Florida Scuba Steve, LLC

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Florida Scuba Steve, LLC Florida Scuba Steve promotes greater understanding and appreciation of the world around us through education and outreach.

We offer personalized training in scuba diving and astronomy as well as acting as a science and nature media outlet

Recently, Florida Scuba Steve went to Little Cayman to observe the abundant flora and fauna. While diving at the Little ...
12/08/2024

Recently, Florida Scuba Steve went to Little Cayman to observe the abundant flora and fauna. While diving at the Little Cayman Beach Resort (highly recommended!) we were treated to some excellent boat diving and got to observe some of the more interesting diving fauna up close.

Where to find my photography (other than here...)If you'd like to order something, head over to my CloudSpot client gall...
15/01/2023

Where to find my photography (other than here...)
If you'd like to order something, head over to my CloudSpot client gallery here: https://steven-ratts-photography.client-gallery.com/

If you don't see a shot of mine you're looking for, or would like some custom processing of an existing shot, just let me know.

02/09/2022

Launch weather for Artemis 1 looks pretty good for Saturday, could be even better if they push to Monday.

Here's a shot of an Egret eating lunch. I call this one Catch of the Day...
01/02/2022

Here's a shot of an Egret eating lunch. I call this one Catch of the Day...

Amazing launch tonight! Such a treat, a south-bound polar sun-synchronous launch right at dusk! After multiple scrubs, t...
01/02/2022

Amazing launch tonight! Such a treat, a south-bound polar sun-synchronous launch right at dusk! After multiple scrubs, the last caused by some lunatic cruise ship captain that didn't think checking the NOTAMs and obeying the law applied to him, this one finally made it off the pad, and what a glorious sight!

From the Cocoa Beach Pier, right in the heart of Florida's Space Coast, we could see the full glory of the launch from lift off to landing. The return of the first stage was particularly beautiful!

The Flip, Boostback Burn, and Entry Burn are clearly visible at the top of this frame - something we don't usually see so well. This is why I call this shot Flip-n-Burn. Well, that and I'm a fan of The Expanse...

Inspiration 4 launch. What a view! This one turned out a bit like Crew 2 even though that was a pre dawn shot and this o...
16/09/2021

Inspiration 4 launch. What a view! This one turned out a bit like Crew 2 even though that was a pre dawn shot and this one was just after sunset. The 2nd stage really catches the sunlight and if you were out there (or find a video online showing it) you'll have seen the amazing jellyfish-like effect of the cold gas thrusters as the first stage maneuvered at high altitude for it's return.

It's not really apparent in my shot since I was exposing for a streak effect, but the second stage was acting kind of like a huge flashlight illuminating the first stage's maneuvering.

This shot is my first from the Veteran's Memorial Park in Titusville - the one with the Mercury 7 statue - though that's not in my shot.

Shot Details: Canon R5, RF15-35mm lens at 15mm, three 180s exposures at ISO 100 and f/22. All together the exposure was 9-minutes long. Post processing in Lightroom, Aurora HDR, and Topaz Denoise. Copyright 2021 Steven Ratts , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Now here's what you might get with a 10s exposure when you remember to switch your lens to Manual Focus and focus on inf...
25/07/2021

Now here's what you might get with a 10s exposure when you remember to switch your lens to Manual Focus and focus on infinity...

Here I'm using a truly rinky-dink plastic tripod that came as a freebee in a lens cleaning kit - and when I say plastic, I mean every bit of it. This was a tiny little table-top affair that I was bracing with my hands atop a concrete post with a sort of pyramid shaped top.

Normally for a shot like this I'd have a much more sturdy tripod and a cable release for the shutter. No such luck here - so I employed the 2-second delay shooting mode and did the best I could to hold the camera stable during the shot.

You use what you've got!

On our recent dive trip to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands we happened to be down there during the 4th of July so we ...
25/07/2021

On our recent dive trip to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands we happened to be down there during the 4th of July so we got treated to a nice fireworks display off the Frederiksted Pier. Here you can "clearly" see why its essential to take your camera off Auto Focus for long exposure/low light night shots.

Kinda Pretty in an abstract way - but not at all what I was going for.

Here's what the other side of the entry looks like. Approaching the edge of the swim platform my camera is in my left ha...
25/07/2021

Here's what the other side of the entry looks like. Approaching the edge of the swim platform my camera is in my left hand so I can use my right on the rail of the ladder. For the entry I switch the camera to my right hand and use my left to keep track of my mask and regulator. My alternate and SPG are clipped to my BC so I don't need to worry about where they'll go.

I time the entry for when the water is near the swim platform (if the stern is pitching), then couch down, dunk the camera, extend my legs and do an easy forward roll into the water.

I'll be the first to admit it's an unusual entry, and as you can see it clearly makes for some amusing shots. It also debunks the myth that divers do a back roll entry because a forward roll takes them into the boat...

