Blue Water Shots

[alcina]

Can't help with an exact on the strobe, but you'll notice considerable fall off at six or so feet.

Yes, the environmental conditions can make a huge difference in the blues. Some of the nicest blues I've gotten are from overcast days! I've had to drop to 1/100 or 1/125 on overcast days - but I have only shot UP so if I should straight or down I'd likely have to fiddle again!

Also, some water simply isn't blue. You might even see it as blue, but it is more grey or green. The only thing for that is Photoshop if you don't like the "natural" look.

 

[RonFrank]

The shot looks underexposed to me. What did the historgram look like? Were you using the strobes? What ISO?

You can certainly shoot some images, review the histogram and make some adjustments BEFORE you get something swimming by (assuming that something does not swim by immediately).

Shooting on a Sunny day if this is an example of an overcast day is certainly maybe a better idea.

How deep are you going, and can you find stuff you want to see shallower? The deeper you go the less light is avaialble.

Most great blue water shot's I've seen tend to be done shallower. In fact many by freedivers (not that they can not go deep ).

 

[Wolverine]

ISO 100 in all cases. I used 2 strobes (Inon) at set at aperture levels. I think the depth for that was close to 50ft. I guess there wasn't enough ambient light to get a nice blue shot.

In shallow waters, I get pretty good shots of coral and blue water, but the big fish tend to be found in deeper waters (at least here in Asia) :sad_2: So unless there is sufficient ambient light, it will be difficult to get nice blues. Well, lets hope the sharks and the rays and the big schools come up to 20-30ft in Tubbataha. Or we get good visibility (> 100ft)

 

[Tamas]

I brought a lemon (I usually carry one with me... don't ask)

Well now we have to! Why oh why?

 

[RonFrank]

ISO 100 in all cases. I used 2 strobes (Inon) at set at aperture levels. I think the depth for that was close to 50ft. I guess there wasn't enough ambient light to get a nice blue shot.

In shallow waters, I get pretty good shots of coral and blue water, but the big fish tend to be found in deeper waters (at least here in Asia) :sad_2: So unless there is sufficient ambient light, it will be difficult to get nice blues. Well, lets hope the sharks and the rays and the big schools come up to 20-30ft in Tubbataha. Or we get good visibility (> 100ft)

Your issue may very well be that you are using strobes, and the fish our out of range.

We still have not seen all the settings? Settings are: ISO, shutter, aperture, mode (M,A,P,S, whatever), flash settings, and anything else.

At this time, I'd say you are underexposing the images. Why I can not say, but flash will impact he way the camera can read available light.

 

[Wolverine]

I use manual mode all the time, so it should not have an impact. As I said earlier, ISO is set at 100, aperture at 5, shutter at 1/80. Cloudy day at 50ft. That was for the posted shot. Strobe set at f5.6 output (Inon style). You are right that the shots are underexposed at the subject, but at those levels, the water should look blue (ambient light), but I am not getting it. I suspect the light conditions are not right for a blue water shot (too deep and not enough ambient light). Just hope that the big stuff come up to shallower levels at tubbataha. Otherwise it is back to wide angle coral shots..

 

[RonFrank]

I use manual mode all the time, so it should not have an impact. As I said earlier, ISO is set at 100, aperture at 5, shutter at 1/80. Cloudy day at 50ft. That was for the posted shot. Strobe set at f5.6 output (Inon style). You are right that the shots are underexposed at the subject, but at those levels, the water should look blue (ambient light), but I am not getting it. I suspect the light conditions are not right for a blue water shot (too deep and not enough ambient light). Just hope that the big stuff come up to shallower levels at tubbataha. Otherwise it is back to wide angle coral shots..

Manual mode? How are you possibly determining the exposure? Maybe you are doing everythig right, but in that case, your manual exposure meter is lacking, or you are not using it properly.

So what about histograms... still we have less than all the facts!! :11doh:

I'm betting that you are either setting the M mode like you would with any flash exposure.. mistake. Or that your meter stinks...... I'll lay odds on you messing up!

Shooting blue water you need to balance the flash with the ambiant conditions. Turn off your flash and see how it goes. Also USE your histogram, because I don't think you are.

 

[f3nikon]

I use manual mode all the time, so it should not have an impact. As I said earlier, ISO is set at 100, aperture at 5, shutter at 1/80. Cloudy day at 50ft. That was for the posted shot. Strobe set at f5.6 output (Inon style). You are right that the shots are underexposed at the subject, but at those levels, the water should look blue (ambient light), but I am not getting it. I suspect the light conditions are not right for a blue water shot (too deep and not enough ambient light). Just hope that the big stuff come up to shallower levels at tubbataha. Otherwise it is back to wide angle coral shots..

I think I found your problem...you are shooting in manual mode not TTL mode, although your camera or any other digital cannot do real TTL. TTL is the magic bullet that solves all problems; it can even correct bad composition, bad focusing in addition to bad exposure.

With that out-of-the-way…what’s wrong with lowering the shutter speed to 1/60th and opening up the aperture to 4.0 or 2.8 to let more light in?

Try this when you are depth, place the camera in full auto mode, camera selects the shutter and aperture for you, if your camera is working properly I can bet that you'll get the blue water that you are looking for.

 

[Wolverine]

You are right, I probably screwed up. I will try to use the histogram, or at least take metering of ambient light (I actually can do that). I have success with that at shallower levels (when I have time to aim, adjust, bracket still subjects) but so far, at deeper waters and moving subjects, it doesn't seem to work so well. Unfortunately, the fishes don't usually wait for you to adjust your settings.

Hmmm this gives me an idea. I wonder if can actually set the camera to TTL mode for blue water shots in the modes menu (set low aperture and let the camera decide the shutter) and see how it turns out. The contribution from the strobe will be minimal in any case, unless the subject is within 3-4ft. That way all I have to do set the mode and I am ready to fire.

Well, I'll give u guys an update after my trip. At least now I know what I can try to improve the shots.

Thanks