As a diver, it can often be difficult to really explain to non-divers just what we find underwater. But one technique works well, and as the subject is a Westland Wessex, I thought the forum might be interested in having a look at one of the Westland Wessex that now act as diver attractions in the depths of the National Diving and Activity Centre near Chepstow:-
I believe the tail ID to be correct, formerly serving with the Fleet Air Arm.
Its now in 30m of water and not accessible to anyone except divers. Its not in the best of state of preservation…I’m told thanks in part to the slightly acidic nature of the water.
By: scotavia - 17th April 2016 at 17:59
thank you for the background Simon,I have been using an led lantern for light painting and getting good results. Nearest I got to any aircraft underwater was a cockpit in Stoney cove and that was back in the days when a deeper dive meant a twinset,no trimix or re breathers.
By: SimonBrown - 17th April 2016 at 17:25
Non divers may not realise just how good the results are, at around 100 feet in a pit the filtering has removed colours and daylight and you need flash to create reasonable stills. In this case you have done even more and lit the entire airframe. How many exposures are needed?
799 frames total. At 24Mb each, its quite a lot of data…but in this case I used some smaller JPEGs, just to see how it turned out. Truth is, I could (and have) add a lot more detail to the model, but a) processing time for more detail is measured by days, not hours (this low res version took 36 hours) and b) the processing performance of the graphics means no one waits for it to display and pan/zoom/rotate. So it makes sense to only process what can actually be viewed.
But I have the raw data and can go back at some time in the future and reprocess it.
You are right about loss of colour at depth, but I didn’t use flash to illuminate the subject. I used an Orca Seawolf dive torch, which kicks out around 20,000 lumens of LED light. It has a great colour temperate too and a long burn time…that was the second test which passed I think.
All told I was in the water for 50 minutes. It was 7 degrees but finning around the subject helps keep you warm, plus I do have some very good thermal dive gear.
By: scotavia - 17th April 2016 at 13:48
Non divers may not realise just how good the results are, at around 100 feet in a pit the filtering has removed colours and daylight and you need flash to create reasonable stills. In this case you have done even more and lit the entire airframe. How many exposures are needed?
By: SimonBrown - 17th April 2016 at 09:00
That is an incredible image – thanks for posting.
Rob
Thanks Rob.
These models can be 3D printed too:-
Scale model of the Dolly Varden
So in theory, if there is a rare part that someone wants…it could be scanned and printed, either in plastic or by additive process.
By: Wyvernfan - 15th April 2016 at 11:36
That is an incredible image – thanks for posting.
Rob
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April 15, 2016 at 7:53 am