Blurring Your Backgrounds for Dummies by a Dummy

            Another question that I get asked quite frequently when people view my photos is, “How do you get those blurred backgrounds in your photos?”

            While the answer can get a little technical the act of creating pictures with a “blurred” background can be pretty easy as long as you understand a couple of simple concepts and how to operate your camera.

            The caveat here is that while it is possible to get “blurred” backgrounds with compact cameras it is often a little more difficult. Generally speaking you have to be able to set your camera in “M”anual or “Av” mode or in the very least be able to control the focal length of your lens. Generally speaking it is easiest to get a blurred background with a SLR but that isn’t the only way. Some of the newer compact cameras will allow you to control the shutter speed, f-stop, and focal length and if so than you are in business. If not we will have to get this done another way. Of course this is the part where you get out the manual and learn how to set the values identified above. I can’t help you learn your camera, only the technique.

            Since most of you are probably groaning about the “how to operate your camera”  or are grunting about the “read your manual” part lets start with the simple concepts.

              Concept 1: Depth of Field

            You may hear photographers talking about depth of field or see the abbreviation “DoF” and wondered exactly what it was. Stated very simply depth of field is the area within the picture that is in focus. If you want the official definition you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field for a more precise answer.

Bokeh is another term for Blur 

           Now depth of field is controlled by a number of mechanisms relating to both the camera, yourself and the scene you are taking a picture of but we will get to those in a moment. Instead lets take a quick moment to understand what DoF means within the framework of a scene that you might be photographing.

            Let’s suppose you are standing on the goal line of a football field with your camera. The field itself has players on it throwing around a football. You decide that you want to take a picture of a player on the 50 yard line. You look through your viewfinder, set the exposure, get the shot in focus and take the picture. When you look at the shot you notice that the players 10 yards before and 10 yards after are in focus but everything else is progressively blurrier. You think, wow that looks nice, wonder how that happened.

            Well this is a simple example of depth of field and illustrates another concept regaring DoF. DoF is made up of two parts; Near limit and far limit. The near limit is the edge of the area that would be in focus closest to the camera and the far limit is the edge of the area that would be in focus furthest from the camera.

In our example above the near limit would be 40 yards away and the far limit 60 yards away. Any people or objects within that 20 yards will be in focus and the rest, to a varying degree, will not. That’s it.

Concept II: The Why

So now that we understand what depth of field is we should take a quick second to ask ourselves why we would want to use it in our photography.

Note how the men stand out here

While saying that it looks good might be our favorite answer that doesn’t address  why we think it looks good. Simply put blurring out everything other than the person or thing that you want to photograph makes them stand out. Essentially there is nothing to distract the viewer from what you want them to look at…your baby, the dog, a pretty flower etc. and this is pleasing to us.

If the background isn’t blurry our brains want to explore what we are seeing and less emphasis is given to viewing what the photographer wanted you to view (usually a person) in the first place. Essentially your subject must compete with the background you have placed them in front of and that is generally undesirable.

Now of course if your intention is to get a picture that shows someone in front of a famous landmark you probably wouldn’t blur the background. However if you are taking pictures of your daughter in the garden you might want to blur the garden out so that your beautiful child stands out. That’s it.

So now we get to the tricky part, the mechanics of making this happen.

Background with no detail

Your Camera and You

Okay so before I actually tell you how to do utilize this technique we must make sure that your understand the settings on your camera and lens. We will keep this simple for both you and me so don’t worry about heavy explanations.

1)      Aperture aka F-stop – The camera’s lens is just like your eye and the aperture is like the pupil. The larger the pupil the more light is let in. The smaller the pupil the less light is let in. In addition to this the larger the pupil the smaller the DoF, the smaller the pupil the larger the DoF. Small aperture, lots of DoF. Large aperture little DoF. Aperture is expressed as a number with an “f” in front of it such as f8 or f4.

2)      Focal Length – Put simply this refers to the zoom on your camera lens. Zoom is expressed in millimeters as “mm”. The lower the number the further zoomed out you are, the higher the number the further zoomed in you are. So if you were taking a photograph of the player at the 50 yard line at 18mm you would see him very small surrounded by players in a large stadium. In other words you would see more of everything commonly called wide-angle. If you photographed him at 400mm you might only see his face. In other words you are seeing less of everything commonly known as telephoto. The key here is that the farther we zoom the generally smaller the DoF becomes or the more profound the effect.

3)      Camera to Subject Distance – While this is not a setting on your camera this is literally how far the camera is from the subject. Generally speaking as we get closer to our subject the smaller our DoF becomes, especially at longer focal lengths. The camera to subject distance is very important as for many of us this it is this factor that will decide whether or not our backgrounds are blurred.

Soft Background - Cute Subject

Enough Talk Dummy! Give Me the Recipe

Okay so now that you understand the basics of DoF lets get to the doing part.

