The Telegraph has reported that an aerial image of an amazing group of Munkiana Devil Rays has won the CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2010. They were photographed in Baja California Sur, Mexico, by German conservation photographer Florian Schulz. He described how he was able to capture his jaw-dropping image named Flight of the Rays:

“During an aerial expedition I came across something I had never seen before. Not even my pilot, who has surveyed this area for 20 years, had seen anything like it. As we got closer we started to discover its nature: an unprecedented congregation of rays. The group was as thick as it was wide, all heading towards the same direction. I have asked around why this took place but no one has been able to explain it to me.”

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The Washington Post has reviewed and commented on Chris Palmer’s book; Shooting in the Wild. The article cites examples from the book, and from the wildlife film industry, wherein animal behavior has been manipulated to get the filmmakers desired outcome. It cites the proliferation of channels and communication media as causing much tighter deadlines, which in turn forces filmmakers to come up with footage in a much shorter time. Maggie Burnette Stogner, an environmental filmmaker who works with Palmer, says:

“When I first started at [National] Geographic, filmmakers were in the field for three years,” and goes on to say “Now it’s compressed to ‘Go out and get it in a month.’ Well, it doesn’t happen that way. The sharks don’t show up.”

The Post article also mentions the genre of “reality” nature programs, where the traditional documentary emphasis on animal behavior is replaced by showing a persons interaction with nature, and points out that this shift tends to give program makers more latitude about how they use animals. In many cases the animals being portrayed as wild are tame, and the human “hunting” activities are staged by pre-positioning the prey. Palmer feels that this should be pointed out to the audience, but as the article states:

“Who wants to watch a tame nature film?”

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Gates Underwater Products debuted two new LED video lights at the recent Blue Ocean Film Festival. Called the VL8 and VL24, the lights were developed in collaboration with Sub Aqua Imaging Systems, are designed to be self contained and can hence be detached from the housing. They are designed to be neutrally buoyant, so will also be suitable to use with video DSLRs.

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At Photokina, Adobe has announced the release of Photoshop Elements 9, which incorporates some of the new features from its larger sibling, Photoshop CS5. These include an adaption of the content aware fill feature, that so excited underwater photographers as a solution to backscatter removal. Element 9 also incorporates layer masks for the first time in this package, and is available for Mac users.

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Gates Underwater Products has announced that they can mount their EM43 external monitor to DSLR housings. The company has successfully attached the monitor to an Aquatica Canon 5DMkII housing and can now do so with other housing brands or models. Gates will require the housing and camera for one week and thereafter can advise feasibility, lead time and cost. This modification will further blur the boundary between video and still cameras, and will allow underwater filmmakers to view the video being captured at a reasonable size.

People planning to do so should be aware that it may void their manufacturers warranty, although Gates are at pains to stress that they will stand by the quality of their work.

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