Sidekick

After pondering the question for some time, I ordered a Sidekick Duo and a dive arm. It seemed like the best light that can easily be mounted on a selfie stick. If it proves to not be up to the task, I will get a dive tray and a second light. to make a rig similar to this one. For video that would produce far superior results.

There are plenty of smart people who say this is underpowered, for example this article claims you should have a minimum of two 1000 lumen bulbs or one 4000 lumen bulb. I have trouble believing the situation is that bad though. The Gopro often produces good photos free diving with no light at all. So it seems to me that going from no lights, to a 600 lumen light should increase the percentage of photos that I end up saving. Given how few photos I get which are decent, this is probably a move from perhaps 1% to 2% but that could still be a big difference given that I am shooting about 3000 photos a trip. There were many shots, such as the one shown below, which a little light could have gone a long way towards improving:

Gopro Diving Rig

After doing a few dives with the Gopro, it is clear that it needs help to do the sort of underwater photography I have been trying. Most important, there just isn't enough light, so it needs lights.

The bulk of options for lights consist of lights connected to a tray. Examples include the Ikelite Tray with Phantom Underwater GoPro Lighting & Flex Arms Light Kit, BigBlue Underwater 350 Lumen LED Light System, BigBlue 11,600 Lumen Underwater LED Video Light System, SeaLife Sea Dragon 1200 Photo-Video Light and Fotodiox GT-Wedge-Only GoTough Wedge Black Metal Camera Diving Tray. For video, there is no question that this is the way to go. The large tray avoids the wobble which makes much underwater video hard to watch. For photos, I am less than certain. The wedge seems like it would be bulky and hard to get into the desired position.

Next there are options which mount to a selfie stick. Examples include the Knog [qudos] Action Video Light, Light and Motion Sidekick Flood Light, and the SeaLife Sea Dragon Mini 600 Underwater LED Light which can be mounted to a SeaLife AquaPod Underwater Camera Monopod (also sold together). The selfie sticks seem like they are cheaper and would allow closer shots than the trays. However they take worse video and may suffer from more backscatter.

Other possible improvements are filters and macro lenses. I am not sold on the idea that filters are really needed. They reduce the amount of light the Gopro sees and color can be adjusted in software fairly quickly. However macro lenses are an interesting idea. There is a +10 filter and macro lens for the Flip 3.1 filter system which look like they would work well. Unfortunately the manufacturer recommends 1200 lumen lights with them in daylight, which is higher than will easily work on a selfie stick.

Lastly, there is the option of just stopping messing with the Gopro and getting a camera optimized for underwater still images. The Gopro is made for full sun video, it lags much of the competition for taking still images. In the same price range, the Olympus TG-4 is probably a better choice.  An upgrade to a Sony DSC-RX100M III with an underwater housing would also blow away the Gopro.

Montage Underwater Photographs

In trying to reduce the number of blurry pictures, I turned the Gopro Hero 4 Black EV Comp setting to -1. The hope was that it would force quicker shutter times which would result in less blurry pictures. It worked, I got less blurry pictures. However while the average picture was less blurry, the very best pictures were not nearly as nice. In software I was able to make them brighter, but the lack of light was still noted.

I also experimented with 30 photos over 60 seconds. Unless I can get a selfie stick that can trigger the Gopro while it is five feet away from me, this is probably the best setting. It gives me time to get the stick where it needs to be, while taking 5 photos a second. The timelapse setting had problems since it was only taking 2 photos a second. I often missed things I was sure I caught.

The software editing is still the most impressive thing to me about Gopro. Here is a few before and after shots after just a few seconds of editing:

California Spiny Lobster

Schooling fish in a kelp forest

Garbaldi

Here are a few other interesting things I found:

Spanish Shawl

Green Abalone

Sand Bass

Brown Gorgonian

Camera Settings for Insect and Bird Photography

Getting a Sony HV400V camera has been quite a learning experience. Previously I had only used a cell phone and a basic point and shoot camera. The number of settings has taken some time to learn. Since I had difficulty finding the best way to go online, I decided to post here what I have found as the best settings for birds and insects.

Birds:

• Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
• Aperature: Lowest Number Available, 6.3 at 50x  zoom
• Focus: MF
• MF Assist: Off
• High ISO NR: Normal
• White Balance: Auto
• DRO/Auto HDR: D-Range Optimizer Auto
• Creative Style: Vivid
• Focus Area: Center
• ISO: ISO Auto
• Exposure Comp: Set to CUSTOM button change as needed.
• Metering Mode: Spot
• Drive Mode: Cont. Bracket, or Continuous Shooting
• Image Size: 20M
• Aspect Ratio 4:3
• Quality: Fine
• GPS: On
• Flash: Off

The idea with bird photography is to get the shutter speed as fast as possible while still getting enough light to get the image. This is because you need a fast shutter speed to take a clear picture through all the wobble in the camera while zoomed in so far. To do this, the Aperture needs set to the lowest number possible and the EV is adjusted until the bird is at the edge of being too dark.