First, and if you have the capability, lets put a “longer” lens on your camera. By longer I simply mean a lens that zooms out further, say a 50-200mm lens. If your lens is permanently attached but can be zoomed in or out zoom it out to 50mm. If you have put a zoom lens on the camera set it to 50mm or the focal length closest to 50mm.

Next set your f-stop to its lowest value. This will require you to adjust your shutter speed if you are shooting in “M”anual. If you are shooting in “Av” mode than the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed for you.

Setting the f-stop to its lowest value means that the aperture is as large as the lens will allow and as we learned above this gives us the smallest depth of field. Of course logic would dictate that the larger the “f” value the larger the aperture but in this case logic would be WRONG. It is an inverse relationship meaning that as the f number goes up the aperture’s size goes down.  So again we want a low f value, say f4 or f5.6 or lower.

Lastly bring your subject outside somewhere that you can put some objects in the distance behind them but you can still get close. I would suggest a long road and take the picture looking down the street. The idea here will be to take a photo of just their face or torso. Get close enough to fill the viewfinder or LCD screen with however much you decide to shoot.. You don’t want to go overboard, leave some background in, but still get close so they dominate the frame and take the shot.

Now review the shot in your LCD. When you review the photo those objects closer to your subject might be a little blurry but the objects in the distance should just be blobs.

            Now try zooming out further to say 70 or 100mm if possible. Reposition yourself slightly to attempt to take the same shot (don’t change the f value) and fire away. You should notice that even the objects closer to your subject have gotten blurrier. You have now learned how to make your subject stand out against a background by blurring or “softening” it. That’s it. 

           From here on out the only thing left to do is keep shooting until you have perfected the technique enough to satisfy yourself. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Buying a Camera; How I made my decision on what to buy.

Choosing a Camera –

            Occasionally I am asked what kind of camera I own and immediately after I respond I get the follow up question, “I want to get a camera but not sure what I should get. Any suggestions?”

My answer to this question is always the same, “Depends on what your goals are in photography. What kinds of pictures are looking to take?” I usually get some unsure shrugs or a terse response about liking to take pictures and after a brief conversation with the questioner they are usually left with some ideas to ponder.

While the idea of understanding your photographic goals to help you choose a camera isn’t unique and there are a hundred websites more qualified than my blog to help you make this decision I still thought I would offer my thoughts on how I made my decision. The thought process I followed worked well for me and I believe will work just as well for someone with a very general knowledge of cameras and photography looking to buy something that is going to suit them

            When choosing a camera for myself it came down to two things;

1)      What are my photographic goals

2)      What I could afford in camera and gear

As I thought about it I realized that my goals broke down into three distinct

categories and understanding and then choosing within one of these would greatly help me make my decision.

            First I had to decide if I wanted to just take snapshots. Snapshots for me are pictures snapped on the fly meant to simply record a memory with no other apparent objective.

Snapshots are by their very nature informal and don’t pay attention to many (if any) of the "rules" of photography. I have taken thousands of these on vacation, in the back yard, cooking dinner or anywhere else I was just trying to capture an image of a nice memory. Snapshots lack the planning or attention to the “rules” of photography that the other two categories observe. This is generally a “one and done” type approach to a given situation for which almost all cameras are suited but not really priced for.

For the purposes of capturing snapshots I realized that a point and shoot style camera would be most suited and cost effective. They tend to be more compact and rugged while still able to capture quality images. There is no training, reading or work to do with these cameras beyond turning on the power, pointing and shooting. The Olympus 8010 or Nikon Coolpix would be good choices but just about any other brand will suit a prospective shooter’s purposes (i.e. Sony, Canon, Minolta)

            The second category I decided was the goal of capturing “photos” which I consider distinct from both snapshots and the third category of capturing photographs.

            Capturing “photos” (to me) means that a modicum of attention is paid to the techniques of exposure and composition but nothing too heavy. For instance the rules of thirds and odds are understood if not always followed. Those taking photos will try and make sure that lighting is even and there is some sharp detail but isn’t overly concerned with the photo meaning something beyond what it says at face value. I still take lots of photos even though my goals fall more into the third category.

Some examples of taking photos are portraits taken before going out to dinner or those pictures we take of children at Christmas time for cards. I generally care about composition and lighting but am just as interested in also capturing the memory. I might take a few passes at the photo but as long as it is sharp, decently exposed and captures a memory I am usually done.

            For capturing photos micro 2/3rds (Olympus), hybrids (Canon G12) or entry level DSLR (Canon T3 or Nikon 5100) cameras can be used depending on the amount of money you want to spend. Generally speaking a heavy financial investment isn’t needed and the kit lenses would suffice for the goals of this photographer. For someone who expects to do a decent amount of indoor photography a hot shoe mounted flash might also be purchased and something to consider with a camera purchase. Effectively the goal is to capture nice clean, crisp pictures and any of these style cameras can accomplish this.

