Taking pictures in Bad ViZ

[andydiver06]

We have loads of Species of fish, mollusks, 20 -30 varieties of corals around Goa, India but the viz is 4-5 m on a good day. The viz is bad due to high amount of suspended particles (Silt from two rivers dumping in the sea) . Whenever you take pics here it becomes really grainy-. Is there an alternate option to take some descent pics in such conditions.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I know some of the photogs here who frequently dive in low visibility utilize very long strobe arms to get some fairly agressive strobe angles on the subjects.

Average visibility near my place is 2-4m on a good day I normally just stick to macro in these situations.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

4-5 m would be considered average to good viz here.

Getting as much angle as possible on the strobe to minimize backscatter and shooting close up with a wide angle lens are the best ways to reduce the particulate matter visible in the image.

 

[Ishie]

We have loads of Species of fish, mollusks, 20 -30 varieties of corals around Goa, India but the viz is 4-5 m on a good day. The viz is bad due to high amount of suspended particles (Silt from two rivers dumping in the sea) . Whenever you take pics here it becomes really grainy-. Is there an alternate option to take some descent pics in such conditions.

4-5 meters???

Hmph. Bad viz, my patootie. I dive Monterey. Try 4-5 feet, on occasions.

Are you taking pictures with a strobe? The farther you can set the light source away from the lens, the better chance you'll have against backscatter. With bad viz, I try to do a lot of macro, but 5 m is sufficient for some decent wa shots, simply by separating the light source.

 

[andydiver06]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I do not have a strobe. Its built in flash. So now I understand the technique.- Strobe on a long arm away from lens. Does having UV strobe makes any difference ? I'm just a rookie so do not have much experience.

 

[alcina]

The number one thing that jumps out at me in the posted pic is that you are too far away. It's a beautiful shot - I wouldn't be disappointed with it! But you can see the noise and some of the problems with that sort of shooting if you want to get picky . In bad viz you need to get closer and closer again. To get wider scenes you'll need a wide angle lens. You may find that the WA blocks the internal flash so you may need to experiment with manual white balance until you get some external strobes.

 

[Ishie]

I'd long for that shot. I've only dived where there are moorish idols once, but found there was no getting any closer to them than that without a characteristic terrified fish butt shot.

You can also reduce backscatter by putting a diffuser over the flash until you get an external strobe (since strobes tend to be pricey), but if you do so, you'll need to get closer for full illumination. Before I got my strobe, I used an Oly 5060 with a diffuser over the internal flash and was able to get some cool macro shots.

That's an impressive shot, particularly for no strobe though.

 

[Curt Bowen]

We have loads of Species of fish, mollusks, 20 -30 varieties of corals around Goa, India but the viz is 4-5 m on a good day. The viz is bad due to high amount of suspended particles (Silt from two rivers dumping in the sea) . Whenever you take pics here it becomes really grainy-. Is there an alternate option to take some descent pics in such conditions.

10.5mm lense

Use twin 21 watt HID video lights, no flash

Set camera asa on 800

auto focus, adjust shutter speed to obtain proper exposure


I have shot many artifacts this way in caves with less than 1 foot vis

 

[andydiver06]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I think I need a lot more money before I can even think of having a HID Video Light or a stobe.
Instead I will try the following.
1. Keep Still at one place. Hardly breathe. Let the fish come to you very close or carry some shrimps to entice them. ( We have this bigh blue rined angels who likes to come close to your face and beg for food).
2. Set camera to 800 asa
3. Set diffuser over internal flash
4. Try out different white balance/ exposure settings

 

[discrepancy]

We have...20 -30 varieties of corals around Goa, India but the viz is 4-5 m on a good day.

Five metres viz? Bloody luxury...just live with it and be grateful you're in the water. That's diving, unless you're on holidays in 150' viz in Vanuatu or something.

If you want to take good pics and dive in crappy viz, all you can do is learn to shoot supermacro. Shorter water coulmn = better pics.