My First S90

[kevindwhite]

I have never done any underwater photography before and I just purchased a Cannon S90 with a Cannon housing. I will be headed to the upper channel islands next week with this camera. Any advice on a crash course in underwater photography with an S90? So far my camera of choice has been the one on my iPhone. I've managed to lose or break every other camera I have ever owned.

 

[Gilligan]

First and foremost, after deciding on what settings you will use, is to know that camera in its housing like the back of your hand BEFORE you get to your dive destination.

Shoot everything in RAW then convert them to JPG in the Canon DPP (Digital Photo Professional) software that came with the camera. Have a large enough card for the large RAW files.

You have one custom setting on that camera (I believe) to save settings. Use it for your non-strobe shots.
-Flash off,
-non Macro setting,
-White balance on Auto or Underwater as it doesn't matter because you will adjust the white balance in the DPP program which is the major plus of RAW on non-strobe shots.
-Tv mode so you only have to set the shutter speed and the aperture will automatically correspond.
-Don't shoot slower than 1/80 or a moving subject may blur, ISO 100 (increase if needed).

For your macro strobe shots you can also use the Tv or Av modes but the M mode is best if you want to set both the shutter speed and aperture value.
-Flash on. Be prepared to change the settings and/or the intensity of the internal flash as needed.
-ISO 80
-1/250 shutter speed
-F5.0 or F5.6 as a happy medium
-Auto or daylight White Balance

 

[kevindwhite]

I understood about 1/4 of that. Good thing my trip is a week and a half away.

 

[Gilligan]

I understood about 1/4 of that. Good thing my trip is a week and a half away.

Sorry if that was TMI.

If you don't want to mess with the settings just use the "auto' setting for your flash shots and the "underwater" white balance setting for your non-flash shots.

The results won't be that great as compared to learning to use the features of that camera.

 

[kevindwhite]

Sorry if that was TMI.

If you don't want to mess with the settings just use the "auto' setting for your flash shots and the "underwater" white balance setting for your non-flash shots.

The results won't be that great as compared to learning to use the features of that camera.

This being my first time under with a camera auto will suit me just fine. I need to learn how to handle the extra cognitive load of diving with a camera and lining up for a shot before messing with settings. I chose the S90 because it seemed like a good camera to learn on with a feature set that will allow me to progress from nothing to not bad. Plus I managed to score a sweet deal on a slightly used open box with full warranty from Amazon.

 

[PatW]

I would strongly suggest that you use RAW format instead of JPEG. The RAW processor included with your camera will allow you much more latitude to correct your photos. First off, in underwater photography, White Balance is critical. RAW allows you to adjust white balance without penalty. Also RAW gives you far more latitude to get detail out of shadows and highlights than JPEG.

I would also suggest that you practice with your camera above water to get comfortable with all of its controls. Also do it with the camera in the housing so you get familiar with the controls on the housing.

The Canon manual, like all manuals can be rather esoteric. You might pick up a guide to using your camera like the Magic Lantern guide. Using both your Canon manual and Magic Lantern, you should be able to figure out all of the aspects of your camera.

Also in underwater photography, getting as close as possible to your subject is very desireable. The closer you are to your subject the better.

Another thing with underwater photography is colors get lost as you go deeper. You lose the reds at 15'. When you get down to 70' or so, everything is green or blue.

That is why having a strobe is so desireable. A strobe can replace the colors. Also there are particles in the water which can produce little flecks in your photo called "backscatter". An external strobe will reflect the flecks at the strobe and not at the camera lens so the backscatter will be reduced compared to your camera's built in flash.

There are a number of estimable web sites which discuss underwater photography. You might want to check on of them.

 

[kevindwhite]

Thanks Pat. RAW is something I already picked up on and will definitely make sure the camera is set to record in that format. As for strobes, I looked at the price and decided to wait. No point in buying strobes until I can master keeping a subject in frame long enough to get a decent shot. Dirt is dirt no matter how well lit.

 

[sablefish]

just like skiing and diving, the exact opposite opinion in photography can also be equally valid. Here's mine: use jpeg until you understand its limitations. starting out with jpeg will simplify your workflow; you can post your jpg instantly online or email it without going through the extra step of converting a large raw file into jpg. jpg takes up less space and can be manipulated on the slowest of computers. Raw is a powerful tool, but only if you already are familliar with a raw workflow.

Camerawise, set your S90 to P(rogram) mode, and get as close to the subject as possible (i.e. the fundamental rule in underwater photography is to remove as much water as possible between you and the subject). When you set to P, your camera controls are greatly simplified: concern yourself with Focus (use the front ring for this), and Exposure compensation (use the back ring for this). Exposure compensation is a fancy way of saying "make picture brighter/darker". The process of shooting should be focus, shoot, check the shot, and make the next one lighter/darker. Spend most of your time visualising the next shot rather than futzing around with the camera settings.

Simplify. Lots of pros, both land based and aquatic, that shoot 90% in P. There's absolutely no shame in using automatic modes. The best possible thing the camera can do is to get out of the way long enough for you to take the photo you want.

The other secret to getting an amazing photo is to take a lot of crap photos. Keep the bad photos to yourself, and show off the good ones only. 1 keeper out of 10 is amazing. I'd be happy with 1 good photo out of a hundred bad ones.

 

[Gilligan]

I chose the S90 because it seemed like a good camera to learn on with a feature set that will allow me to progress from nothing to not bad.

That S90 will allow you progress from nothing to GREAT photos

 

[chris196]

I have the S95, never handled an S90, but I know the S95 lets you save in both RAW + JPEG for the same photo. Why not use that? Does it take significantly longer?
I'm new to the S95, but have taken many photos underwater using Olympus & Fuji cameras. Just learning my S95 now.