sunballs...

[alcina]

One question though how did you capture that sunburst/sunball? I tried once with a shutter speed of 1/100s but it came out horribly...

This is from Jamdiver in the Best of 2005 thread, but I thought it deserved some discussion and didn't want it to get lost.

High shutter speeds are the key to sunballs. On the Oly I would routinely use 1/800 and 1/1000 to try to capture them.

On my Canon 20D dslr, high shutter speeds when used with an external strobe are not possible as the max synch speed is officially 1/250 (you can go to 1/320 I've found) so it becomes a combination of the highest possible shutter and a very small aperture:

The conditions on the day will also make or break a sunball as will the angle you shoot at.

 

[Jamdiver]

Much thanks...., I'll remember to try it again during my next dive.

For reference this was my own horrible attempt at it . 1/125s

 

[alcina]

Often even with the "right" settings the sunballs won't work. It takes a certain amount of right time, right place, too!

 

[dbh]

They need to be taken when the sun is fairly low (morning or evenning). Depth & water clarity are also factors. I don't have any good ones but when the topic comes up, I always link to one by my buddy Rand (taken with an Oly 5050):

 

[alcina]

They need to be taken when the sun is fairly low (morning or evenning).

Sometimes, the second one was taken almost at high noon

Rand does have some really nice ones!

 

[ssra30]

It is quite difficult especially with digital camera. Film seems to have easier time capturiing sunball but at least on digital, you can always review and try to retake the picture.
Basically you want to really underexpose the sunball in the back ground as much as possible and hopefully the strobe is still strong enough to light up the foreground.
Some dSLR such as D70s can shoot at whatever shutterspeed you want in manual which make it a bit easier. However D2X sensor seems to manage the extreme dynamic range a bit better. I still don't have a good shot of one but here are a few so so one.

 

[Tom Winters]

I sure hope that you people aren't messing with the sun. It's not due to supernova for another 2,000,000,000 years or so, but I've seen photograhers do ANYTHING for a shot.

 

[fairybasslet]

These are all so pretty. I wish I could remember this stuff when I'm underwater. I just shoot and pray.

 

[Warren_L]

These are all so pretty. I wish I could remember this stuff when I'm underwater. I just shoot and pray.

Sometimes that works out just fine too.

 

[DesertEagle]

Having a superwide lens also makes a difference. The Achiles heel of the 20D is the low synch speed combined without a fisheye. It's such an awesome camera that there HAD to be something...

Good photos, Kristin.