Underwater Photography quick reference card

[redtail]

HI everyone, I am interested in compiling a quick reference that will allow me as a beginner to print out, laminate and take with me on a dive a reference card that I can glance at for tips. I would appreciate if you could help and provide some of your personal advise or tips when taking photos in particular situations. I understand a lot is going to ultimately depend on light conditions, fast/slow moving subjects, equipment, internal and external strobes etc. but I was hoping to achieve something like:

Macro - light subject black background: M mode, F8.0 speed 1/60 ISO xxx
Macro - full depth of field on subjuct F8, limited dof F3
White balance adjustment : each 5 meters reset WB by doing xxxx
Internal Flash/Strobe on SuperMacro: Set flash to slave
Bright background, wide angle: xxxx
High ISO = xxx conditions Low ISO = xxxx conditions


The above are not limited to what I am looking for but just some ideas, I could attach the information to the back of my slate rather than bringing along a 'UW Photography for dummies' book. Any tips you are willing to share?

thanks

 

[BIGSAGE136]

The following is thanks to Mr. Peter Shultz of Splashdown Divers. It has been a tremendous help to me, and I hope it helps you as well.

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gallery/underwater_photography/up_settings.htm

Safe diving

 

[RonFrank]

Forget the card, learn photography.

You seem to have some idea's on how you want to shoot. Go with that, and just learn from there.

There is no *right* way to shoot just about anything. There are however some methods you may want to use as a starting point. Ultimately there is No one setting that will work for any given situation.

Some things that most try to achieve.

Keep the ISO as low as possible.

Shoot RAW -OR- use custom WB settings (or both).

Get the exposure RIGHT!! RAW does not fix bad exposures.

Spend a bunch of $$$ on flash equipment.

Use stopped down apertures to gain maximum DOF.

Use the histogram to judge exposure, and establish baseline settings.

When using flash, one can use shutter speed to control the background exposure.

Basically it comes down to just visualizing what the camera is going to produce prior to shooting based on the setting chosen. This is not something that will be achieved with a quick reference, but rather with experience.

If anything a QR maybe good for remembering HOW to set some of these things on todays little wonders. My DSLR is much easier to control then my S70 where I'm having to remember the sequence of button clicks to do things like convert to RAW from JPG, and change the focus area. NOT intuitive like my DSLR which for most things has dedicated controls and for basic settings is much like any SLR.

 

[f3nikon]

The card is a good idea, nothing wrong with writing it all down. Mr. Shultz’s write up has some very good information.

Since you are just starting off, my tip is to start shooting in Aperture Priority Mode, let the camera’s great metering system take care of the shutter speed. Let the shutter speed “float” around to whatever aperture or lens opening you set it to. This will give you one less item to think about when taking a shot.

Try this before you get the camera wet:

Start off at the lowest ISO setting the camera has to offer and then stay at that setting until you find a better reason.

Aperture Priority Mode in bright clear waters, strobes set at half power, test subject (plant or flowers) at less than 2 feet, cloudy sky or afternoon background, start firing test shots at all the aperture openings. Pick out the foreground with best exposure; the background exposure should stay the same if the camera is working right.

Write down the correct aperture opening at 2 feet then use this as a jump off point. Smaller aperture as you get closer to the subject, larger as you back away. Bracket your shots not only in exposures but also in focusing, camera angles etc.

For clear water macro shots, strobe position right above the camera lens at a downward angle, almost level with the lens and as close to the lens as possible, hold this angle and position until you find a better reason to change.

Remember, the subject does not always have to be in the middle of the frame. Experiment, its not like you will be wasting any film!

Look at many UW pictures and try and figure out how the shot was taken, what do you like or dislike about the picture.

A good read, not UW pictures, but in my opinion the Best Nature Photographer. Great books.

www.johnshawphoto.com

And finally, DO NOT spend alot of money on UW camera equipment. UW photography should be fun not expensive. I am pushing for TECHNIQUE rather than equipment. Older strobes on ebay puts out the same if not better light than the newer expensive strobes. Keep the equipment basic.

Dive Safe