            The last category for my purposes was the goal of capturing photographs. This is the most involved category where a great amount of attention and detail is paid to both the composition and exposure as well as to the artistic side of capturing a photograph. Capturing a photograph will involve an advanced knowledge of the operation of a camera and photography and requires a tool that can offer power and flexibility. There is nothing worse than planning to take a unique photo in an exotic place only to find out that your camera lacks the ability to do this.

            Being in this category a prospective buyer will want to look at entry level DSLRs and up. Good examples of cameras that can take photographs are the Canon T3i, 60D or 5D mkII and the Nikon 7000 or 300s. These cameras are powerful tools offering a wide array of options and great flexibility to allow you to capture the photographs that you want. The key here is finding a camera that has the features needed to allow your photography to grow.

            It should be mentioned that any camera purchased can serve any purpose. I have seen beautiful photographs taken with iPhones and basic snapshots taken with $6,000 DSLRs. A prospective buyer shouldn’t get hung up on being categorized by the above and it is meant only to serve as a guideline to ensure you end up at least with a tool most suited for the task you are hoping to tackle.

            It is important for someone looking to buy a camera to understand what their photographic goals are and decide what they are looking to get out of photography. By determining this you can not only determine how much money you are going to need to spend but also ensure that you have a chance of success and enjoyment in the hobby.

           

30 Days of Diving - Part II of II

Returning to the Sea of Cortes between July 27 and August 2^nd was especially exciting for me since it would be the first time I would be diving with my brand new (and scratched thanks to my harness) Sea and Sea RDX-600D housing, YS-01 strobes and T3i digital SLR.

Marine conditions in the Sea of Cortes were almost perfect with flat calm seas. Note that I said almost.

Water temps were 84 degrees at 94 feet, sea were flat calm with little to no current for 5 out of 6 dives and visibility was around 40-50 feet. The only thing missing was the excessive amount of marine life that was present on my March trip.  Now don’t get me wrong, there was plenty to gawk at including Panamic Moray Eels, Bulls eye Stingrays, large schools of Barracuda and Yellowtails, Scorpion fish and a turtle but missing were the sheer numbers I remembered from my last trip. The culprit causing all of this undersea drama, or lack thereof, was apparently the dramatic change in water temperature.

As the story goes the Sea of Cortes warms up quickly and when it does the algae and plankton in the water disappear. As the P&A go they take with them the little fish, which take the medium fish and so on and so forth up the line. So while the Sea of Cortes is known for its sea lions, Mobula rays, Whale Sharks and Hammer Heads the month of July isn’t exactly the best month to view all of them. Apparently late September and October is when everything starts going crazy and sadly we were about 2 months early to the party.

Hawk Fish by J. Eiche

Now that being said some quality images of Hawkish, Panamic Moray’s and a Scorpion fish were successfully captured.

This Hawk fish was friendly and seemed to pose for my photo allowing me to almost touch him with my port. The photo was shot at 1/125s, F8 and ISO 100 to ensure the highest caliber of image and a decent depth of field. Some portraits were taken where shadows were added to add some drama but when editing I didn’t feel as if this was the true character of the Hawk fish after he let me come so close to him and seemed to be friendly.

Smiling Eel by J. Eiche

This Moray Eel while hesitant at first warmed up to my presence and came within inches of my port. At one point I grew afraid for my fingers remembering a Discovery channel special where a hungry eel bit off a guy’s thumb so I retreated for a moment. Once I returned though he came back out and posed for me allowing me to capture what appears to be a smile. Shot at 1/200s, F8, ISO 200. The shutter speed was up to ensure there would be little camera shake and I could capture an open mouth if it should occur.

Sinister by J. Eiche

On my trip in March there were Stone Scorpion fish everywhere I looked once I knew what to look for. These masters of disguise are some of the most venomous fish in the ocean and while a few images were captured in March I wanted to get a quality portrait of one on this trip with my new camera set up. After 3 dives I had yet to find one and was growing concerned that my goal of photographing one would be left unfulfilled. Luckily a random dive buddy on the boat spotted one and steered me to him. These fish assume that their camouflage leaves them all but invisible so he allowed me to approach very closely for a photo. As I lined up the picture it was decided that a little monster like this should be made to appear as menacing as possible. So I shot this photo with a dark background (maybe reflecting the fish’s soul) while trying to capture some of the reds on the fish’s scales. This photo was shot at 1/200s, F20 and ISO 200.

On the last dive of the trip my dive buddy Glenn and I were determined to get in the water with the Sea Lions at Land’s End. Despite an apparent strong current Glenn and I talked boat captain Solomon into putting us in for a drift dive that would take us past the Sea Lions and hopefully result in an encounter. Well the drift dive was something more akin to being in an Indy car during a sandstorm and while we did find a perfectly camouflaged stingray and a green sea turtle the Sea Lions never came to play with me on this dive as they did in March. The dive was exhilarating for its speed and beauty with visibility around 50-60 feet up off the hazy sand bottom but offered little to nothing photographically.

