Why is there no easy way to find an instructor?

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I get it is 2 differnt questions but in all of the reading there seams to be multiple methods to get good color and it seams to be I would need to match camera features with video method. For example I was talking to one person that does not use filters because his camera has a manual white ballance and he tricks his camera what white is. But another will use a combination of filters and lights. I do not have an unlimited budget I would rather dive more with gopro than buy new gear and not go diving.
 
People have produced amazing videos with GoPros. So don't rule out a class with a pro just because you don't have a $10k video setup.
 
Reef photo and video has awsome site and looks like great editing class. I wish they were in Chicago..
 
Roger Roth is who I'd use in the area. As others have said you're a certed diver. You don't need a scuba instructor who attended a workshop on how to market and sell the class for uw video.
 
When I want to learn something, I look for an expert in the field. First, the person has to have the real world experience I'm looking for. I'm not talking about some book learning teacher. I'm looking for someone that has years of experience and would be considered an expert in their field by their peers. Second they have to be good at TEACHING. Some people are good at what they do but couldn't teach it to save their life.

All you want to learn is to make a great vacation video. Check out the trip video the videographers on different live aboards make every week. You should be able to poll people on the board, should be hundreds of them floating around out there. Maybe even ask for an example from the live aboards themselves. Theses are people that do exactly what you are wanting to learn, every week of the year. Once you find an example of the kind of video you would like to do, contact the boat and the videographer and ask what he would recommend you bring on the trip. They might even have stuff on the boat you could rent. It sounds like you couldn't go wrong with a GO PRO and IMOVIE. What better way to learn what you want, practice it for a week and get in some awesome diving.
 
So many people use the first instructor they meet and after using a couple differnt instructors I have taken a new mindset in selecting an instructor.

When I took my rescue diver it was with a professional working rescue diver and the experiance was way more than the typical certification. Not only was I exhausted when I was done but he trained us to balance personal safety with the urgency needed to save a life.

We can all call the LDS and get almost any Specality card we want but when your done do you feel your instructor gave you your money's worth or WAY more than you expected?

i have been looking for an instructor that can teach me underwater videography and teach me to produce good video. I have talked to multiple LDS and when I asked to see video by their instructor they had a confused look on their face. I have posted in photo and video forums here and got no response. I am willing to travle by car and pay more than the typical Specality course. I have been talking to every instructor diver I have met for over a year with no satisfactory results.

If there was a place to read reviews on instructors would you leave or read reviews? If you were looking for reviews on instructors what would you want to see? If your an instructor or LDS would you promote your divers to leave you reviews?

The best thing for you to do is

Become a good videographer.

Become a good diver.

Then combine the two.

Go to the art department at the nearest college. Take some art classes like black and white design and drawing first. Then some videography classes. Don't worry about the underwater part until you can produce some good videos.

Then try the underwater part of it.

Don't look on a scuba forum for art advice.
Don't look on an art forum for scuba advice.


~ Swampy
 
The best thing for you to do is

Become a good videographer.

Become a good diver.

Then combine the two.

Agreed, except that you have it backwards. Become a good diver first ... THEN work on your photo/video skills. You can't take quality video or photos without first mastering the skills needed to maintain your desired position in the water column. Buoyancy control, trim and propulsion are all requisite skills to quality photo/video, and they should be so honed that you can attain and hold your position without moving pretty much effortlessly ... otherwise you will either muck up the bottom or produce shaky results.

Situational awareness is also a requisite skill ... peering into a viewfinder tends to take your mind off everything else if you allow it to, and you shouldn't allow it to underwater. Always maintain a part of your mental bandwidth for what's going on around you. Among other things, it helps you keep track of your air supply ... and you might otherwise not even see that sea lion swim by while you're taking video of a nudibranch ... :shocked2:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
I know several really great underwater (and above-water) photographers and videographers in the Chicago area. None of them happen to be dive instructors, however (not to say that there aren't some dive instructors too who are good with cameras). Send me a private message with your email and I can pass it along to them, so that it is their choice (or not) to get in contact with you. Also, if you visit a couple of Chicago Scuba Meetup meetings, you'll bump into some of them.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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