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

[divengolf]

Martin Edge has recently revised his UW Photo book to include a lot of digital stuff. It's in it's third edition and is an excellent source for techniques, esp. the second half of the book. I don't recall the exact title, but something like Guide to UW Photo. Easy to find on Amazon.

Make sure that you get the 3rd edition.

 

[Tigerman]

IMO the color adjust, tone/tint/saturation is one toy that is being used too much. While the thread photo is a nice shot it has been overly saturated. I'm not saying that it has to be natural to be great, but a lot of nice shots seem to be overly manipulated just because they can ??

Reminds me of the old "posterization" of color slides for surreal effects.

Part of the problem with "weird colors" on computers is the fact that most people dont use color-calibrated monitors and adjust them "how they like" rather than "whats right". If the monitor youre editing on is badly set up, the result wont look too great on a calibrated monitor and if youre editing on a calibrated monitor theres no telling how the monitor of the ones viewing the pictures is set up..

 

[Backscatter::Jim]

Inon has wet mount wide angle lenses that allow for amazing things. I've got the AD-105 and I'm very pleased with it. They are no longer available here through standard distribution so there's only so much inventory left in the USA. But you can easily get them all via eBay. Just order with extra time to spare - as they will likely have to come straight from Asia.

The great Blue background has a lot more to do with using ISO 50 (or 80 or 100 - whatever is the best available) and proper white balance technique. But the foreground colors ... yeah - that's the flash - at least in this shot.

The photo of the tube sponge I took above was with the 105AD lens with a Powershot 570. The AD lenses fit a wide range, but not all cameras, so make sure you check to see if your camera is supported first, but there are alternatives for some cameras were the AD lens is not supported.

Backscatter has worked out an agreement with Inon Japan to continue to carry and support the Inon product line, so Inon prodcuts are available from us. We will also be providing service and warranty claims in the near future. Unfortunately Inon America is no longer involved with the distribution of Inon product. We would have liked to have them stay on as distributor, but this was beyond our control.

Jim

 

[Just another Cinderella]

I have always used aperture to control the water color.
SS 1/125 and adjust aperture depending on depth. f8 for 60 ft on a fairly sunny day.
Usually a stop for each ten feet up or down.
With wide angle I was taught to "paint" the foreground with flash and use aperture to control water color. Shooting up and out off the reef a little will help as does a bright day [mentioned above].
The attached was shot at 60 feet 1/125 dual strobes on a sunny day, f8. It was only cropped and no other processing, for the purpose of this post.

 

[kaes]

I'm using a Canon SD870 with limited manual controls, an Inon D-2000 & Inon 100-28AD wide angle lens (just got the strobe & lens and my upcoming dive trip next week will be first time to use both). I can set manually set ISO from 80 to 1600 (plan to set at 80). Camera has minimum aperture of f/2.8 at the wide end and f/5.8 at the telephoto end. Exposure is fully automatic but I can tweak it with 2.0EV of exposure compensation.

It is an IS camera so should I be turning off IS or leaving it on?

I dont think I can manually set shutter speed but I'm still looking. I believe installing CHDK will give me full shutter control and can set down to 1/1600.

I want to experiment with producing deep blue background color while illuminating foreground with strobe.

Can someone suggest how I should initially set manual controls and then what steps to walk through while shooting? I will be in Coral Sea with 25-30 meters being max depth.

 

[scottfiji]

hey Kaes, congrats on the new strobe and lens.

Until you install the CHDK, you can use aperture priority mode at F8 and set the exposure compensation to -1 1/3 or -1 1/2 stops, underexposing will give you the blue color you want. Play around with the exposure compensation, which will change the shutter speed, until you get the color you want. Also, try auto and daylight white balance, see which gives better results, because getting good blues also depends on your white balance. Adjust your strobe power to give the proper foreground exposure.

FYI, f/2.8 is the maximum (largest) aperture, it's easy to confuse the terminology.

there's other methods that also work, I'm sure other people will mention them.

hope this helps,
Scott

 

[kaes]

Thanks Scott, this helpful. I was planning on manually setting White Balance at depth so the camera is properly adjusted. I also have an Inon -.5 blue diffuser which is suppose to help produce more accurate/natural colors since Canon cameras tend to produce reddish-yellow hues.

Unfortunately, the camera does not have aperture or shutter controls just exposure controls. I will play around with exposure compensation and strobe power.

I think I'm gonna have to rely on CHDK to help me overcome the lack of manual options with the SD870 / Ixus 860 model. Using CHDK will provide both aperature and shutter priority (override) modes.

 

[scottfiji]

I was planning on manually setting White Balance at depth so the camera is properly adjusted. .

just remember, if you manually set your white balance with a white dive slate underwater, and then use your strobes, your subject will be completely red. Manual white balance is generally used for shooting ambient light.

scott

 

[Just another Cinderella]

Also the exposure for the blue effect will change with depth.

 

[kaes]

If I understand it correctly, I would leave the aperture constant and slow down the shutter the deeper I go (resulting in same exposure). Strobe will light up foreground so shutter speed is mainly affecting background exposure. I can adjust strobe intensity to get foreground exposure correct (or the correct effects).

I've installed CHDK and now have shutter and aperture control. It also allows me to shoot RAW so I can adjust white balance via post-processing if needed.