What's the secret to getting that deep blue color?

[H2ODoc]

Heading to Bonaire in a few days, and want to see if I can improve a little on my photog skills.

I'm shooting with a canon A620 P&S and have used it 3 trips so far. Pics are good, but not great. I really like pics that show the deep blue color that you see in diving magazines.

Howard4113 posted his fantastic pics on the coz forum, and this one is a great example of what I'm trying to achieve:

(*** hope it's OK to post a link to your pic, Howard4113!!!! If not, LMK. ***)

Is this even possible with my P&S? Is a strobe necessary for this quality pic???? Anyone care to share some tips to get this deep blue color?

Thanks!

 

[rmc77]

I'm not a pro myself but I do know a couple of tips that can help you improve your pictures. First, to get such colors you do need an external light source. Why? Water absorbs way more light than air... so, the more light you have, the better will your photos will shine. If you don't want to expend the big bucks on an external flash/strobe now, I would recommend you staying in the shallows and getting as close as you can from the subjects so that the internal flash can do the trick. So, macro pictures should be your choice for a while.... the good part of that? Bonaire is famous worldwide for macro pictures.
You need to start thinking on getting some wide zoom lens too. Along with external light strobes, these lenses will help you get the effect you see in this pic.
And finally, but not last, I do have a little trick to help you get a nice blue background in your pictures: set the Exposure Value (EV) of your camera to -0.7. That will foul your camera to take darker shots and a nice dark blue background will appear!!
JMTC.... I hope it helps you.

 

[H2ODoc]

Thanks RMC77! I'll try the EV setting. Isn't that the great thing about digital - cheap and fun to experiment!

I'd like to see if I can get the most out of my current P&S before moving up to more equipment, but I guess a strobe is the next logical step.

 

[Scuba-Stu]

I think the interesting thing about that photo is the fact that the coral makes the water appear more blue. Remember, contrast is key.

 

[herman]

You are not going to have much luck with a P&S getting the photos you want. Unless I miss my guess, the photo above was taken with a strobe, a wide angle lens and with the camera in manual mode. Full manual mode is critical to getting shots like the one above. Without getting into too much detail, the forground is controlled by F-stop and strobe while the background is controlled by shutter speed. Without the ability to add lenses and control both aperature and shutter speed, it is difficult to get shots like those above.

 

[Nemrod]

You are not going to have much luck with a P&S getting the photos you want. Unless I miss my guess, the photo above was taken with a strobe, a wide angle lens and with the camera in manual mode. Full manual mode is critical to getting shots like the one above. Without getting into too much detail, the forground is controlled by F-stop and strobe while the background is controlled by shutter speed. Without the ability to add lenses and control both aperature and shutter speed, it is difficult to get shots like those above.

That is a lovely photo --but--many P&S can utilize a variety of wet lenses that in some cases exceed the capabilities of DX format lenses, have full manual control of lens opening and shutter speed and flash output and certainly can use external strobes like the amazing Inon D2000 and could certainly take a similar photograph.

To get the background to go that almost purple blue you have to under expose about a stop for the back ground and use the flash to fill for the fore ground but that presents a challenge that strobes like the D2000 were meant to handle to prevent over exposing the fore ground subject.

That shot looks like it was done with a wide angle lens up close to the subject. Of course, it is all easier said than done, thus the skill of the photographer is paramount. I believe that the Canon A620 has full manual, manual flash etc so in theory should be able to do that photo, but, lol, you will need an Inon 100WAL preferably equipped with the Inon dome port. The Inon dome port allows very close focus, literally inches from the dome and the wide angle FOV of 130 degrees allows you to take in the entire subject and the large open blue background framing the subject. I doubt you will get such results with the camera's native lens through the housing flat port.

You need this dome port:

http://reefphoto.com/index.php?main..._id=32&zenid=33ab9051764dba00ecb63237aeb0d6d7

With this lens:

http://reefphoto.com/index.php?main...id=520&zenid=33ab9051764dba00ecb63237aeb0d6d7.

