Tips on my equipment

[adamnestle]

Im am new to underwater photography, well im new to photography in general. I recently became fascinated with it and im looking for general tips on shooting underwater. I just bought a G11 with the WP-DC34 housing and a YS-110a Strobe. I am looking forward to your responses.

Thanks, Adam.

 

[HerraduraDivers]

You choosed the best compact set-up in this moment and will have a lot of fun with it.
Use your pool and start to invest time in taking photos with different settings.
Build a scene made of glued on plastic toys on a 1x1 ft. tile and start experimenting with diaphragma, time and your strobe settings.
My Inon D-2000 works perfect using the camera in AV or TY mode and the strobe set to s-ttl while the camera in auto mode and the strobe in s-ttl don't work so well.
Use AV to control your DOF (depth of field).

Don't forget to have F.U.N.!!!

Chris

 

[Coop42]

Only thing I'd add would be to practice above water first! You mention that you're new to photography, so I'd concentrate on understanding 1) photography, 2) your camera, 3) your camera underwater, in that order.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[JeanYves]

Start shooting without the giant bulky strobe. Just use the internal flash. Then when you're comfortable and understand how the camera works underwater, then activate the strobe. The strobe is a slave strobe so it's not that easy to handle as a TTL metered strobe.

For the camera underwater it depends of what you shoot. Small stuff: macro setting, Tv mode, 1/100s-1/125s, Forced flash. To change the shutter speed underwater hold the shortcut button (upper left) and press the flash or macro key. The G11 dials are not available on the DC34. For wide angle, start in P mode flash off if there is enough light (should be OK on Oahu). Turn continuous IS ON as it may help shoot at slower speed but don't expect vibrant colors. Below 20ft, you'll get blue. But that can be corrected in Photoshop/Gimp. The flash will only lit a few feet so it's useless for a whale shark from 50ft. It's OK if you have something in the foreground though.

Remember the most important of all: be a diver first. Buoyancy control and air management are the first things that got forgotten when trying to get that perfect shot...

JY.
DigitalAquamarine.com
Point & Shoot Digital Underwater Imaging

 

[HerraduraDivers]

Adamnestle,
you may take nice pictures using the internal strobe, but only under very special cirumstances.
As you have the strobe already, learn how to use it and you will start to understand how to use it better.
The YS-110a should work perfectly set to DS-TTL and the camera set to Auto, Av or Tv mode while
you may have problems wit P or Manual mode.
Useful colour correction is only possible shooting RAW, but to have a quick view of your pictures
you may shoot and record RAW and JPG together. This comes handy when you have a slow computer or
no special software to quickly preview the pictures you have taken.
Later you can start to edit the pictures to improve the quality and eliminate backscatter.

Chris

 

[Mantadiver]

I'll second the practice above water first... You will want to know your camera very well above water becasue the housing only complicates the funtions. The more intuitive you can be with your equipment before it goes into the housing, the easier it will be to take good photos.

 

[diver 85]

Be SURE and know what the buttons on your UW housing are for blindfolded.....In the heat of battle, you'll not be able to look down & see(figure out) what button is for what......