PADI Underwater Photography speciality

[pixiefish]

Hi everyone

For anyone here who has done this/teaches this, does doing this course have any major advantages over just getting the camera underwater and having a go i.e. learning by doing???

Thanks!

 

[RJP]

Hi everyone

For anyone here who has done this/teaches this, does doing this course have any major advantages over just getting the camera underwater and having a go i.e. learning by doing???

Thanks!

Of course, as with any dive course "it's the instructor, not the course" that makes a difference.

I would say the main advantage of taking a class from someone who knows what they're doing is that you won't wast several years and several thousand shots (tens of thousands now with digital) taking really bad "underwater snapshots."

Don't just take the course from any ol' instructor. Find someone who is a good underwater photographer. They will be able to not just teach you the mechanics of camera settings, etc for underwater but also general photography tips about composition and the like.

 

[vladimir]

While I didn't take the course, I had the benefit of some instruction from Mark Strickland (who bears no responsibility for my continuing mediocrity as a photographer), and found it accelerated my learning quite a bit. If I were looking for a formal course, I'd talk to Mike Veitch here on Scubaboard, and see if he still offers classes.

Cathy Church's classes have been widely lauded too, but they don't take place in Sulawesi.

 

[Peter Guy]

I took my UW Photography class from a real estate agent -- who just happens to be an underwater photographer and it was a very good class. Like my instructor, I'd had a lot of training in photography so he didn't have to talk about f-stops, shutter speeds, etc. We worked on stuff that was special to UNDERWATER photography.

For example, he had an "artificial reef" and had me take pictures of it, record the settings and then view the results. This gave me a background set of information that was useful in the real world.

We set out a 20' (?) tape and then took images using the strobe to verify how useful the strobe was at "X" distance (answer with that strobe, about 4 feet!).

Using the same tape, I took images of a color chart to determine, in fact, how far I could get colors in clear water. (This was all done in an outdoor pool, in sunlight.)

There was a lot of good information gained. But he was just a real estate agent!

 

[victor]

Find a good instructor. Don't bother with the card.

Expect him to tell you to go away and improve your diving skills, in particular your buoyancy control and trim before you go any further.

 

[RJP]

Find a good instructor. Don't bother with the card.

Expect him to tell you to go away and improve your diving skills, in particular your buoyancy control and trim before you go any further.

DING DING DING!

I was on a liveaboard once and a guy asked "How can I take better pictures?"

The answer from everyone else on board...

"Stop silting the dive site up!"

 

[scottfiji]

Having a instructor is always better than trying to learn on your own.

One big benefit of a class is that usually you will have some one-on-one time underwater, where they can show you composition and subject selection during a dive, and give you feedback afterwards on your technique, buoyancy, etc. So make sure a class includes that.

Don't worry about a card, just try to find someone who is passionate about teaching underwater photographer.

 

[newmanl]

Scott is being incredibly modest... Read his on-line underwater photography guide, then dive and shoot. Repeat the process until you're happy with your photos.

As for an instructor, perhaps pick one based on his/her own photos...

Good luck!

Lee

 

[weeksd]

Hi I would highly recommend the jim church photo course on the aggressor fleet liveaboards. Jim church has passed away but mike and mike were jim's protege and teach jim's methods. In a week long course you will get very advanced teaching in easy to learn methods. You will become a very good photographer. And doing 4 dives a day with classes on the boat and one on one with mike and mike you will not only learn the photography but the digital editing also.

 

[hammerhead man]

I took the PADI course and a couple of online courses and found them both to be helpful; however, I learned more from the online courses. I agree with everyone else, the benefit of the course depends on the instructor. Here is a link to the online courses I took: Underwater Photography Classes: Improve your underwater photos and digital underwater photography. The courses from Marty and Bonnie were more helpful than the PADI course I took. If I had any questions, I sent and email and they responded right away.

I think getting instruction is going to give you a jump start on taking underwater pics.

Regards,

Bill