are very nice shots. I notice some marks that look like bottom paint on some of the sharks. Were they nosing the bottom of the boat?

[Jonathan Bird]

Clay, yes, that's where the blue paint comes from. Charlie uses a piece of fish on a line with no hook to get them to the side of the boat so he can tag them. They grab the bait, thrash around, and bump the boat.

Here's two more....

That guy in the background is Todd. I have some good video of him too.

[Jonathan Bird]

It will be a few days before Todd can post anything. He is the last person on planet Earth to still be shooting with a Nikonos! ;)

[Jonathan Bird]

Two more for today....

[sorvju-f]

Two more for today....

How many days are coming?:p

I like the eye of blueshark...clear and dominating the picture.

I remember one picture from blue shark and it was HUGE ( maybe bigger than big tiger shark )...these looks rather small.

Water looks greenish like we have in Finland?

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

The water offshore can go from green to blue overnight depending on the wandering of the gulf stream. For us it was kinda blue/green with a lot of tiny plankton.

Blue sharks can get quite large. We had about an 8 footer around us, as well as a few that were smaller. They are long and skinny, so even a really long one is not as "beefy" as a Tiger shark. I generally try to shoot the smaller ones as you can get closer and get less backscatter.

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

The water offshore can go from green to blue overnight depending on the wandering of the gulf stream. For us it was kinda blue/green with a lot of tiny plankton.

Blue sharks can get quite large. We had about an 8 footer around us, as well as a few that were smaller. They are long and skinny, so even a really long one is not as "beefy" as a Tiger shark. I generally try to shoot the smaller ones as you can get closer and get less backscatter.

Jonathan

What lens you were using?

Jukka

[Andrew]

Great pics Jonathan, it looks like they came really close! :D

Andrew

[Clay Coleman]

It will be a few days before Todd can post anything. He is the last person on planet Earth to still be shooting with a Nikonos! ;)

My hat is doffed to Todd. I still believe in Nikonos.

[tkelly]

Some more pics from my Nikonos.

1304

1305

1306

1307

[Jonathan Bird]

Who is that handsome stud in the last one? :cool:

[Ken Hawk]

We have Blue Sharks here as well, can't see me getting a skipper to chum for them though :rolleyes:

Love the pics.

[Jonathan Bird]

Why not Ken? They are cool.

[sorvju-f]

Why not Ken? They are cool.

Jukka-style is great...worth of coming back everyday:p

Jukka

[Ken Hawk]

Well I was talking to the skipper last weekend, he saw one and they all sh1t themselfs and got out quick.

Still looking into the basking sharks, I joined a group on FB :o

[sorvju-f]

Well I was talking to the skipper last weekend, he saw one and they all sh1t themselfs and got out quick.

Still looking into the basking sharks, I joined a group on FB :o

FB = Fonathan Bird?

Jukka

[Ken Hawk]

FB = Fonathan Bird?

Jukka

Facebook :rolleyes:

[Jonathan Bird]

Well I was talking to the skipper last weekend, he saw one and they all sh1t themselfs and got out quick.

LOL! They really are not aggressive.

[Ken Hawk]

LOL! They really are not aggressive.

We had 1 lad a few years ago jump out onto the rocks, because of a Basking Shark lol

He said ''I could see were I would fit''
As in it's mouth :D

I wonder if I could get a few together for a chumming session.
They do it on the South Coast of England.

[Jonathan Bird]

A couple more. These are tagged sharks.

[tkelly]

I promised Jonathan I would post some video. Here is a clip, from the August 20th trip with a few pieces shot on September 6th.

Please let me know what you think. It is all single camera using and HC3.

Blue Sharks in Rhode Island (http://iplawlighthouse.com/other/video/BlueSharks-09-2010.mov)

-Todd

[sorvju-f]

I promised Jonathan I would post some video. Here is a clip, from the August 20th trip with a few pieces shot on September 6th.

Please let me know what you think. It is all single camera using and HC3.

Blue Sharks in Rhode Island (http://iplawlighthouse.com/other/video/BlueSharks-09-2010.mov)

-Todd

Hi todd...the file is rather huge...you can lower the file size without big change in quality with FCP. I use resolution 760 x 430, frames 120, bitrate limit 1500.

Even I have fastest connection possible it took rather long to load it.

Quality of shooting was great...cutting I would do little bit differently. Jumps underwater topside, underwater topside I did not like even I understand what you were trying to tell with that. Also clips that that were still and then moving fast somewhere gives "amateur" feeling...maybe it is good to impress some rapid situation change once, but more than once is too much.

Anyhow I was impressed to your total work and waiting your results from Galapagos?

Jukka

[tkelly]

Thanks for the feedback Jukka. I updated the link to a smaller version. The new version is the same cut, but at a smaller resolution and bit-rate. It cut the file size by a bit more than half. It seems the web host is throttling the file download, making it take a long time to download.

Which part are your refering to with "were still and then moving fast" ? I always try to cut motion into motion. Many of the cuts I tried to give a two camera look to, but the timing is rarely perfect. I would love your feedback on which were particularly bad.

The surface shots in the beginning suffer, I think, from not showing divers entering the water. The resulting jumps the viewer, perhaps to quickly, into the situation without context.

[Jonathan Bird]

Someday I will watch it...if the download speeds up a little. Who hosts your site? S-L-O-W!

[Jonathan Bird]

OK, I finally watched it! WHEW!

I liked it! Not sure I liked the choice of music but it seemed pretty well edited and action packed. And who was that handsome guy with the Force Fins anyway?

I would like to have some narration in this puppy.

Jonathan

[solisti]

I watched it. I liked it.