The only deviation from the above I found helpful was to turn on the MF Assist if taking a picture of a really stationary bird. It lets you get a perfect focus, but in most cases it is just too slow, resulting in a missed photo.

Insects:

• Camera Mode: Manual Exposure or Memory Recall
• Aperature: Highest Number Available, 8.0
• Focus: MF
• MF Assist: On
• High ISO NR: Normal
• White Balance: Auto
• DRO/Auto HDR: Off
• Creative Style: Standard
• Focus Area: Center
• ISO: 80
• Exposure Comp: NA
• Metering Mode: Multi
• Drive Mode: Single
• Image Size: 20M
• Aspect Ratio 4:3
• Quality: Fine
• GPS: On
• Flash: On

The idea here is to maximize depth of field so you can see a large percentage of the insect at the same time. Also, using the flash makes the background disappear. I set memory recall 1 to these settings so I can quickly call them up whenever I need them. 

I almost always use a +2 or +4 macro filter for insects.The only exceptions are fast moving insects like butterflies or dragonflies which are easier to photograph following the settings for birds. This makes it possible to zoom in impossibly close and catch details which otherwise cannot be seen.

 

1077 Observations

In December, I tried to get more identifications in iNaturalist than anyone else in the history of the site. I succeeded, but only managed to have the second highest number for that month since someone else broke the record by more than I did.

In April I made an attempt to make the most iNaturalist observations during the month. I appear to have succeeded.  During April I submitted pictures/location data for a total of 1,077 creatures. There is still a chance someone will unseat me by turning in more observations they made during April but I am in a healthy lead over second place so this seems unlikely. As for the all time record, I am well behind that. Last August someone made 1,754 identification. Doubt I will make a try at that record, it seems challenging to do while having a job.

Sometime I will make an attempt at most species in a month though. That is harder than most observations since technically I can separately submit a whole bunch of blades of grass in a park and hit most observations. Most species requires spending a lot of time in as many different ecosystems as possible which might be an interesting challenge.

Harbor Seals

Jerusalem Cricket

American Kestral 

Western Pygmy Blue

 Anna's Hummingbird

Cabbage White Butterfly

Flatbud Prickly Poppy

Chaparral Yucca

Gray Hairstreak

 Mojave Suncup

Nature Photos

Since getting a new HX400V camera, I have been one of the top submitters of creatures to iNaturalist. It isn't a perfect camera, it really needs a more powerful computer, but for this purpose it is quite impressive. Here are a few photos, for full size you have to click on them, some were taken with a cheap macro lens:

  

More Harassing Community Leaders.

Another letter to planning and city council about the new development on La Habra Boulevard:

                The City Ventures development is exactly the sort of project La Habra needs so that it can finally create a decent downtown.  However, I have beaten that issue to death with my previous two letters to planning.  With this one I want to address why parking concerns should not reduce the scale of the development and how the city should handle the inevitable parking problems which will happen if La Habra Boulevard becomes a success.

                Parking problems are a sign of a healthy downtown. If few people want to be in the downtown, there will not be parking problems. However, as soon as La Habra has a healthy downtown it will attract large numbers of people who will fill available parking. The knee jerk reaction is to create more surface parking lots. This is a huge mistake; surface lots are ugly, make an area less walkable, and are very low productivity uses of the land; thus they bring very little value to the city. Successful downtowns instead handle parking concerns with some combination of the following:

                As long as parking is free, it gets over-used. No matter how much free parking is built, it is likely to not be enough. For this reason, successful downtowns need to construct paid parking at some point. Parking meters, or parking permits, free up parking for actual customers while at the same time raising significant money which the city can use to improve the area. For wonderful examples of parking fees helping improve downtowns see nearby cities such as Pasadena.

                Parking garages are much more efficient uses for land than surface parking so they should also be considered. These should not be built in advance of demand, but once the on street parking is always full the city should look into constructing some. For good examples see downtown Brea and Fullerton as well as uptown Whittier.  

                Angled parking should also be considered along La Habra Boulevard as a way to improve the pedestrian environment and provide additional parking. Many great downtowns follow this model. For a good example of a nearby city removing lanes to create angled parking, see Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia. That city just approved removal of two lanes on Pioneer Boulevard to install angled parking.

                Finally, if the area gets too popular to possibly supply parking, alternatives to cars should be implemented. Improved bus service and additional bike lanes allow people to enjoy an area even if there is absolutely no parking available. In particular, protected bike lanes behind angled parking would be a wonderful addition to La Habra Boulevard.

                In the immediate future, La Habra needs to worry first about making La Habra Boulevard somewhere that people actually want to be. A great start is construction of high density residential projects like this one which bring customers within walking distance of empty storefronts, bringing them back to life. There is no justification for scaling back development because of parking concerns, once those problems manifest they can easily be addressed using whichever method the city prefers.