And the Export Oscar goes to... Ocean Maps!

Thank you so much to everybody supporting us! Austrian Born Global Champion Award handed over by Minister of Economics Dr. Harald Mahrer and President of Austrian Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Christoph Leitl.

New wrecks out now: Ocean Maps expands Florida App with two more dive sites

Last month, Ocean Maps had Ups and Downs: The market entry in the US was a great success as well as the presentations at two of the most important watersport fairs: The DEMA in Las Vegas and the BOOT in Düsseldorf (Germany). Ocean Maps went down in Florida to add two more dive spots in the Florida Scuba Diving App. The spots belong to the best what the east coast in the US has to offer:

The wreck of the ,,Duane“:

The Duane has a moving history behind her: She was used to observe the weather in Greenland as well as during the 2^nd World War. Moreover, she was used during Vietnam War and by the Coast Guard – she is claimed the ship with the most years in duty of military service. 1987 she was sunk near Key Largo. She now rests in a depth of 40 meters and with her total length of 100 meters, she attarcts scuba divers from all over the world.

The ,,Miami Fish Tanks“:

In 1994 it was proved, that tanks cannot swim. Two M60 military tanks were sunk together with limestone rocks to build an artificial reef. Nowadays, scuba divers can watch a vibrant marine life with lots of corals and fish. The tanks are next to the Matthew Lawrence barge in a depth of 15 meters. The flora and fauna as well as the extraodinary objects make it to one of the most interesting dive sites in Florida.

About Ocean Maps GmbH

Ocean Maps GmbH creates the world’s first interactive 3D dive maps based on high resolution sonar- satellite and video data. The application helps divers to explore underwater worlds before actually going there.

Our Latest Exploration

 In order to map the world we need some really good measuring gear, as you can imagine. We like to measure with sonar, but we felt it was time for an upgrade to keep pace with changing technology. On the 21^st of December we went to Attersee to test a multi-beam sonar by the brand WASSP. 

Instead of jumping into the deep end, we had an expert, Mr. Engel of the sales company FURUNO Germany, accompany us to show all the functions and features of the sonar.

So, we had a sonar to test, but what boat were we going to use? Thankfully, Mr. Heinz Campestrini of the water rescue at Attersee was our captain and took us out on the “Elisabeth“.

It was pretty cold and a little bit windy, but the landscape was incredibly beautiful; there was some fog and clouds which made the Attersee look like a lake in a horror movie. A little creepy, but a great scene to be exploring in.

Mr. Engel explained to us how the sonar worked and how we could use it to measure dive spots. The best way to learn is by doing, so we started somewhere in the lake and analyzed the recorded data. Then we went to the Schlierwand, a well-known dive site at Attersee which is also featured in our application Attersee Scuba Diving. 

After hours of measuring and testing the equipment, our exploration to Attersee was over and we went back to the office.

There, our developers and technicians took a look at the recorded measuring data and had a de-briefing with Mr. Engel to conclude if this is a potential tool for us to use in the future.

Our media guy and photographer accompanied the explorers on the expedition to capture the pictures which are featured in this blogpost!

We love keeping you up to date with new stuff here and look forward to our next exploration. In the meantime, check out our Attersee Scuba diving app with the top dive sites around the Attersee.

Download it in Google Play and App Store.  

BEHIND THE SCENES OF OUR VIDEO SHOOT

Did you know we have a YouTube channel with great videos on it? The one here shows our local partner at Attersee explaning the divesite, Schlierwand. We love the video so we wanted to give you an exclusive behind-the-scenes making of it!

After the app was finished, we discussed the best way to promote it and decided producing a short clip with our local partner, Bocki from "Under Pressure Dive Center", would be a fun way to get the word out about our app. We wanted to keep it simple so we asked him to explain the tour at the common divesite Schlierwand.

Our set up was quite easy:

We put up a greenscreen and recorded Bocki in front of that so we could add a background in later. The audio was recorded with an even more simple set up: I used a lavalier microphone - it's quite small, common in recording for television and you can put them on nearly every piece of clothing. This mic is great because you can connect it to your iPhone and use a professional audio recording app to get the audio.

