Photo and buddy system

[BlueCrab]

Hi there,
I started diving with my camera 7 dives ago, just because now I feel with enough buoyacy control and confy with my equipment.
Being new in this, it seems that diving with a camera is a completelly different dive than without it.
Photoshooting focus yor attention on small spots and drive your way near those spots, while the no photo diver have a more general scope and eventually focus on spots but they do not reach them as close.
In this case I enjoyed to be at the bottom near the reef and my buddy was 6 feet above me all the time and at the end told me that she would enjoy more the dive without the camera in terms of security.
What suggestions do you have for this situation in terms of mutual security and enjoy photosooting.
Appreciate all your valuable comments comming from your experience.

 

[havnmonkey]

be aware of your surrounding and your buddy's as well... always let them know that you will be taking photos on the dives that you bring your camera along. Take a break from shooting and step back on a couple of dives, it may help you take better pics, and it'll help out your buddy too! Remember you can always clip off your camera and just enjoy the dive!

 

[alcina]

You have to be extremely clear with your dive plan BEFORE you hit the water. If your buddy and you do not agree on even a single point, leave the camera behind or rework the dive plan. It doesn't work if you don't both agree.

 

[NancyLynn]

When I'm diving with someone else with a camera, my informal rule is that only one of us takes the camera underwater.

I also try to pay attention to expressed (and unexpressed) discomfort of my dive buddy. Diving comes first. I love photography, but safety and buddy comfort are more important. If we can't work out the discomfort, the camera stays above water.

Some things I can do to minimize buddy discomfort (1) take scenery shots rather than macro or close up - I can do that without causing too much lag time (2) use the camera for only part of each dive (3) hand the camera to my buddy for part of the dive - and pay attention to what a difference it makes in the dive (4) offer to be the watchful/following buddy for something your buddy would like to do part of the time. (I like to puts around and look at small things. Some folks like to dart about looking for bigger things - take turns setting the pace for the dive.)

 

[Charlie59]

Personally, if I dive with my camera, I do not consider myself a buddy.

I warn people that I am not a trustworthy buddy while working to get pictures. I am glad to help anyone, but it is difficult to serve two masters under water.

 

[stiebs]

When I went out this weekend, I was contemplating leaving my camera at home, as I was by myself and would have been paired with a SOB on the boat. I ended up taking it, and as it turned out in the carpark I met two of my regularish buddies who were on the same dive. The conversation ended something along the lines of "We've dived together enough times to be able to suitably ignore eachother as buddies"

We're all experienced divers, diving in familiar territory and aware of each other's abilty. Six tanks between us (2x doubles, 1x pony) and all equipped with cameras and HIDs. All three of us are going to be moving a fairly slow pace, so we keep within close proximity - not within arms reach, but certainly close enough to notice HID signalling and within a few kicks.

If these guys weren't on the dive, and I ended up diving with a SOB, I would have used my first impression of my buddy to determine whether to even think about taking the camera. And I would then only take it after telling him, "I'd like to take some photos, which means I won't be moving very fast, and I may not always be paying attention to where you are. If you have a problem with this, I'll leave my camera on the boat"

There's buddy diving, and there's solo diving. Underwater photographers fit in the middle.

 

[TSandM]

During the time of composing and shooting any particular picture, the photographer is all but out of contact. A very well trained diver will probably still pickup urgent signals from his buddy, but for all practical purposes, that period of time is not real team diving.

I've dealt with it by a) diving with my own redundancy and b) staying very close to the photographer, scouting the next shot. If I had an OOA emergency, I'd be close enough to swim to my buddy and shake him and attract his attention. I know this, because I have simulated it without Peter's knowledge.

It is a very good insight, though, that carrying a camera affects your bandwidth for all other aspects of diving. This includes buoyancy and respect for the underwater environment as well. The photographer needs to remain mindful of his depth and what he is making contact with, as well as where his buddy is and what that buddy is doing.

This is why teams of three, with one photographer, work better. The two camera-free buddies can monitor one another, and both can watch the photographer as he single-mindedly pursues "the shot"

 

[Darnold9999]

More and more I have moved to the "solo diver" mindset for just this reason. Two photographers diving together, unless they have a strong committment to being buddies, are essentially diving solo a large part of the time.

If you are comfortable with this no problem, if your buddy is a non photographer and comfortable with this - also no problem. The problem comes when one is and one isn't. Don't have an answer other than to say that you want to have a whole lot more dives before you consider diving without a buddy nearby and you both paying attention to what is going on around you.

 

[Diver Dennis]

I'm diving at a resort right now and even though I dive with a group on a boat, I have no buddy. I talk to the DM before the dive and if I find some subject I want to spend time on, they leave me there and I will follow when I'm done. The DMs know me and have seen me diving a lot so I'm lucky they let me do this. I am ALWAYS back at the boat within the dive time they set out of respect for the DM and the rest of the guests so they don't have to wait.

 

[chip104]

get a wide angle lens and use your buddy as a photo subject. :blinking: