"My photos are going to be SO much better when I get my new [insert something here]!"

[charlesml3]

How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said it yourself?

I hear it all the time on liveaboards. I see photographers with some pretty decent rigs getting really mediocre shots and it's NOT the gear. It's their terrible technique. They're always shooting straight down at the coral or sand. They're much too far away. They're trying to chase a fish to get a shot.

But they always say the same thing. "I need a new [housing/strobe/lens/filter] to get good shots." No, the problem is you're not really taking the time to learn the rig you have and sort out what makes a good underwater photo. But they end up adding more stuff and then they're even further behind the learning curve. They end up in a constant state of frustration with their underwater photography.

Stay with the rig you have until you've mastered it. Learn it's limitations and work within them. When those limitations become the ONE thing that's keeping you from advancing, then change out gear.

-Charles

 

[Scuba_Noob]

I want a macro and a wide-angle lens. But I know that my current rig could get much better photos right now, as I've seen a lot of amazing photos with even less - I just want larger shots of tiny creatures and better landscape shots. Guess I just need to keep improving my basic skills first.

Sometimes people (like me) know that much of it is about improving technique, but they just want new toys.

 

[TSandM]

I would agree with you, except that I had the opposite experience. I was shooting with my own camera, and chronically dissatisfied with my pictures. On our Red Sea trip last year, my husband MADE me take his camera and use it for a dive. (I didn't want to. I really didn't ever want to carry anything that big or that complicated to use.) The difference in the pictures was absolutely amazing. Same photographer, same sites, no change in skills . . . just better equipment.

 

[charlesml3]

Well I think you're probably the exception, TS. You have a LOT of logged dives and you already had experience shooting. You were ready to move up to a new camera rig.

My point is: What's behind the camera is FAR, FAR more important than the camera itself. One can get some very good photos with an inexpensive and simple rig. Adding gear and gadgets before you've mastered what you have will not improve your shots.

 

[smellzlikefish]

Everyone learns at their own pace. A macro lens won't keep the shooter from aiming down at the reef or chasing a fish, but it will enable them to get a lot closer to their subject or even improve the image quality of their shots. They will go home and review their images and say, "much better!" It still isn't up to par with what others are taking, but it makes them happy. I'm all about the enjoyment of the activity and while I participate in contests and whatnot, I only started UW photography because I had fun doing it and continue to follow the same reasoning today. If it puts a bigger smile on your face, maybe that is a different kind of photographic improvement.

 

[Peter Guy]

While, in general, I agree with you, I also know that SOMETIMES it is the gear and not the eye behind the lens (see TSandM's post, and yes, I'm the husband who forced my PEN on her -- and now she has one too).

BUT, you are also right that unless the operator knows what she is doing, and understands the various "rules" (and especially when to break them), she'll typically end up with drab, uninspiring, images.

 

[Interceptor121]

Most of the time the issue with photographers is that they try to take pictures of subjects they don't have the right equipment for

Example with a point and shoot camera and no strobe, is pretty much must macro. How many pictures of reefs, turtles, or just fish you have seen with tons of backscatter?
Or when I see people taking pictures of large subject without a wide angle lens ending up far away and back in the same backscatter dull subject issue unless is of course at shallow depth
You do need equipment and need quality equipment there is plenty of people that make expensive mistakes when it comes to photogear
however when you see someone with a decent camera and strobe shooting the tail of a fish well than it is not the equipment
And no you don't learn a lot if you have the wrong gear for the subject, you just learn how to take disappointments

 

[Insta-Gator]

Camera

 

[Layla]

My photography will improve when I get some more interesting and challenging diving in

My local lake is ok to bimble around in with compass navigation
with loads of items sunk in there [boats, bus, cabs, vans, shipping containers etc], you'd think it would be good for wide angle, but it is way silty
I have some great shots in the winter, but nothing to speak of in the summer because the warm water just holds the silt in suspension

And, macro, well it just does not have the subject life, so I end up practicing on bits of the wrecks, or taking my own subjects down with me

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Skills vs. Equipment is a very interesting topic. I’m not saying we all, always do this, but I think we do something like it, sometimes. When we succeed, we attribute it to intrinsic factors. When we fail, extrinsic. When others succeed, we attribute it to extrinsic factors, when they fail, intrinsic.

Applied to photography, when my friends take great pictures, I think “they only got that picture because they have a nicer camera rig than I do, and/or they got lucky.” When they take bad pictures, I think “they take bad pictures because they lack the skill to use their current equipment properly.” Yet, when I take great pictures, I think “I got that picture because I am a highly skilled photographer!” And, if I ever took a bad picture ( ) then I would probably think “I couldn’t get a good picture here because of my equipment!”

Equipment does play an important role in quality images. Every year the cameras get faster focus, better low light performance, better contrast, smarter processors. If you hand a modern camera to someone in an auto setting, and give them 5 minutes, they can probably produce atleast one picture which, while it might not win any awards, is a good picture.

Additionally, there are some pictures that are impossible to get without the right equipment. For example, I can’t get the macro shots with a 10mm lens on an SLR with a 8” dome port that I could get with a cheap point and shoot. And, as a cave diver, I know it’s very hard to impossible to properly light some spaces without a strobe. There are ways around the right equipment, but they aren’t always easy and won’t usually yield the same results.

I think that you can make a huge difference in image quality with a lens that lets you get very close to your subject, and a way to add lighting. Beyond that, the camera doesn’t need to be the latest and greatest, depending on the skill of the user.

However, skill also plays a big role. You have to know how to compose a shot. Far too many people “document the moment” instead of turning sea life into art.

That’s not that they are bad: I’ve “documented” plenty of dives. The pictures won’t win awards, but they help me remember the fun I had, and that’s enough for me.

I think another important skill is being able to throw out almost all of your pictures. I used to figure that about 90% of my shots would end up in the recycle bin. As I get more and more pictures, I get more and more discriminating—I recently had a dive where not a single picture was what I wanted, so I threw them all out. Of course, my buddies always want to see every shot, and I usually oblige, because they just want to relive the dive and see if I got a picture of anything cool that they missed. Once they’ve saw them, the pictures went goodbye forever, and I sat down with the camera to figure out what setting I had buggered up—I’m not 100% certain but I think it was an equipment problem: I had turned on a few settings I didn’t mean to, which made the camera do automatic processing to every image. I wasn’t able to notice it underwater, but blown up to TV screen sized, the pictures all looked off.

Some of my favourite shots have come from a cheap, point and shoot camera, with either no strobe or a single strobe.