Great Barrier Reef

[James Gray]

Somebody asked on Thursday night why photos I took of the Great Barrier Reef from a semi-submersible were dull and low contrast.  The day we visited the Great Barrier Reef there was a lot of wind which caused a lot of silt to be stirred up making the water murky.  In addition, it is fairly well known that you do not have to be very deep in ocean water for almost all of the red light to be filtered out.  Consequently, the light reaching the camera is mostly "green" and "blue" wavelengths.  Auto white balance cannot fully compensate for that.  Shooting through glass windows may have been a factor, but not the main one.

Another question asked on Thursday was about other expedition tour companies.  I do not think that Sue felt comfortable talking about the competition.  A company we have used is Quark Expeditions.  I highly recommend them.  Lindblad was the only expedition cruise company that did a pure South Georgia Island cruise.

Jim