It's 2007 and hopefully you've survived another Festivus holiday. I'm looking forward to next year when I don't have to follow my 14-month-old around my in-laws' and pulling him away from tables and electrical outlets.My scuba stocking had these great books inside...
The first, Master Guide for Underwater Digital Photography, is authored by Jack and Sue Drafahl. I've only paged through but it looks like an excellent introductory guide to underwater shooting with your digital camera. There are many photos and references to new(ish) gear from point-and-shoot digitals to SLR. Topics covered include camera settings (what <i>is</i> the histogram used for?), setting proper exposure, strobes, wide-angle, macro, composition, and traveling with your gear. This is my first book on the topic and it looks like an excellent place to start.
The other is a giant coffee-table-sized thing called Ocean: The World's Last Wilderness Revealed. With a foreword by Fabien Cousteau, it's the end-all, be-all visual reference and fact guide to our seas. There are beautiful two-page photos and hundreds of diagrams describing every facet of our great seas from ocean currents to temperature to the creatures living in dark depths. It's the type of book where you can read two or three pages and move onto the next topic. If nothing else this should inspire you to get back into the water, try a new dive site, or simply impress your friends.
So what did you get for dive-related gifts?







1. I got two dive-related goodies: 1.) Humann and Deloach's Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas (http://www.amazon.com/Reef-Fish-Identification-Florida-Caribbean/dp/1878348078); and (2) a set of Henderson skins (http://www.hendersonusa.com/product_neoprene.html#).
I can't wait to hear the reviews of both of your books!
Posted at 8:41AM on Jan 2nd 2007 by Willy