In all diving the Sea of Cortes (and Pacific Ocean) was still a great experience and just leaves me chomping at the bit to go back during their peak months of September or October. With the price to travel and stay being relatively inexpensive a trip next summer might be in order.

30 Days of Diving - Part I of II

            The last month or so have been some of the most exciting of my diving career.

In early July I dove with Olympus Dive Center from Captain Mike Gerken’s boat the Midnight Express to the wrecks off of Morehead City, North Carolina. The dives were a success and I was able to capture a few good images not to mention spend quality time with the resident Sand Tiger sharks that inhabit a variety of wrecks there. Being in the water with sharks is a religious experience for me and this trip didn’t disappoint.

Thanks to the generosity of my wife in Mid-July I was able to finally house my first DSLR and this has had an immediate impact on my underwater photography. Shooting a point and shoot was fun but the sky’s the limit with my Canon DSLR.

In late July I returned to dive in the Sea of Cortes and dove with Sunshine Dive Charter and had some real success capturing quality images on my first real dive trip with my new camera system.

August 5^th saw me re-enter the water for a Jersey night dive and while the photographic opportunities were few and far between a little “spear” fishing was in order. For the first time in my dive career I returned home with something amounting to dinner and I must admit it was both exciting and gratifying.

Part I -Diving North Carolina

            Arriving in Morehead City to dive over the July 4^th weekend left me both excited and concerned. While the weather forecast for beach going seemed good the marine forecast left something to be desired with the possibility of being blown out 2 out of 3 days.

Our first day diving from the Midnight Express saw flat calm seas and about 40-50 of visibility on the bottom. Water was blue and warm and we dove my favorite wreck, the Caribsea, on the second dive. 

The number of Sand Tiger sharks present on both the Atlas and the Caribsea was amazing but I had limited success capturing any quality images of the resident sharks. Shutter lag and the lack of a powerful camera hurt me from realizing the visions I had for the photographs, something I am pretty sure will not be a problem on my next trip to N.C. There was also a large number of photogenic jellyfish in the water around the wrecks and a pleasant image or two was taken but I am chomping at the bit to get back into water with my new gear to get the images I envisioned.

U352 by Joe Eiche

The second day of diving took us to U352 and the Papoose (aka W.E. Hutton) with the seas rocking and rolling considerably more than day one. Dive buddies Rich Steuernagel, Mark Miraglia, Karen Peist and I sat up on the sun deck, which was awash with a fine sea spray mist generated from the Midnight plowing through rough seas. By the time we arrived at our dive site everyone was soaked through and tired from laughing. The highlight of the ride was Mark standing up defiantly to the sea gods, profuse amounts of seawater dripping from his face and singing some corny and dramatic ode to the sea.

Hiding in the Shadows by Joe Eiche

U352 was right where I left her and offered up a few decent images to my Olympus u8000. Some type of fish hiding in one of the periscopes was found by Rob Mandell and offered up a decent image. The wreck itself is highly photogenic if you can catch it on the right day. For me it turned out green and looking haunted but still a nice image.

We finished the day at the Papoose which was a good dive and better than my memory of it in August of 2009. Still I prefer the Caribsea to the Papoose but as shop owner Jim Masters explained, “Everyone is entitled to be wrong.”

The third day saw blowing winds and more from the angry sea gods (Mark’s fault probably) that resulted in canceled dives. At least a nice early departure allowed for us to get home at a decent hour and for me to begin work on the images captured during the trip.

            In all diving with Olympus from Capt Mike’s Midnight Express is always a great experience regardless of the conditions and I look forward to diving with Olympus again in August.

Meg Tooth Hunting Part II

On my first trip to Carolina Beach the mate of the Flying Fish, “Stevie”, captured what I believe to be the best description of what it takes to be successful at “toothing” when he said, “You have to be able to get past dying and start looking for teeth.” Of course Stevie didn’t mean that a diver needs to ignore the prime directive of returning to the surface safely but rather that the skills to do this need to be second nature allowing the diver to focus his attention on locating fossilized Meg teeth.

As a diver who has done a variety of diving including some challenging Jersey night diving that summary seems simple enough but in diving those things we expect to be simple never are. In practical application diving for Megalodon teeth is a rewarding if not somewhat dangerous endeavor that typically involves deep, solo diving peppered with heavy task loading for flavor.

Most divers expect to have to monitor a wide variety of issues during the typical dive including depth, gas consumption, no decompression limits and bottom time, exit location (the way home), buoyancy, equipment, and buddy location to name a few. But tooth diving really brings all of these issues to the forefront (or puts them on the backburner) when it begins to mix in the management of an excessive amounts of gear, degrading visibility caused by digging (with scooters) and the searching for, and collecting of, a variety of fossils.

The combination of tasks above can be daunting for the inexperienced or unprepared diver but even just locating teeth can be difficult.