The music gives a little sad tone to the whole clip, made me think the relationship mankind has with the sea and the danger of extinction the shark are under. Kinda telling that this is their kingdom where we have no real business to be in.

I think you would need to completely change the music if you add narration, and that would naturally change the whole atmosphere of the film. Might be worth a while if you want this to serve some other purpose (to document the event or being part of some other longer film), but as I said I liked it the way it is.

I thought the topside-underwater transitions worked quite well, first taking you underwater and later to demonstrate the chumming.

Did the shark leave a bite mark to the hose, didnt seem to leak anyway?

[sorvju-f]

Thanks for the feedback Jukka. I updated the link to a smaller version. The new version is the same cut, but at a smaller resolution and bit-rate. It cut the file size by a bit more than half. It seems the web host is throttling the file download, making it take a long time to download.

Which part are your refering to with "were still and then moving fast" ? I always try to cut motion into motion. Many of the cuts I tried to give a two camera look to, but the timing is rarely perfect. I would love your feedback on which were particularly bad.

The surface shots in the beginning suffer, I think, from not showing divers entering the water. The resulting jumps the viewer, perhaps to quickly, into the situation without context.

I will give some more detailed answer later...at the moment my time goes prepairing Red Sea.

Just don't take it like you have done bad work...there is two alternatives to give feedback...nice or what I myself always waiting for creative feedback to learn something!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

I think this should become the new video of the month! I gotta go do that. Todd send me a profile picture!

[Jonathan Bird]

New video of the month!

http://www.uwphotochat.com/video.htm

[tkelly]

I appreciate the comments. I would like to start a discussion on the process others use to edit dive videos. First I want to explain what I did, why and compare it to how others work.

I set myself a few rules in editing the blue shark video. First, I did not want a straight music video. By that I mean, pretty pictures, generally without natural sound, covered with a song. I tired to at least hint a story. I find it more of challenge to try to dig out a story, however small.

Second, the story could not be "a day shark diving". I did that in a past video, where my day starts at home and shows an entire dive trip, start to finish.

Third, I had to edit the whole thing in three hours. It actually took about three and half. This did not include digitizing the footage, but did include rendering it out. There is a reasons for the time limit. If I don't fix the amount of time, I will never get to point where I will release the video. This is the state that my Galapagos videos are in. I will constantly want to tweak something. This remains true with this video but at least I get it out there. An advantage of the time limit is that it keeps me from overly loving my own footage.

Finally, in no event can the video be more than five minutes, and really two is ideal. I have a problem where I fall in love with shots that may be great but are not useful in an editorial sense. This is not a problem you have with still photography and seem unique to motion pictures. I have heard Film editors refer to this as the Kevin Costner effect. He shoots, directs and edits. Which is why he ends up with three to four hour movies. It is hard to cut a shot that you love.

What I had to work with were 90 minutes of UW footage shot over two dives, without a specific story in mind. I had other footage from previous dives but felt I wanted to restrict myself to shots on these recent occasions. I had ten minutes of shark related surface shots and b-roll.

With the rules in mind. This is what I did.
I picked four shots that I liked: 1) shark fins at the calm surface 2) Jonathan's hose getting bitten 3) the shark lunging at my camera and 4) the shark bumping into the camera lens.

I then hunted through footage to find shots that would mesh with these shots to loosely tell a story and mimic a multi-camera shoot. In the process I looked for shots that would tie the above parts to together. I added simply flip and flop effects to have the footage read correctly left to right or right to left.

After each independent shot had shots around it, I put these story chunks together and added a some gap footage. This brought me to about five minutes. I then trimmed and cut sections to improve the transition and tighten the pace. This leads to a basic but complete composition.

With the basic composition. I then color corrected the entire sequence shot by shot. I start with auto correction across the board. Then I fine tune each shots contrast, and each individual channel. I try to match each colors on the in coming and out going shots. I don't have a calibrated monitor so I check everything on the software scopes, and then render a quick test on a mac. My final output is for computer, so the contrast is stretched beyond video standards.

Transitions, titles and credits are added. The credits are not finalized, because I have not chosen music.

I then fix all the audio holes, so that there is environmental sound under each clip.

Finally, I choose and add music. I basically look for artists that provide royalty free music. I listen partially to half a dozen clips. Find a clip that I like and drop it into the sequence. I then make any needed audio fixes. I fix the final credits and adjust the video slightly to accommodate the music.

This I render out and I am basically finished. I later come back to make a more reasonably sized export at Jukka's suggestion.

-Todd

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Todd,
I'm curious about your stretching of the contrast. As you know, Blue World is edited for TV but we put webisodes on the internet and I am always annoyed that stuff that looks great on a TV often looks dark or flat on a computer.

Jonathan

[tkelly]

In the AVID, when you export to quicktime (and other formats), you can choose between RGB and Video safe levels. If you chose RGB, the export will allow colors in the value range from 0-254. If you are color safe the levels will be limited from 16-235.

There must be an FCP equivalent.

I can give you a more detailed explanation, but in short, I boost the contrast in each shot until it is either maximized in a given channel, or starts to look bad. I stop at whichever comes first. With the strong blue-green bias of UW footage, I may additionally adjust other the blue and green channels, the red channel is always the limiting factor and requires independent consideration.

What you want is a contrast that can exist in both RGB and video color, that looks good.

[Jonathan Bird]

Interesting!

[Jonathan Bird]

Anyone interested in a Blue Shark dive sometime in June? My friend Brandon Cole wants to visit New England for some diving this summer. I am going to get Charlie's boat for some Blue Shark action in Rhode Island, and also take him to my house in Eastport, Maine (http://www.jonathanbird.net/eastport.html) to meet Gene the Wolffish.

We can take another 6 people on Charlie's boat, and another 4-6 to Maine.

Jonathan