First UW Pictures... Comments, tips, suggestions please!

[Mr. Schnitzer]

Pictures are from Grand Cayman taken with a Canon S50 and WP-300 Underwater Housing using the internal flash. I took the pictures on the Auto setting of the camera and the flash did not go off on every picture. The only editting done was to shrink them down for posting on the web...

Next time I plan on reading more about the camera's settings and at least getting the flash to go off with every picture

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


http://www.e46fanatics.com/members/B/Cayman_Pictures.html

 

[jeffcali]

Must get external strobe...or 2 would be even better!!!

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Good job for a first effort. A couple of suggestions. You definitely need a strobe (or two) as most of the photos are "blue" from the selective filtering of the reds and oranges at depth. From a technique standpoint, I would recommend the simple plan of "get low, get close, and shoot up". This allows for better lighting of your subject and the "low" and "shooting up" will make your subject stand out from the background. For a lot of good suggestions, check out www.wetpixel.com and www.digitaldiver.com. Keeping shooting!

By the way, I was also in Grand Cayman last week. My photos are posted on my website (www.debersole.com) under the "gallery".

 

[LegoPacific]

You have some fun pics.

Give manual white balance a shot...it gets rid of some of the blue cast, works when subjects are far away and requires less processing once you are home. When the subject is more than 4-5' away, the built in flash will do nothing more than add backscatter.

 

[ChrisM]

Nice shots for the first time.

Yeah, a strobe would be nice but you can get a lot of good shots with the internal strobe, you are just limited to 1-2 feet. Strobes will get you another 2 feet or so beyond that, but not much.... which leads me to the mantra....

Get low
Get close
shoot up...
then get closer

#1 rule in UW photos is to get as little water between the lens and the subject. Getting close does this. Get as close as you think you need to be, then get closer.

#2 rule is don't use the zoom. Corollary of #1. If you zoom in, it may look like you are getting closer, when in reality you are still just as far away, so you'll have a blue nudibranch. NEVER (well, hardly ever) use zoom uw (NEVER use digital zoom, use optical if anything). Rather than zooming in on a subject get closer and fil the frame with it, backing out if need be and slightly zooming in if need be.

#3 rule is get closer

#4 rule is force the fill flash. Unless shooting something more than 2 feet away (i.e. ambient scenic) always have the flash fire. You see how good the results can be in your squirrelfish pic

#5 rule is get off auto. Auto is for above water. Your pics will improve greatly when you learn to use the manual settings. General rules of thumb with a flash, aperture affects the subect (foreground) while shutter speed affects the background. Learn how shutter speed and aperture interact.

#6 rule, although I never have and won't since I have strobes, use manual white balance as suggested.

Last rule - learn to break the rules. Some of my best shots came from breaking with convention and trying something different

Chris

 

[fins]

You have received some very good recommendations here especially the ideas of getting as close to your subject as possible and shooting up. You rarely want to shoot downward as it gives the image a very flat look.

It looks like many of your pictures were taken at relatively shallow depths where there was still a lot of light. If these are the conditions that you will be shooting in and if a strobe (or two) are not in your immediate future due to finances you might want to look into an underwater filter. Basically this is a reddish filter that replaces a lot of the red that is lost as you descend. These filters are meant to be used without any kind of flash or strobe. If you use one of these filters with a flash or strobe your picture will come out very red.

You can find these filters at http://www.oceanbrite.com/moreinfo.php?id=351 and lots of other places online.

Good Luck,

 

[alcina]

Looks like you had a great time and that, to me, is the first reason to get into UW Photography!

I agree with a lot of what has been said. You don't need an external strobe, you simply need to work within the limitations of your existing camera. An external strobe will give you more freedom in choosing subjects and controlling the image, but it can be added later and you can still get some great images using internal only.

1 - get closer and select a subject.
1a - know your camera limits. Know where your minimum focus distance is (how close you can get before you are too close and things are blurry). Remember that it changes as you use zoom.

2 - if you have manual controls, use them. In general, the shutter speed will determine the background colour (think blue or dark blue or black etc) - the faster the shutter, the darker the background. High shutter speeds that darken the water/bg can really help isolate a subject. Of course, you need to ensure that you are close enough to the subject to light it with your internal strobe! In those clear waters I would start on 1/1200 and f 4.5 and adjust from there. I try to leave my f stop as I really don't like the "soft" feel you can get by shooting wide open (f1.8 or your lowest setting) sometimes.

3 - use your zoom well. I don't believe that zoom is next to useless underwater and in fact, use it on almost every dive. It helps you fill the frame and it allows you to capture shots of skittish animals. Like everything else, you simply need to know how to use it - you still need to be close to use your internal flash. the flash does not go farther just coz you've zoomed!

4 - and most importantly...get out there and dive!!!

 

[pete340]

If these are the conditions that you will be shooting in and if a strobe (or two) are not in your immediate future due to finances you might want to look into an underwater filter. Basically this is a reddish filter that replaces a lot of the red that is lost as you descend.

This may be a bit of a quibble, but filters don't replace light. They remove it. A red filter blocks green light, which gets you back closer to a normal-looking balance. In addition, though, you need to increase exposure to make up for the lost light. As long as the camera monitors exposure through the lens it will do this for you.

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Hello,
I love seeing the same people helping new photographer As usual, lots of great ideas above. Pesonally, I don't have a stobe ( I have thought about it ), but it's really nice to have your camera fit easily in one hand and not have large strobes to worry about. Besides, I'm quite happy with the photos I'm getting without a strobe!! There is a thread started in the Canon Corner that talks about Underwater settings. I think the settings I use are posted there. On the Canon web site there is a whole section that talks about underwater pictures with canons!! Anyway, take lots of pictures and enjoy!!!
Chad

 

[SeaYoda]

All I have to say is "I wish I was there to take pictures". Thanks for sharing them.