Despite frequent claims to the contrary they are not just sitting “right up on top” and even if they are it takes a trained eye to locate them. Meg teeth can easily be camouflaged by 29 million years of growth on their surface or have irregular shapes making them hard to spot. Mix in rock and dead coral with a good amount of silt and sand and what you have is a search for something that can be exceedingly frustrating to locate especially considering it is the only reason for your trip to the bottom of the ocean.

Coming back empty handed from a tooth dive is a reality that can be both de-moralizing and dangerous. Divers who find themselves on the 3^rd or 4^th dive of a trip empty handed may forget some of the basics of diving resulting in their becoming so focused on the goal of finding a tooth that they neglect the “dying” aspect of the “Stevie” rule. After all the goal of these dives isn’t to take in the sights or maybe capture a picture or two but rather to come back with some very real treasure from the bottom of the sea.

And so we have the most critical item on the lengthy task management list for tooth diving. Don’t get tooth fever.

The scenario can play itself out a number of ways but from my vantage point it looks like this;

A diver pays his fee and takes the long ride down to Carolina Beach anticipating coming home with something to show for his trip. He boards the boat, prepares his gear and begins the long ride out to the fossil ledge some 35 nm offshore of Carolina Beach. After a three hour boat ride he arrives at the dive site, the hook is set and the divers splash. Our diver gets down to the bottom at 105-110 feet and begins his quest for a Meg tooth. He finds that the teeth aren’t just “laying on top” and begins his search by digging beneath the surface of the sand. Some 20 minutes later he begins the return trip to the surface empty handed if not a little frustrated but comforts himself at the 15 foot line with, “Don’t worry there are 3 more dives.”

Repeat this process twice more, season it with thoughts of financial and time investment required for this trip and lets take a peak at the 4^th dive of the trip.

With nothing to show for his efforts the diver splashes in for his final dive. He reaches the bottom, moves off to a new area that he hasn’t searched in and begins digging. He glances at his computer and notes 17 minutes of no-deco time with some 2700 psi in his tank. As he digs through the sand and into a rocky coral matrix he finds his first tooth. Thrilled he keeps digging in the same area and finds another, and then another, and then another. Before he knows it he has a number of teeth in his bag and has finally found a so-called “Honey Hole”. Now enters the moment of truth. This is where a diver’s ability to manage a laundry list of tasks including the most important task of returning to the surface becomes critical. Does the diver keep digging and picking up teeth, stowing them in his bag without looking at his gauges or doesn’t he? Is the diver paying attention to his location or isn’t he? Has this diver moved so far past the basics of diving that he has ignored those basics entirely or hasn’t he?

For the diver that does the former he now has “tooth fever” and all other considerations have been forgotten under the weight of his hunt for teeth. For the latter he takes note of his status, manages his situation and gear and eventually returns to the up-line safely within his diving limits. The danger for the former is indescribable, the pride of the latter should be immeasurable.

Of course with diving of this type divers can do everything right and still end up with a host of problems related to gear failure or simple error that can have a cascading effect. Considering depth, location (the middle of the Atlantic) and time constraints even a little error can have catastrophic effects for the unprepared. 

            Tooth diving can be exhilarating and safe for divers who have the training, experience and maturity to control their tooth fever while focusing on the task of locating the coveted shark fossil. On the other hand the conditions and criteria involved in this type of diving can also easily get a diver injured or killed. Diving is a sport in which the individual must have the training to establish their limits, experience to understand their limits and maturity to dive within their limits. Tooth diving may not be the best place to learn all three of these.

Tooth Hunting - Carolina Beach, NC : Part I of II

On May 7th and 8th I will diving from the Flying Fish (out of Carolina Beach, NC) to fossil ledges found in the Atlantic Ocean. As such I have written a two part series regarding C. megalodon and the diving that I will be doing for this prehistoric monster's fossilized teeth. 

Part I: About C. megalodon

“This was a real monster, not a fictitious creature born in the mind of some Hollywood producer. Its teeth were not just a tool to secure a meal, but a true work of art – then and now. It is an honor to pay tribute to such a magnificent creature, as well as some of the others that represent the fossil record…”  M. Renz  

Carcharodon megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon) is a prehistoric predatory fish that lived during the Cenozoic era circa 25 million years ago.

To give this date some scale T. rex lived about 67 million years ago, Great Whites are thought to have appeared in the oceans about 16 million years ago and Homo sapiens only began walking the earth about 200,000 years ago.

It is estimated by archeologists that C. megalodon went extinct about 1.5 million years ago due to some unknown event most likely related to global cooling and the subsequent reduction in both nursery areas and suitable prey. The exact cause for the extinction of C. megalodon will probably never be known but the evidence of C. megalodon’s existence can be found if one knows where to look.