How do you enter the water for a photo dive? Some folks do a giant stride with their camera - but that can mean your cam...
25/07/2021

How do you enter the water for a photo dive? Some folks do a giant stride with their camera - but that can mean your camera is hitting the water pretty hard. Some jump in sans camera and have the boat crew hand it down to them - but what if they drop it? I picked up this technique from Greg Sherman a few years ago and have found I like it pretty well. The key is you lower your camera gently into the water, then lean forward and dive over it. You're basically aiming to rotation your self about the camera so it moves as little as possible. You'll hit the water tank first, so that takes the brunt of the entry. See all the bubbles around me, but not so much around the camera? That shows the camera had a more gentle entry. It's also never out of my control.

Photo courtesy of Bill Hein https://billhein.passgallery.com/-9july2021/gallery

22/06/2021

One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish…is this the way you know how to id fish? Let Force-E help you learn about some of the most common species we have here in South Florida.  Join us on Facebook LIVE on June 22, 2021 at Force-E Scuba Centers- Boca Raton page. Starting at 6:30 pm we...

Another shot from Pad 34 of the SpaceX Starlink 9 launch this morning! This one captured with an EOS 90D and a Rokinon 1...
07/08/2020

Another shot from Pad 34 of the SpaceX Starlink 9 launch this morning! This one captured with an EOS 90D and a Rokinon 14mm lens.

Shot Details: Canon EOS 90D, 14mm Rokinon f/2.8, ISO 100, 8 minute shot at f/22 (streak) and 2 minute shot at f/2.8 (foreground) combined in AuroraHDR. Copyright Steven Ratts 2020. , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Third time's the charm? On it's third trip out to LC 39A this falcon finally took flight! Well, finally in the *again* s...
07/08/2020

Third time's the charm? On it's third trip out to LC 39A this falcon finally took flight! Well, finally in the *again* sort of way that SpaceX does reuse it's boosters! The previous scrubs were due to weather and payload, though - nothing to do with the rocket. Well this time everything aligned and she took off! 57 Starlink satellites with two BlackSky birds hitching a ride. Each of these Starlinks has the new Sun Visor attachment to help mitigate reflected sunlight.

Shot Details: Canon 5DMkIII, 17-40mm f/4L @ 19mm, ISO 100, 8 minute shot at f/22 (streak) and 4 minute shot at f/4 (foreground) combined in AuroraHDR. Copyright Steven Ratts 2020. , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Daytime streak shot from yesterday's Mars 2020 launch carrying Perseverance & Ingenuity to the Red Planet. The air was s...
31/07/2020

Daytime streak shot from yesterday's Mars 2020 launch carrying Perseverance & Ingenuity to the Red Planet. The air was so steady the exhaust plume from the solid rocket motors just seemed to hang right where it was moving only very little as the rocket ascended. For scale you can see our intrepid photographer in the foreground snapping closeups during the ascent.

30/07/2020

Atlas V Mars 2020 launch as seen from Pad 34

AtlasV / Mars 2020 in flight
30/07/2020

AtlasV / Mars 2020 in flight

AtlasV / Mars 2020 going transonic! Check out the shockwave riding on the fairing!
30/07/2020

AtlasV / Mars 2020 going transonic! Check out the shockwave riding on the fairing!

AtlasV Liftoff launching Mars 2020 and the Perseverance Rover on their nearly 7 month trip to the red planet!
30/07/2020

AtlasV Liftoff launching Mars 2020 and the Perseverance Rover on their nearly 7 month trip to the red planet!

FlightClub Atlas Launch Prediction
30/07/2020

FlightClub Atlas Launch Prediction

Weather looks good for tomorrow's launch of the Mars 2020 mission and Perseverance rover!
29/07/2020

Weather looks good for tomorrow's launch of the Mars 2020 mission and Perseverance rover!

Here's a properly stacked and processed version of NEOWISE over Pad 34. 25 images stacked using Starry Landscape Stacker...
26/07/2020

Here's a properly stacked and processed version of NEOWISE over Pad 34. 25 images stacked using Starry Landscape Stacker (default settings). Resulting final image processed in AuroraHDR and LR. Gotta say that's some easy SW to use!

Comet NEOWISE over palms. Stack of 29 frames from last night. Cropped to zoom in
26/07/2020

Comet NEOWISE over palms. Stack of 29 frames from last night. Cropped to zoom in

More comet photons! We were lucky enough that the sky opened up for a second night, not quite as good a view as last nig...
26/07/2020

More comet photons! We were lucky enough that the sky opened up for a second night, not quite as good a view as last night, but still nice all the same.

Here's comet NEOWISE as seen from Florida's Space Coast

While collecting comet images last night I of course had to also get one of the Milky Way rising above Pad 34. The pad w...
25/07/2020

While collecting comet images last night I of course had to also get one of the Milky Way rising above Pad 34. The pad was illuminated by the distinctly orange lights on Pad 37 just to the north, giving an interesting color cast to the foreground. Hows that for light painting!

First clear night in a while and I took the opportunity to go up to historic Pad 34 to try to catch the comet! The sky s...
25/07/2020

First clear night in a while and I took the opportunity to go up to historic Pad 34 to try to catch the comet! The sky started out fairly bad, but mostly cleared up and I was able to get some fair images. Here's one with just a bit of Pad 34 in the lower left of the frame.

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