News
Getting into Photogrammetry – debut blog from Alex Tasker
Every cloud has a silver lining. In early March our skipper called off the weekend’s diving in Loch Fyne. A shame – but I made a couple of phone calls and seized the opportunity to attend IANTD’s first, two-day Photogrammetry course instead. I’ve been experimenting with this over the last year and increasingly feeling that I needed some help!
Tim Clements, who prepared the course, was there to lead it at Vobster Quay. Although there was quite a mix of students with a variety of camera gear, everyone was able to create 3D models from their own image data that they had captured during the underwater exercises which were part of the course. There was an emphasis on teamwork, safety and dive management, as well as on the photographic tasks, and all the students got useful feedback on their in-water abilities over the weekend.
I was paired with David, an experienced technical instructor. While this was my first visit to Vobster he must have dived there hundreds of times – he’s enthusiastic about the place and I must say I found it well set up and hassle-free. We gelled easily and I really enjoyed developing the use of “angel lighting” over the three dives we did together. On dive #2 I had an issue with my primary camera and was relieved to have the Paralenz on top of my rig – I was able to extract frames from the video to produce this model: https://skfb.ly/6HYJJ (that’s the same concrete block we were playing with topside the previous day!)
Back in the classroom, Simon Brown of Deep3D provided expert knowledge on photography and image processing. I was delighted to renew my acquaintance with Simon, who’s a particularly accomplished photogrammeter (if that’s the word) and has modelled numerous interesting underwater sites. I came away with pages of notes to digest on the photography itself and subsequent workflow.
We were also treated to some great 3D VR demos from Marcus Blatchford, illustrating some of the potential for our 3D models. He lent some much-needed computing power too, putting together this model from the image data I captured on dive #3: https://skfb.ly/6HTHX
We all deemed the course a real success; I’m certainly hoping to share some far more interesting models in the near future…
North West-based Dive Centre, Palaemon Divers, has been shortlisted for Leisure and Tourism Start Up of the Year with Start Up Awards 2023.
Palaemon Divers is delighted to be named a finalist in the Awards which celebrate Start Up Businesses and what they have brought to the economy within three years of their launch.
Palaemon Divers was started by Leanne Clowes in the midst of COVID lockdowns. Leanne walked out of her well paid corporate sales job with no savings after a redundancy in a previous role and spending the majority of the year before COVID to follow the dream! After the redundancy and COVID, life struck just a little differently and the pull to become a full-time dive instructor became impossible to ignore!
So with that… notice was handed in, no savings, nothing physical to start being a full time dive instructor other than personal kit at the time – oh and the fact, Leanne was actually an Assistant Instructor at the time and hadn’t attended the instruction exam at that point as there had been none going on through COVID obviously!
However, the first Instructor Exam that was happening out of COVID was booked onto – no pressure at all with no full time job, no money as a back up, mortgage and bills to pay…
Leanne started freelancing as an instructor in the North West using various outdoor locations for training, and the business snowballed and quickly gained its first physical dive centre in January 2022 along with finding their own private in-water training facility at Princes Dock in Liverpool. Since then, 100s of new people from Liverpool and further afield have been introduced to the amazing sport of scuba, and experienced the abundant life under the surface of the dock itself.
In a time of no travel to outside your area or abroad, Palaemon Divers found something new and exciting to introduce the city of Liverpool to those who spend five days a week in the office looking down at the dock and not really being able to appreciate what the dock actually means to Liverpool!
It became apparent during 2022, that although Liverpool was fantastic, more growth was on the cards which came in the form of a second location, Palaemon Divers – Warrington. The second dive centre is an ex micro brewery in Warrington with a central location close to the M6, M62 and M56, spread over two floors which includes a classroom, workshop, compressor and a floor dedicated to retail.
The efforts in building this business have not gone unnoticed with the shortlist for Startup Awards, and also another shortlist which will be announced in the next month.
For more, email or visit:
In a video shot exclusively for Scubaverse.com, Jeff Goodman reviews the Quilted Polar Hat from leading drysuit manufacturer Otter Watersports.
For more information, visit www.otterwatersports.uk.
WIN a c-monsta Wetsuit Hanger!!!
For this week’s competition, we’ve teamed up with c-monsta to give away one of their wetsuit hangers as a prize!...
WIN a Sharkskin Performance 40L Duffle Bag!!!
For this week’s competition, we’ve teamed up with our good friends at Liquid Sports to give away a Sharkskin Performance 40L Duffle Bag as...
Win a Vasili Lights Fish Lantern!
For this week’s competition, we’ve teamed up with Vasili Lights to give away one of their beautiful Fish Lanterns! Inspired...
WIN a Beuchat Maxlux S Mask and Spy Snorkel!!!
For this week’s competition, we’ve teamed up with our good friends at Beuchat to give away Maxlux S Mask and Spy Snorkel!...
-
News1 month agoUltimate Raja Ampat – The Last Paradise (Part 3 of 3)
-
News2 months agoNew book by diver aims to inspire teens to protect sharks and the ocean
-
News1 week agoDiving with… Ben Williams and Kay Van Leuven, Sunchaser Scuba, British Virgin Islands
-
Dive Training Blogs3 weeks agoDivers making the Oceans more diverse
-
News2 months agoTake Better Underwater Pictures and Make a Difference
-
News1 month agoUltimate Raja Ampat – The Last Paradise (Part 1 of 3)
-
Gear News2 months agoMares launch new Sirius dive computer
-
News2 months agoDeptherapy to complete mission with groundbreaking IDP