Diving the Oil Rigs: Behind the Scenes

Dive down, swim around, and come back up. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, that's pretty much how my dives were before I was introduced to the wonderful world of underwater photography. It's not quite that straight-forward these days. Don't get me wrong. The fact that I have the opportunity to pursue this passion is one that I appreciate every time I dip below the surface.

My goal here is to give you a glimpse into what is involved in capturing a photo underwater. Today we'll be taking a journey to one of my favorite dive sites; the oil rigs which are just offshore of Huntington Beach, California.

My first priority is prepping the camera. After charging the batteries for the camera and strobes (flashes), I begin by assembling the camera in the underwater housing. My particular housing (Sea & Sea) is made from a solid block of aluminum, and it's made specifically for my Nikon D7000 dSLR camera. It is made waterproof to 330 feet thanks in part to a series of o-rings. Once I've checked the integrity of the o-rings, assembled the housing, and attached the strobes, I'll take a test shot to ensure the system is working properly.

It takes about 20 minutes to assemble my housing. Here you'll see it in about 20 seconds, brought to you in lovely Lo-Def from my very first underwater camera, the Canon SD790IS. 

Then it's off the garage to put together my scuba gear (aka life support). I don't take this task lightly, and check to make sure every component of my equipment is working correctly. A few days before the trip, I take my cylinders to my local dive shop (Ocean Gear) to get filled with either air or nitrox (a gas mixture containing more oxygen than air (>21%)). The gas mixture I choose to use is based on the planned dive sites, and the maximum depth to which I'll be going.

Like assembling my housing, it takes about 20 minutes to put my scuba gear together. This includes, but is not limited to, my wetsuit, mask, fins, gloves, tank, regulator, and weights.

Ok, so after prepping my camera and scuba gear the night before the trip, I've made it to the boat, and we make our way a few miles out to the oil rigs. My buddy Todd Winner and I head down to the depths and look for cool structure and critters to photograph.

Oil rig Eureka, located a few miles off the coast of Huntington Beach, CA. She sits in ~750 feet of water. Commercial dive boats can bring recreational divers if there isn't any work scheduled on the rig itself.

With camera in-hand, I'm about to hop in for dive #2. Photo courtesy of Todd Winner.

I notice a cool support-structure covered with colorful anemones, and begin taking test shots to ensure proper lighting and exposure. My primary concern is properly exposing the ambient light (blue ocean water) and the area that will be lit by my strobes (the colorful anemones). Next I move in slowly to frame the subject and fire a series of shots, making minor adjustments in between pulls of the trigger.

My buddy Todd photographs me as I'm composing the shot you see below.

Once I have the settings dialed-in, I wait patiently until the right moment to capture the image I have envisioned. In this case, I wait until this female sheephead is in front of the camera and will be lit up by my strobe light.

The finished product. This image was captured at 80 feet below the surface of the ocean.  The structure I'm photographing leads you all the way up to the surface. 

This was just one of many images I captured that day, and I've shared a few more below. I certainly hope you enjoyed this sneak peek behind-the-scenes as to what goes into creating an image underwater. Drop me a line if you have any questions!

Special thanks to Captain Kyaa at Selky Charters for a great day of diving!

More images from the oil rigs

A large Metridium (plumose) anemone growing at 110 fsw. Looking up through the opening you can see the other side of the structure in the distance.

The sea lions decided to come out and play when I had only five minutes of air left. Gee thanks.

A giant-spined sea star clings to a piling covered with anemones, brittle stars, and mussels. The yellow beams are support beams for the oil rig above the surface.

Otherworldly

Once in awhile I'm treated to diving a site I have yet to experience. On a recent charter with Bluewater Photo, we dove Eagle Rock at the west end of Catalina Island. The site is based around a large rock structure that reaches high into the air, and plunges to a depth of 120fsw (feet sea water). 

Circumnavigating Eagle Rock is really easy, which allowed me to focus on the photographic potential of this new site. Typically, when diving a new site in southern California, I am much more concentrated in familiarizing myself with the site and the navigation. Without a visual reference like this amazing rock structure, diving a new site demands a lot more focus on navigation, currents, et cetra.

That's me climbing back onto the Pacific Star after an amazing dive at Eagle Rock. Photo courtesy of David McGuire from Shark Stewards.

Halfway into the dive, I found my first subject of interest. Now, I have seen plenty of sponges before, but this rather large gray moon sponge caught my attention. Shooting up at this sponge from a depth of 80fsw, I couldn't help but think that I was visiting another world. Its holes and craters seemed to fit right in with the dramatic structure of the site. These sessile animals (yes, sponges are animals) survive by filtering their food from the surrounding environment.

A large gray moon sponge stands proudly on the reef at the base of Eagle Rock.

As I cruise clock-wise around this gorgeous structure, I'm treated to an amazing natural A-frame swim-through against the main reef. The straight lines and hard angles challenge my understanding that this site is not man-made. The only element that would make an image of this cool structure successful is a dive model. Suddenly, I feel a tap on my shoulder and realize it's my friend Dana. She points to the swim-through and indicates that she wants to model for me. Awesome! Being a photographer too, Dana saw the potential for this shot. We were definitely on the same page.

Dana seizes the moment and poses perfectly in this seemingly man-made arch.

After photographing some mussels in the shallows, I met up with my buddy Todd and we started kicking back to the boat. This is when we were treated to a rare moon jelly near the surface. Todd pulled over some kelp floating nearby, which added to the depth of the photo below.

My buddy Todd Winner looks longingly at a moon jelly. It's so great to spot a fun subject on the way back to the boat!

Having such great subjects as the gray moon sponge, moon jelly, and man-made-looking underwater structure made this dive memorable. You just never know what you're going to encounter when you dip below the surface. 

Todd and I shooting the moon jelly at the surface on our way back to the boat. Photo courtesy of David McGuire.

Comedic author Dave Barry once said, "There's nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you've been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent." Well said, Dave.

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