The Underwater Digital Photography Open Day co-hosted by Ocean Optics-Mavericks Diving and Ocean Visions was extremely well received by a large audience drawn from across the country. The event had been staged to help both new digital underwater photographers and old hands learn to get the most from digital compact camera systems. Ocean Optics-Mavericks Diving took over a lecture theatre at King's College, needed to seat the expected number of delegates attending. Maria Munn is the lady behind Ocean Visions, and she has won an enviable reputation for propelling users of compact underwater camera systems towards early success. Maria has created a niche service that recognizes that many owners of digital compacts are put off by the technical jargon and often mystifying techniques that surround the hobby. Maria really knows her subject, and has a knack of presenting technical information in a way that means she's very easy to learn from. Maria's first talk focused on what could be achieved with simple compact cameras used largely without accessories simply by following a few of her guidelines. She made her point very strongly by showcasing her own work and some wonderful images shot by her own clients during her field trips. Maria's choice of photographs ranged from spanish dancers to lionfish and to humpbacks, underscoring once again how versatile compact cameras can be despite their low cost. Gerald Rambert then took to the stage. Gerald has been working with Maria during his time in the UK. Normally based in Mauritius, Gerald dives professionally and has achieved an extremely high level as an underwater photographer. He took a medal in the World Underwater Photography Championships this year and has shot numerous covers and illustrated many a feature article for Britain's longest established diving journal, Diver Magazine. Gerald's brief was to show underwater compact users how to attain the next level in their own underwater imaging with the use of accessory lenses and strobes. Like Maria, Gerald depends upon Inon equipment for taking his best shots. For this presentation we were treated to the kind of work that has made his reputation. Gerald succinctly showed how using a single strobe could make a photograph--photography is ultimately all about controlling light---by harnessing colour or directing the eye to a specific point in his image. He then explained how the Inon fisheye lens empowered him to get stunning perspectives by manipulating subjects and their relationship to one another. Gerald also talked us through his achievements with the Inon macro lenses, proving his skill with great studies of nudibranchs and details of tiny corals. Being an equipment orientated talk, the Q&A session that followed underscored that it's buyer beware out there. Steve Warren, representing Ocean Optics-Mavericks Diving, repeatedly found himself having to disappoint people by explaining they simply could not take the kinds of inspiring shots they were seeing projected because their camera housings couldn't accept accessories or their cameras lacked exposure control. Over lunch, delegates returned to the Ocean Optics-Mavericks Diving showrooms for some one to one coaching from Maria and Gerald. Laptops were produced and images were discussed with the two main speakers. This meant getting invaluable tailored advice on how to improve was freely available and many photographers took full advantage of this service! As often happens with Ocean Optics-Mavericks Diving events, luck unexpectedly intervened and the audience got a fascinating bonus talk. A chance meeting only a week or so before our open day led to the atendance of Quest Underseas. Chris and Howard presented a short show on their work on conservation projects. Part of a long established eco-project company, Quest Underseas has been created to research ways to conserve marine life and work with local populations to make their marine resources sustainable in the long term. Their's is very much a hearts and minds approach. Chris and Howard spoke about whale shark and manta research projects in Mozambique, sharing insights that include identifying individual sharks using technology from the Hubble telescope. Future work include hawksbill turtle projects in Honduras. Divers can join these projects to assist and we hope to have Chris and Howard as guests at our forthcoming Visions in the Sea underwater photography festival in October. Subsequently, Maria returned to the stage to provide a live demonstration of how photoshop can be a tool to make your images truly outstanding. She gave a concise beginners guide that explained how a few straightforward techniques could bring contrast and colour to images that had been lacklustre. Maria's talk demonstrated that many images that have all too quickly been written off and consigned to the wastebasket have huge potential to be turned into something stunning with a little computer magic. She drew a lot of questions during this presentation and it was clear there's a strong need for her new underwater photography dedicated photoshop courses. Gerald Rambert closed the event, discussing the thought processes that go into making him such a consistently breathtaking underwater photographer. His was a generous presentation, openly sharing tips and information that many pro's would have kept to themselves. Gerald showed how shots began and then evolved. He uses techniques such as shielding strobes to light only part of a scene to create mood or bringing a model into frame to add interest and balance to a composition. He stressed how much time he'll devote to getting the photograph onto card that he imagines in his mind. Gerald rounded off with a preview of a forthcoming feature for Diver Magazine from a recent travel assignment to the Philippines. The Digital Underwater Photography Open Day was a great event for all who attended. Surprise delegates included Diver Magazine editor, Steve Weinmann (publisher of some of Ocean Optics-Mavericks Diving owner Steve Warren's more controversial features) and GMTV presenter, Underwater Channel co-host and Going Down author, Amanda Ursell.

Forthcoming underwater photography events from Ocean Optics-Mavericks Diving include the Visions in the Sea underwater photography festival and an open day with leading underwater photographer, journalist and field trip leaders Mark and Susanna Webster in January 2008.