Photo Workshop Recommendations?

[tursiops]

14-42 EZ? It can't really do Macro, so you'd need a diopter of some kind.
The 60mm is a fine macro lens; I don't know if it will fit your port....I only know Nauticam, not AOI, port/lens combos. Nauticam has charts of what fits shat; probably AOI does too.
The 45mm is a nice macro length, but is more of a portrait lens than a macro lens on its own. It would need a diopter of some kind too. The f/1.8 is not very useful for macro...you need more depth-of-field than that.

 

[bvanant]

I can highly recommend the Underwater Tribe. They are running a workshop in Lembeh in July 2026. Great guys, great resort (NAD). They are one of the few workshops where the pros (Mike and Luka) are in the water with you and they don't have cameras. Great people. The 60 macro is a great lens for Lembeh, you might also check out the 30 macro to do some easier shooting, there is the 45 Panasonic/Leica macro lens which is awesome but not terribly fast to focus. Here is a pelagic tunicate I shot with it last night on a black water dive. OM-1, AOI, AOI strobes, 45 macro lens.



Bill

 

[WS007]

Hi,
I want to learn underwater photography. I’d like recommendations on workshops.

I took the plunge from GoPro to M43 (Olympus E-M10 IV, AOI housing, HF-1 strobes, macro, etc.) a few weeks ago. I’m reading and watching voraciously—“Underwater Photographer” by Martin Edge, ,”Underwater Photography Master Class” by Alex Mustard, YouTube videos from Simon Lorenz (Insider Divers—seems like a great teacher), David Heideman—also good teacher, Brent Durand—a bit gimmicky, etc. .

I’m practicing with just the camera in manual mode. I’ve done a couple sessions with the housing and strobes in air (heavy, awkward!), and plan to get it wet in a tub, pond, or pool soon.

I have limited free time currently, but plan to retire in 2026 so will have more time to dive locally (Monterey) as well as travel.

I’ve heard good things about Bluewater’s and Backscatter’s workshops. I haven’t seen anything here about Insider Divers’ courses—any experience? I’ve seen that Alex Mustard’s trips are focused on very high level competition photography which is definitely not where I’m at, although they sound excellent.

Oh, and I know nothing about Photoshop/Lightroom.

Another question is location: Anilao, Lembeh, Bali/Tuamben, other? I’m more interested in fish portraits and macro at the moment than pelagic or wide angle.

Thanks,
Evan

Hi Evan,

I can commend on the workshops of Alex Mustard, I have been on two of them. He is not just an outstanding UW photographer, but also a focused and patient teacher (no matter at what level he is teaching), who has the gift to explain complicated things in a simple way...

It is right that top photographers (even winners of great competitions) participated, but most participants were regular UW photographers. The experience was extremely positive, I (and also my wife) learned a lot and certainly will join Alex in the future again. In order to get a place in his workshops, you better be on Alex's mailing list (usually the workshops are booked out within few hours after announcement) and this concentrated expertise comes at a price.
Maybe it is more economical to first join a (more budget friendly) workshop at Backscatter/Bluewater and then attend one of Alex's workshops, in case one has zero UW photography experience. Lisi and me studied the books of Alex Mustard and Martin Edge, practiced approx. 2 years and then attended our first workshop...
(It is alike with the diving courses: when you make AOWD just after OWD the progress is small, but when you practice a lot after the first level entry course, you are really prepared for make maximum profit from the next level course)

 

[PatW]

Comments on your rig. It is a nice set up. The 21 mp is enough to blow up to any size enlargement you are likely to want. It is not enough for a taking a small crop and blowing it WAY UP but you can do it more than you think. It is way more than you need for social media. The 60 mm macro should work fine. It is a 120 mm full frame equivalent and I use a 105 on my full frame. You have a size advantage for macro over full frame. Your rig is small allowing you to get into tight spots. And your system should work fine for macro video if you have a strong flood light.

For macro, most macro lenses shoot macro (your subject is life size on your sensor) at the closest focus distance. Getting to the closest distance is not that practical. You will get to some fraction of that. Otherwise you need a wet lens to get some level of super macro. I have a wet lens that does about 1.5 super and it works fine in most situations. For really high level super macro, you will need some kind of stabilization like a tripod or just setting it on a small rock or what have you. And that works best on muck dives in low currents.

First off, I would advise just taking your camera out in the open air and learning basic photography. After that you want to just go out and full around under water taking shots and learning what works. Also you need a certain number of dives and training to do underwater photography. It is easy to get task loaded and get into trouble. I would suggest taking: open water (duh), advanced open water, peak performance buoyancy, and rescue if you can. Rescue is not so much to teach you to rescue people. It teaches you to recognize problems and to A) solve them or B) realize it is time to end the dive.

Something else to learn is fish behavior. I know how most Caribbean fish behave so I know how to approach to get a shot or if a shot is even feasible. I read Martin Edge’s book and it had a great piece of advice “sometimes the shot is not there”.

As others people have said, once you get a basic knowledge base, you can benefit the most from a course. Or you can go and take one right off the bat. You will still pick up quite a bit and shorten you learning curve.

 

[d^2b]

I know it's probably a longshot, but are there workshops that are software agnostic? I don't really have any interest in learning Lightroom, but would happily spend time working through processing photos in Darktable.

 

[grantmac]

I'm currently teaching myself Darktable as my first RAW processing. The learning curve is steep and there is very limited automation. Results seem decent and repeatable though.

 

[WS007]

I know it's probably a longshot, but are there workshops that are software agnostic? I don't really have any interest in learning Lightroom, but would happily spend time working through processing photos in Darktable.

In the two workshops that I have attended so far, people were using their software on their laptops. Therefore, any software was possible (but I think that most, if not all, participants were using LR).

Two photos per participant were displayed in the evening and discussed on Alex's laptop. Often he would change and adjust the settings in order to show how to tweak more out of the file.
I guess in your case you would have to supply not only two raw files together with the LR settings, but instead the raw file plus a JPEG file, resulting from processing with your software...
(These programs do, more or less, all the same (e.g. adjust exposure, contrast, WB etc...), but just the buttons and rulers may be located on different places and may be named differently)

=> I must add that the content of the workshops that we have attended was not to learn how to work with a specific program, but focus was on UW photography itself.
Problems may arise when a workshop is entirely dedicated to image processing, but even then, when the participant knows well how to work with his software, the advise given by the instructor should not be difficult to translate into another software...

 

[rmorgan]

Is garden macro sufficient or do I need to have the lens and strobes under water? It seems the optics under water will be a lot different than dry?

I was unclear. I'm not suggesting that you take your whole u/w rig out and about, but that you look around with your macro lens for bugs, spiders, flowers, etc. to work on for photo composition, depth of field at different f/stops, effect of shutter speed, etc. It's all nature photography, and those skills are the same above or below the water.

 

[bvanant]

I would highly recommend shooting little stuff on your kitchen table using the camera and strobes in the housing. That way underwater you automatically know where all the adjustments are and how different strobe placement works
Bill

 

[grantmac]

I would highly recommend shooting little stuff on your kitchen table using the camera and strobes in the housing. That way underwater you automatically know where all the adjustments are and how different strobe placement works
Bill

This but put down a dark towel or cloth to reduce reflections. Gives a more neutral background than you'll get on a table.