Digital Shootout Day One

Giant barrel sponge on Little Cayman's Bloody Bay Wall

Katy Danca Galli

Day 1, (and ½): So after a few flight delays, I finally arrived to photo heaven-on-earth. After being greeted by gorgeous ocean views, a cozy resort room all to myself, and a welcoming slideshow from the whole Backscatter team, I was off to an underwater rig set-up session with Sterling Zumbrumm, who was UNBELIEVEABLY helpful, despite the 101 questions I asked. Eight hours and two cups of coffee later, I’m on a dive boat heading to the Bloody Bay Wall, (I still haven’t gotten a straight answer on the origin of it’s name). I was pleasantly surprised to find that every person on my boat was more than willing to share their knowledge and experience with underwater photography, which quickly eased away any worries I may have had on the various things only underwater photographers worry about (two words: CAMERA FLOODING). After lunch, which was a delicious veggie lasagna and key lime pie, Berkley White gave a fantastic seminar on shooting wide angle and macro, and let me tell you, I learned more from those two-and-a-half hours than I have in the two years I’ve been researching underwater photo technique. Things I learned today: Grouper like to have their chins scratched, your strobes should never light your subject from below (unless you want that creepy horror movie look), and “F8 and be there” are the greatest words of wisdom ever spoken, (meaning, when shooting wide angle, leave your aperture at F8 and control your strobes and shutter speed only to get the image the way you want it). That’s it for now, come back tomorrow for more on my journey in underwater photography.