Since it was windy, I decided to use a windjammer to reduce disturbing noises. Of course, I brought along a proper camera and a tripod to ensure high video quality.

Once the recording facilities were set up, we were able to get the material pretty fast. After three takes everything was finished and we were ready to move into the post production.

The post production started with editing the audio with effects and plug-ins like compressors, filters and Equalizers.

Right after that, our in-house multimedia designer recorded the screen video of the diving tour and placed it over the green screen. Then, Bocki was put in front of the screen recording so while he's speaking, you're able to see the tour.

You can see the final product as well as our other videos here!

5 Tips for Making Better Underwater Videos with Action Cams

Ever wonder why your video has a green/ blue colour? Or why your video is not stabilized? Here are some easy tips to help you make better videos with your action cam.

Tip 1: Learn to control your buoyancy

If you are not neutrally or nearly neutrally buyont, your video recordings are going to be really bad. Do not record the first minutes of your dive, use the time to control yourself and try to get used to the special underwater feeling. After that, you can begin filming for the initial attempts at recording. Be sure to initially focus on remaining calm and achieving buoyancy so you don't get overwhelmed with that and attempting to film. If you make sure your buoncy is correct, you can concentrate much better on recording!

Tip 2: Mounting your action cam

Be sure to choose the right position for mounting your action cam. I would not mount it on the head, because the mask might not allow the strap to fit tightly enough; my favourite position is the wrist. You can buy a special wrist mount, which looks like a fingerless glove that can be tightly fastened. The advantage of the wrist mount is that you can use your arm like a tripod panhead since the water resistance allows you to move your arm slowly, so you can ensure a smooth camera movement, which looks great with the right effects in postproduction. If you own a second action cam, you can mount it on the leg or on the shoulder to have a different view.

Tip 3: The colour problem

To get better colour on your recordings you should use some filters. The deeper you dive, the less colour you can see/ record so you need to add a red and a violet filter. For blue water, you might use the red filter, for green water you can mount the violet one. But take care, not every action cam supports a filter mount. Here you might have to be creative and build one yourself!

Tip 4: The wide angle

Most action cams have a wide angle which is great for wreck diving since it make it easy to catch the whole wreck in one picture. Did you know that wide angle lenses can be good for close up shots, too? They allow you to record impressive images of fish and corals with your action cam. The angels vary by the company, so just go for a dive and try to find the best distance for close up recordings.

Tip 5: Night diving

Now we go to an advanced topic: video recording during night diving. Of course, you can use heavy pro equipment with 3 lamps and a really good lens. Is it necessary? In my opinion, no. To record videos during night diving, I mount my action cam on the bottom of a good lamp and set the picture to ,"upside down" so that the camera is turned but the picture is displayed correctly. The footage looks really great, because on the one hand you have the black of the night and on the other hand you see a certain angle of the underwater world which is enlighted by the beam of your lamp.

I hope those tips help you make better recordings during your next scuba diving adventures. To see an example of how a night diving video can look, check out this link of my dive to the Twin Towers at Attersee using the plastic dive cards provided by Ocean Maps:

https://www.facebook.com/mbmediaproduction/videos/628419040653078/

About Markus Bachofner:

Markus Bachofner is a semi-professional multimedia producer and passionated scuba diver. He has three years of experience in photography and now dives deeper into video production and sound recording. Due to his work at Ocean Maps he is now becoming an expert in the field of underwater video- and photography. For his recordings Markus uses high end Nikon and GoPro equipment. His work can be seen at his Facebook-Page ,"Markus Bachofner Multimedia":

https://www.facebook.com/mbmediaproduction

Guest Blogging for Diving.io

Nothing like making our first post on the blog about a guest blog post! Diving.io was kind enough to let us write about 10 diving safety tips and published our article here: https://www.diving.io/10-essential-tips-for-a-safe-diving-trip/. Check it out and be sure to dive safely!