The most prominent piece of evidence for the existence of C. megalodon is the fossilized teeth which are collected everywhere from the arid deserts of Peru to 100 feet under the ocean. There have been very limited numbers of vertebrae collected from various parts of the world including Europe but these finds are exceedingly rare and most Meg fossils are teeth. This fact is caused by the cartilaginous nature of C. megalodon’s “bones” which tend to dissolve over time unless they are encased in something like clay. The teeth however are denser and stronger which in turns results in their fossilization rather than disintegration.

The teeth themselves range in size from 1 inch to over 6 inches and give us a relatively limited view into the biology of C. megalodon.

Because of the shape of the teeth many scientists place C. Megalodon in the same familial branch as the Great White (Carcharodon carcharias). The family for the Carcharodon genus is Lamnidae, which are characterized by a torpedo shaped body, pointed snouts, heavy bodies and large teeth. Extant sharks included in the family (aside from the Great White) are the Mako (Shortfin and Longfin) and Porbeagle.

However the above conclusion has drawn some criticism from other paleontologists who believe that tooth similarities between the Great White and Meg are just that and indicate there is strong evidence that the classification should be Carcharocles megalodon instead of Carcharodon megalodon. This argument centers on differences in divergent and convergent evolutionary theories for the C. megalodon wherein the first group believes that one evolved from the other (divergent) and the second believes that they evolved independently but with similar traits (convergent).

If the paleontologists advocating the Carcharocles genus were to be believed this would mean that C. megalodon came from a somewhat different evolutionary branch than the Great White and that using the Great White’s biology to draw conclusions about C. megalodon would be inherently incorrect.

            In the end I find this debate to be entirely academic and somewhat inconsequential for my purposes. Without finding a Meg somewhere in the ocean to show me different I will accept that C. megalodon and C. carcharias are family members with similar morphology (size being the main difference). A very cursory look at sharks as a whole renders the average predatory sharks somewhat similar in appearance and there is no reason to believe that C. megalodon would have looked much different than the Great White based on the tooth hypothesis.

            So the question that is begging to be asked is how big really was C. megalodon? An honest  answer would be (based on my research) no one really knows.

            Estimates for the size of C. megalodon have ranged everywhere from 40 to over 90 feet long with weights ranging between 45 and 115 short tons. While there are many methods with which to estimate the size of the extinct shark the most accurate methods that I have come across (as accepted by scholars) has been proposed by Dr. Clifford Jeremiah. Dr. Jeremiah has asserted that the diameter of the root of the tooth can be used to ascertain the size of the shark. Essentially for every centimeter of diameter on the root base you can assume 4.5 feet of length to the shark.

So as an example if have a tooth where the base is 10 centimeters the shark would have been 45 feet long. Based on Dr. Jeremiah’s estimates a full-grown C. megalodon would have measured around 60 feet in length based on the largest teeth that he has seen to date.

C. megalodon was the largest predatory fish and one of the largest predators to ever live on this earth. Its splendor is something that both intrigues and terrifies me at the same time.I look forward to coming across the remnants of its existence in the waters off of North Carolina.

Coming Next Part II - Diving for the Hunter's Tooth

Lions and Sharks - Diving the Bahamas April 2011

 As the boat pulled away from Stuart Cove’s dock the cerulean Bahamian water promised great diving and an abundance of sea life. Unfortunately it was a promise that the Bahamas could not keep as my eight dives found barren reefs littered only with Lionfish and storm damaged coral.

            My goal for the dives in the Bahamas was to get some quality close-ups of the Lionfish that inhabit the reefs there and are causing all the grief in the Caribbean these days. Additionally I wanted to get some shots of Peacock Flounder, Southern Stingray and some quality Grey Reef Shark pictures.

Glenn Rogers was my dive buddy for the dives and deserves a thank you for inviting me on this trip in the first place. It was a “free” trip to the Cove Tower of the Atlantis Hotel in Nassau given to Glenn by Turtle and Hughes. It is worth mentioning that the hotel was beautiful, the service was great (but expensive)and everyone from Turtle and Hughes was accommodating.

            There would be four dives Thursday and four dives Friday culminating in the afternoon of the second day with Stuart Cove’s famous, if not controversial, shark feeding dive.

Those following the events of Sharm el-Sheikh and the shark attacks that occurred there in December of 2010 may understand the nature of this controversy as many, including George Burgess, Director of the International Shark Attack file, have attributed feedings by divers as one of the root cause of the attacks.

Controversy or no I was going to get a first hand look at a shark feeding myself by the end of this trip and was anxious to get in the water with these famous marine predators.

Day of the Lionfish



Black Peacock Lionfish by J.Eiche

 After a short boat ride our first dive was on the David Tucker and Glenn spotted a Lionfish swimming on the forward deck immediately upon his descent to the wreck.  I scooted in and starting shooting this beautiful Lionfish with what appeared to be black stripes, fins and spines. At first I was confused but after consulting with Rich Steuernagel and doing some research it has been concluded that this is most likely a rare Black Peacock Lionfish.