Which is why it is important that the housings accept these lenses such as here on my custom modified Ike/A570:

A little over exposed and a bit blurry due to my shakiness taken within reaching distance of the subject:

Again, over exposed in severely limiting conditions, I should have underexposed another stop, lens is about 6 inches from subject. If I had dropped it off another stop the back ground would have gone emerald green, the fish would not have been so--er--flashy-- and the pink subject would have "popped" better---next time--oh well:

Knowing what to do and actually doing it is the difference between an amateur like me and a talented photog or pro like the photo in the OPs post, but it is not the camera, it is me, my failing. The decreased tendency to blow out highlights that the larger sensors and RAW processing would afford however would be a help admittedly.

N

 

[RonFrank]

You may not want to just underexpose an image. Instead use the histogram to review the image, and properly expose the image. If you don't have a histogram on your camera, you can also review shots in camera, but that is less accurate. Just saying underexpose the image by X amount is not great advice as meters vary between not just manufactures, but camera models. Many cameras also have multiple metering modes, so there are a few variables. The Histogram is a good tool.

Water is not blue, it's clear. If there are a lot of particles in the water it may look green, or brown, or whatever, but those are particles, not the water. The blue is generally the sky. Looking at the ocean topside, the blue water is really the water reflecting the sky. On a grey overcast day, the water will appear... grey!

If you want your water to appear blue like in the image presented, shooting up will help with that, assuming it is not an overcast day. However, look at my avatar. The water is clear! With a lot of shots one wants exactly that because if the water between the photographer and the subject did in fact appear blue, the entire image would have a blue cast. That sometimes does happen, but it has more to do with the absence of red light which the water filters. The deeper you go, the more red light is filtered.

In the image above, the foreground appears to be lit with a flash, and the background is sunlight. That is called balancing light. The water appears blue because of the absence of red light, and the color of the sky. If you underexpose the background too much, the water will take on a purple or black color.

 

[H2ODoc]

....you will need an Inon 100WAL preferably equipped with the Inon dome port. The Inon dome port allows very close focus, literally inches from the dome and the wide angle FOV of 130 degrees allows you to take in the entire subject and the large open blue background framing the subject.
N

You may not want to just underexpose an image. Instead use the histogram to review the image, and properly expose the image. If you don't have a histogram on your camera, you can also review shots in camera, but that is less accurate. Just saying underexpose the image by X amount is not great advice as meters vary between not just manufactures, but camera models. Many cameras also have multiple metering modes, so there are a few variables. The Histogram is a good tool. ...

H2ODoc after reading this stuff: :crazyeye:

Gosh - there's sooooo much to learn with photography. For this trip, I'll try to improve upon what I have (try the EV, shoot up, adjust some manual settings, read up on the histogram (my camera does have that, but I'll be darned if I know what it means..... yet.))

I think I'll hold off on any new equipment until I understand more of what I want and how to get there!

Thanks guys.

 

[Nemrod]

What RonFrank says is great info, I use the old fashioned bracket method and I am using an external Sekonic direct reading meter, not the cameras meter. Sometimes things are easy to say and actually very difficult to do which is why I compliment the beautiful color photo in the OPs post. Most of my diving the last few years has been in dark water and thus I don't get to play with my camera and get it all figured out yet like I used to have my Nikonos III dialed in, in my minds eye, this one, not so, yet---wink, wink. The external meter allows me to see things in the exposure I just don't get from the camera, reviewing the histogram is neat stuff but there my digital fluency fails me.

I believe that water does have a color caste but that is for another discussion another day, in any case, good luck, hope it all works out.



N

 

[Nemrod]

Oh, I see, if you are using that square port Canon housing in this link, that shot may be impossible:

Amazon.com: Canon WP-DC90 Waterproof Case for PowerShot A620 and A610: Camera & Photo

If you are using this now discontinued Ikelite housing all you need is a Inon D2000 strobe and Inon or Ikelite 67MM threaded wide angle lens.

Canon A610/A620 Underwater Housing

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