New to Underwater Photography

[Jschmees]

I'm new to underwater photography. I recently purchased the Canon WP-DC900 Housing for my Canon A80 camera. I'm planning on using it this summer in Hawaii when I go snorkeling. I have couple questions about taking snorkeling pictures.

Should I get a weight bar for my camera?
Would it help keep the camera steady underwater?
Also I'm not sure I understand what the diffuser does, Is it just for when you use the internal flash and should I use flash when I'm not very far under the water?
Should I use a manual mode to get the best pictures?

Any advice will help a ton.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[alcina]

Josh -

Welcome to the money pit of uw photography!! I have had the Canon A series and housings for years and love them. If you have a little look around the forum there are quite a few threads with suggestions on how to get started - I think one has "settings for A series" or something in the title - it's in the Canon Corner. Those are going to be pretty useful.

I don't have a weight for my camera. It's a bit buoyant, but it works fine for me. Others have the weight. I think it is personal preference.

The diffuser simply evens the light out a bit (and reduces the amount a little). I use mine on every shot underwater.

Yes, learn manual mode as it will give you the most control over your images. There are other modes that you can use to give you partial control, but learning manual doesn't take that much and it will also give you a good idea of what a scene needs in a short time. In nice water I usually start around 1/250 or 1/320 and f4.5; for closeup work I use f8 and 1/500 ish. I also needed to reduce my flash power by one click or I would blow out stuff that was really close - I leave this alone now and don't think about it.

HTH

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board Josh.

You may not need the weight for your camera if you are snorkeling. The purpose of the weight is to keep the camera slightly negatively buoyant (sinks) when diving. Unless the camera is very positively buoyant and hard to hold under the water I would not bother with the weight. If for no other reason than if you accidently drop the camera, it will float. Assemble the camera and housing and see how hard it is to push under water in a pool or tub. If it takes a good bit of effort then you may want to add some weight but if it were me, I would no add so much as to make it sink.

The diffuser softens and cuts down the amount of light from your strobe. It will help reduce backscatter (snow like reflections in your UW pictures). I would suggest you keep the diffuser on and use the flash on all of your shots. It will bring out the color and reduce shadows. You may find it a bit much on very bright days in very shallow water but it should be OK most of the time. If you can adjust your strobe power, lowering it some may help prevent you from overexposing your shots.

The best thing is for you to try several different modes, look at the pictures after each shot and see what works best for you.

 

[Jschmees]

Thanks for the information, it helps a ton.

So from reading other posts I think I should try theses settings...

f4.5
1/200-1/300
daylight mode for nice days
diffuser on
flash set to 2/3 power but 1/3 power for closeup shots?
macro mode always
ISO 100
spot focusing

Let me know if any of these will pose a problem when snorkeling. Thanks again for your quick help.

 

[fins]

Hi Josh,

Not related to your camera but a couple useful pointers:
- Get close to your subject, then get even closer
- Try not to shoot from above your subjects, this gives the pictures a flat appearance. Getting level with or even a little below your subjects "generally" produces better results.

Good Luck

 

[alcina]

Can you go to ISO 50? I would use the lowest ISO possible.

My internal is set at 2/3 (I think - one click down from full anyway) and that works well even at minimum focus distance (close up).

If you are shallow in bright sun, I think you are going to be able to shoot at an even faster speed (think 1/500) and probably even close down the aperture (F5.6, etc).

What I do on every dive is have a look around, do my settings at what I think is about right (you already have your start point as above) and take a test shot or three. Adjust from there. Usually I only have to adjust one thing a bit for general shooting.

Good luck!

 

[Jschmees]

Yea I have an Iso 50 setting so i'll use that. If it's bright out ill use the 1/500 f5.6 setting and adjust with a couple test shots. I'm not sure if this is picky, but do I want auto assist beam on or off?

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Howdy Jscjmees,
Lots of great ideas in the threads above. I also have the A80 and love it! Start simple then worry about changing settings. What worked for me is set you customs settings for C1(Macro shots): F8 (aperature priority), cloudy, macro & Flash. C2(Other shots) P mode, Cloudy, Flash or no flash). Then take a bunch of pictures. After you start getting the hang of it. Play with the manual settings, because the other two sometimes aren't fast enough to freeze a fish. Alcina has some great suggestions....Most of all, have fun and take some pictures that make the guys with a $3000 rig jealous :colgate: If you have other questions feel free to write!

Chad