It sat in a crease of the bulkhead and deck and didn’t seem at all bothered by my presence or the flash of my strobes. It simply kept “pacing” back forth while I shot from different angles and never attempted to swim off like most fish. To me this was also a bit unusual as the average fish, including sharks, will depart upon the arrival of anything unusual like a diver.

I took a decent number of shots and then moved off for the guided tour of the reef that surrounded the David Tucker. The first thing that struck me about the reef was the lack of marine life living there. A month before I had been diving in the Sea of Cortes where there were copious amounts of fish, eels, skates and rays. This particular reef however had very little life on it at all including Lionfish. Upon returning to the boat later Glenn advised that he didn't recognize this as the Bahamas since his last trip the reefs were full of every kind of tropical fish.

Hawksbill Turtle by J. Eiche

Luckily Stuart Cove’s resident dive photographer Seb Filion was able to locate a Hawksbill turtle feeding and called me over to grab some shots. I moved around Seb and approached the turtle slowly and calmly. While my arrival resulted in him stopping his meal to take a gander at me he didn’t move off. Since I was all set for taking portraits and close-ups I lined him up and snapped off some shots. The range on these shots was about a 1-2 feet at most and I was generally pleased with the result. After a minute I moved away to let him eat in peace but he decided he had enough of humans rose up, flapped his fins and glided off like a bird riding a thermal.

Our second dive was on the Willaurie wreck, which lay in about 40 foot of water with a woodpile off its port side and a reef off of its starboard.

My ears were a bit grumpy and slowed down my descent but I could see a large Lionfish hunting in the piles of timbers. I arrived at the bottom and again began shooting portraits only to have Glenn repeatedly interrupt me with calls to come to the top of the wreck. After a few minutes I acquiesced and upon arriving on top of the deck of Willaurie found two more Lionfish.

Again I took a few shots of the resident Lionfish before continuing my dive.  I ended up with some decent shots of the Willaurie’s propeller and of the growth on the Willaurie's metal skeleton but not much else.

In North Carolina I have been on wrecks that literally had swarms of fish but here I was in the Bahamas on an established wreck with next to nothing living on or around it except Lionfish.

The last two dives of the day were basically washouts as dives were concerned with my first dive being scheduled for the the DC-3 of Into the Blue fame. Of course we never actually got to see the DC-3 as our dive guide had some technical difficulties resulting in us going back to the boat without ever having seen the famous movie set. Once again the scenery was that of a barren reef and except for a couple of Grouper and Squirrelfish there really wasn't much to see.

Our second dive of the afternoon took us to the plane that was sunk for the shooting of Jaws 4. This dive was about as exciting as getting dental work and while Glenn was able to penetrate the wreck I sensed he didn’t really enjoy it all that much.

It is hard to imagine the damage that invasive Lionfish have done to the reefs of the Bahamas without witnessing it firsthand. I had always envisioned the Bahamas as a diver's tropical paradise but found the complete opposite. I will not be going back to the Bahamas to dive unless I am lucky enough to get another trip for free which I doubt will happen. My recommendation to anyone else traveling there for reef dives would be to save their money and find another destination.

Day of the Shark

The second day held the promise of the Shark feeding but some worries about the state of my ears, which had been giving me trouble the day before.

Our morning dives took us to a  site called the Steel Forest, which were by far the best wrecks we had seen to date in the Bahamas. The Steel Forest is in about 40-50 foot of water and consists of three wrecks all within a few hundred feet of each other.

The occasional patrolling Grey Reef Shark was seen but never came close enough for me to get a good picture. A run in with a Green Sea Turtle was nice but overall again the ubiquitous Lionfish were the most abundant fish seen on the wrecks and it was at this point that I swore I would never take another Lionfish photo again.

The morning closed out with a dive on a site called Mike’s Reef, which was by far the best reef dive on the trip. The reef was in about 55 foot of water and lacked the storm damage and Lionfish presence that the shallower reefs possessed.

There was, again, a distinct lack of fish life beyond the occasional Squirrelfish but I enjoyed the state of the coral here. The excitement on this dive was a run in with a very large Loggerhead who swam directly at me. In point of fact had I not moved out of his way I am sure he would have either bit my camera or mounted me (I have it on good authority that it is mating season). Glenn and a new found dive buddy named Sung had a good chuckle at my expense as they heard me scream out through my regulator at almost having been rammed by the giant sea turtle.

Our afternoon dives took us to a wreck just a few hundred yards away from the famous Shark Arena and was meant to acclimate us to being in the water with sharks and ultimately tell the divemasters of the overall skill level of the divers on the boat.



The Joker by J. Eiche

 It didn't take long for us to spot Grey Reef Sharks and my first impression was how shy it was around divers. Being used to the Sand Tigers of North Carolina who have no problem swimming right up and past a diver the Grey Reefs kept their distance aside for the occasional fly by. These animals are in no way representative of the public's perception of sharks as bloodthirsty killers who view the splash of a person in the water as the ringing of a dinner bell.

