Hmmm....Alcina...What about Night Shots?

[Randall]

Bonaire is three days away!!!! Whew....can't wait.

Alcina.....I have really been studying your posts and answers and I appreciate every one of them, as well as everybody else who has given pointers. But...I've just began wondering about night shots underwater!! We have 2 or 3 night dives and I'm wondering how the settings change for night diving?

Thanks

Randall

 

[alcina]

Randall -

boy are you asking the wrong person! I am not a big fan of night diving, though when I do get under I enjoy it.

If you are shooting internal flash only you're going to need to be CLOSE to your subject as all light will come from that. You'll be able to decrease your shutter speed (I still wouldn't drop below 1/100 or 1/125 so I could avoid motion blur). You will most likley also need an aiming light to show the camera what you want it to focus on. If you have an external strobe it may have an aiming light.

The same as for day diving, stick your camera in a housing, head into a dark room and practice shooting. This will give you a good starting point for when you are underwater.

Does this help?

 

[Randall]

Yep...It helps Alcina, 'cause I"ll be "in the dark" in more ways than one since I've never shot any underwater shots night diving before....I'll be trying different things. I sure hope I get some of these things worked out while I'm there!!

Thanks

Randall

 

[dbh]

what set up are you using randall?


Dave

 

[Randall]

Hello dbh....My setup is nothing really fancy. I have a new Canon A95 with the Canon housing. No strobes....yet. I just want to shoot as a hobby and since I've seen so many great shots on this forum with no strobes being used, I chose to try it without. I may later go with a single generic strobe I saw the other day in a dive mag....but will not have one this trip.

Randall

 

[dbh]

see if this helps (should apply to Canon as well):

Shooting w/o a strobe


Dave

 

[Randall]

Yep...that looks like it will help as well. I think with all these tips I'll do ok...it may take a couple of days, but I'm hoping for some great shots.

Now...if the hurricanes just stay away!!!

Randall