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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The Gentleman's Underwater Bubble Blower Thread

Hello gentlemen,

Here's another short piece from the series we're currently producing, this one about the Aquarius habitat in the Florida Keys, whose demise we discussed on the forum a while ago. We got our wish for this series to be shown in schools to kids, as an educational aid, and thus were asked to make ita bit more whimsical and more informative, so before you comment on the large amount of narration, know that we had to give our young viewers a lot of points, as requested by their educators, whether their approach is right or not. Also, I wanted to go in a different direction and not show the typical interviews with staff and scientists, which has been done before, but a more personal take on it.

Again, we used EX-1 cameras, I was actually thinking of using RED for this piece but there wasn't a single day with good light and the REDs consistently behaved like a 320 ISO camera, so we stuck with the EX-1s which are truly an 800 ISO imager, albeit at a fraction of the resolution of the RED. It is a sad fate that of Aquarius, but just as some people have no trouble slaying thousands of sharks for their fins, other people are just as fine taking budgets away from things like Aquarius and reassigning those funds to more profitable endeavors. It seems the push to do the right thing regardless of its financial results is slowly dying within the human genealogy. Anyway, for those of you who have not seen Aquarius, here's a look at it.

Feel free to watch on Youtube at 1080p resolution.


 
Nicely shot and paced Rudi, the narration is very engaging, please let us know when and where the series is airing, I'd love to show my wife and (future marine biologist) daughter the wonderful work you and your wife are doing.
 
Tom Hamilton said:
Hey Mark, Johnny just bustin' yer chops, friendly like, feckin' hilarious mate, I'm out yer way mid Feb on a HH stock footy cruise, Pindito sail to Raja Ampat, planning to stop in and see yer newborn, if yer OK with that, beer on me brother, we have big plans to discuss.

Let's make it happen!
Click to expand...
Sounds cool to me mate, the owner of Pindito is a good buddy of mine, you'll have a blast. Sounds good for Feb, keep me updated. Scarce at the moment, kiddie stuff and medical runs etc.
M
 
Marriage....now you've done it ! and opened this can of worms...Good luck! As we always here, good times are around the distant corner. I'm sure we can start a new user group on Men & Women. I'll hold my tongue now......my lady is only in the next room and can feel me typing now....
 
Mark_Thorpe said:
Sounds cool to me mate, the owner of Pindito is a good buddy of mine, you'll have a blast. Sounds good for Feb, keep me updated. Scarce at the moment, kiddie stuff and medical runs etc.
M
Click to expand...

I've talked with him a few times at the DEMA show. Seems like a really good guy - and also an original REDONE owner - has some VERY nice RED underwater footage of his own.
 
Rudi Herbert said:
Hello gentlemen,

Here's another short piece from the series we're currently producing, this one about the Aquarius habitat in the Florida Keys, whose demise we discussed on the forum a while ago. We got our wish for this series to be shown in schools to kids, as an educational aid, and thus were asked to make ita bit more whimsical and more informative, so before you comment on the large amount of narration, know that we had to give our young viewers a lot of points, as requested by their educators, whether their approach is right or not. Also, I wanted to go in a different direction and not show the typical interviews with staff and scientists, which has been done before, but a more personal take on it.

Again, we used EX-1 cameras, I was actually thinking of using RED for this piece but there wasn't a single day with good light and the REDs consistently behaved like a 320 ISO camera, so we stuck with the EX-1s which are truly an 800 ISO imager, albeit at a fraction of the resolution of the RED. It is a sad fate that of Aquarius, but just as some people have no trouble slaying thousands of sharks for their fins, other people are just as fine taking budgets away from things like Aquarius and reassigning those funds to more profitable endeavors. It seems the push to do the right thing regardless of its financial results is slowly dying within the human genealogy. Anyway, for those of you who have not seen Aquarius, here's a look at it.

Feel free to watch on Youtube at 1080p resolution.


Click to expand...

Well done Rudi!!! I look forward to seeing more!
 
Hey guys, want to put this out there for anyone looking to get their SCUBA certification.

A small group of us is going to get our beginning PADI cert in Los Angeles this January. Two 8 hour class days, two 4 hour dive days.

We have a private instructor and I'm excited as hell! Going with a few of my best friends and wanted to put it out there to those with similar desires. It's the beginning and I welcome new friends here on RU to join us.

e-mail if you are 100% committed and we'll add you to the class. Cost is $350 for the class and a few hundred more for your own gear.

production [at] theridgeboys.com

Best.
 
Nice job Rudi, I always enjoy seeing your wife's free diving prowess. She's amazing. Sad to see Aquarius go.
 
Not a lot going on with this thread lately. Thought i would throw something up and share a shoot that myself and Alfredo Barosso worked on for WWF & Telcel for what they call Cine Minutos...they are one minute long advertisements (sort of) where they highlight scientists working with the naturaleza or in nature....They end up at our cinemas in Mexico and much of Latin America and part of all the adds one would normally see just before the show starts.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1u-ii04CLs


 
So to escape the ridiculous heat in Sydney yesterday I went for a dive to test out using a red filter on my Tokina, I used a 2 stop red, which was too much in my opinion, the viz was crap at around 3m and I was at 20-25m for these shots, but I do think that the results were better than I would have thought. I will also try a one stop red when I can... Focusing was harder too ;)
Shot @ 30fps on a 25 timebase


https://vimeo.com/57037737

 
Jon, which tokina? the 10-17? shot at what format? 5k hd or other? how did you mount the filter?
beautiful shots.....I don't think it's overdone with red filter....but i'm insane and really like to overcrank on colors....not that this was the case
 
Thanks Johnny, 10-17 at 17mm, I used a Magic Filter from Alex Mustard taped to the back of the lens. It was shot at 4k down scaled to 1080p. I was using a pair of Sola 4000's with the cyan filer to try and not blow the red channel too high. I have another lighter red gel which I will also try.
 
Nice shots, Jon. 4k frame grabs or it didn't happen :)

It looks like you had a bit closer working distance than my shots, the visibility was about the same by the looks of things and we had green algal bloom too. So, the conditions were very similar to yours except I was filming in 8m, not 20m. My shutter was at 1/60s. Subject distance ~60cm (2 ft.) Lens, of course, Nikonos 15mm. Here is my 5k to compare: http://achtel.com/DeepX/A004_R003_1119WH.001930.jpg Should be fun :)

Regarding colour: when filming underwater we have three main factors that affect colour:

1. The artificial lighting
2. The ambient lighting
3. The filter

We have control of two out of the three, which means that we have pretty much full control over the entire aspect of colour balance in the image.

As part of our workshop we explore how to use those two variables to achieve the desired looks. It is quite counter-intuitive actually... good fun, though :)
 
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