The dive itself was relatively uneventful save another run in with a Hawksbill Turtle and I was anxious to get back to the hang line as this was where the sharks were converging.



Running the Gauntlet by J. Eiche

 Ascending up towards the hang line one could look up and see countless sharks circling the boat. It is probably the nightmare of most people to be in the water and have a squadron of sharks between them and the surface. Not me. I was disappointed though as the sharks kept their distance and didn’t allow me to get any quality photos of them swimming in the open water. As such I ended my dive climbed back on the boat and readied myself for the feeding dive.

The feeding dive is a sight that I will probably never forget the rest of my life. It was simply awe inspiring and something that every diver with a love of sharks should do at some point in their life.

We were situated on the stern deck of the wreck in about 40’ of water. The deck itself was only about 20’ x 15’ and stood about 20 foot off of the sandy bottom.



Feeding Frenzy by J. Eiche

 As the shark feeder, Chang, brought the bait box in to the wreck a profuse number of Grey reef sharks and Goliath Grouper converged on the area. In an instant the water seemed to go from calm, clear and relatively empty to full of ravenous sharks all vying for position near the feeder and his box full of dead fish. I was at ground zero for what could only be described as a feeding frenzy.



Goliath Grouper by J. Eiche

 Various Grouper crept in amongst the divers watching like hyena waiting for lions to finish with with their kill. In a weird way it was calming to have the Grouper along side us, as they seemed to be watching the sharks feed along with, rather than separate from, the divers. The size of the Grouper amazed me, as did their speed as one darted in to grab a piece of fish and jet out of the area with hungry sharks on his tail.

It only took a few minutes for the water around the bait box to fill with particles from the dead fish that were being scooped from the box and devoured by the Reef Sharks. With no sun in the sky and a haze of fish guts in the water the stage was set for a gloomy atmosphere on top of the wreck. If you add to this sharks shooting in and out of the area, bumping divers and feeding one could understand how a diver might become a bit apprehensive.

That being said there was no time on this dive that I felt threatened or uncomfortable by the presence of the sharks. In fact they sort of treated us with a casual disinterest compared to the events transpiring around the shark feeder, Chang. While it was true that the shyness had clearly gone out of them many seemed to make it a point to avoid contact with me although close encounters were inevitable.



Tonic Immobility by J. Eiche

 The most amazing moment of the dive (if I had to pick one) was when Chang coaxed one of the sharks into a state of tonic immobility.

As a shark would come in to take a whiff of the chum box hoping for a chance at a meal Chang would brazenly grad its snouth and start to rub its nose. Initially it would fight but if he was able to keep at it long enough the shark would discontinue its fight and fall into a trance. Once the shark entered its trance he turned the shark completely vertical and let it stand there looking like a missile ready for launch. After about a minute he released the shark from its trance and off it went to circle the feeding area again apparently unaffected by its ordeal.

In total the dive lasted well over 40 minutes and by the end I had witnessed the feeding of two Grouper, countless sharks and two eel.

Flying home I was able to spend some time thinking about the shark feed and what it means for sharks in general. The issues surrounding shark feedings are complex and I can easily understand why there is controversy.

Of course any good press for a species that has been maligned as much as sharks have is a great thing. Sharks have been villains in fiction, the press and in the psyche of humans all over the world and some spin control is greatly needed. Sharks as a species face their greatest threat in humans who, in both their fear and indulgence, have a propensity to destroy what they don’t understand or feel they can do without. As such every diver, every picture, every DVD that comes out of a shark feeding serves as publicity the type which Discovery and Animal Planet could never provide.

On the other side of the coin there are events like that at Sharm al-Sheikh. The habituation of sharks to humans and the attacks that may result will only serve to reinforce the fear that the “Jaws” generation and their children have had imbued onto their minds. Many shark experts, including George Burgess, feel that the benefits of shark tourism are far outweighed by damage done when there is a resulting attack or accident. Mr. Burgess went on to comment during an interview with Diver magazine, “The education part of shark tourism gets trumped every time there's an attack,” and “The economic ramifications of these incidents can be huge in terms of the negative effect on tourism."

In the end I didn’t do the shark dive so that I could brag about the courage it takes to get into the water with sharks but rather so that I could witness one of nature’s  most perfect predators in its environment . (To be truthful I have never been afraid of sharks while I am in the water) The fact that the stage was set for me does seem to be a bit disingenuous on the part of humanity but how is this any different from locking Orcas in a tank for people to watch them do tricks?

Grey Reef Shark by J. Eiche



In the end the pictures that I will post and ideas that I will spread demonstrating that sharks aren’t mindless murderers but rather sophisticated predators will do much more for the people that I know and come in contact with than any Discovery documentary.  As such the greater good is served via a shark feeding dive and this may be one of the avenues that helps to preserve the species.