Your best beginner tip - post it! :)

[Courtneyf82]

Dont swallow seawater, it makes you crazy

 

[JTemple]

If you think you are close enough....get closer!

Nope, that's not close enough! CLOSER!!!

 

[PaulChristenson]

It's digital, experiment.

Shoot more than one frame of each scene/subject!

Absolutely!!!!
And always have several cards...I got SanDisk stock...

 

[PaulChristenson]

Nope, that's not close enough! CLOSER!!!

Is this close enough???
http://www.seapix.com/sharkeye.htm

 

[TheNitroxinator]

Shoot more than one frame of each scene/subject!

I'm guessing a beginner will have a PnS with an LCD, so to expand on this - it may LOOK like its in focus on the LCD, but you may find it won't be on the big screen (I've thrown away a lot of pictures because of this). When you take more shots of the same scene, your chances of actually being in focus go up.


Here's an art thing - the first thing any person looks at are the eyes. If you're shooting a subject with eyes, focus on getting the best shot of the eyes, your shot will be more interesting (crop it to get the best effect). The second thing people look at are the teeth, try to get those, too. That's assuming you don't get a fish butt, they move pretty quick most of the time.

Dont swallow seawater, it makes you crazy

We're already crazy, look how much we all must have spent for the camera, housing, and the openwater training in the first place, and then we're going someplace where we need external equipment just to breathe. Swallow the seawater so won't care how crazy you are, then you'll keep doing this.

 

[clgsamson]

this is a great thread...c'mon guys don't be stingy with the tips...more please.

 

[Wolverine]

one more tip.. keep the settings between different shots as similar as possible (eg use same aperture for macro and wide angle) ... nothing consumes as much air as task loading underwater. Not really a photography tip but it helps :

 

[sharky60]

Sharky---you reminded me: Try your camera before Topside. I swear I never even turned it on....how's that for airhead?

No, I don't think it's an airhead thing at all, I just think it's natural.

"I got myself an underwater camera! Let's go get it wet and see how it works!"

just the excitement of the new toy! never really thinking that it works on land also and maybe I should try and work it up here before I have to deal with all that underwater stuff too!

Nope, that's not close enough! CLOSER!!!

How's this?

 

[Jetwrench]

Know thy camera!! How it works, its features and how to access them, its capabilities and yours as well as its limits and yours! All done dry. Then get it wet and shoot til your finger falls off or the card/film is full. Read, learn, practice, read some more, learn some more, practice some more...repeat.

You might get one or two "keepers" which is all one can hope for. As the proccess progresses, the "keeper" count should go up. Above all, have fun. If it becomes too much work and the fun goes away, send all equipment to me!

Jet

 

[Cacia]

I am trying to get my keeper percentage up. Don't know if this is a good tip or not, but I will put it out there....sometimes I will check what settings the "program mode" will choose and using this as a baseline, go from there in manual.... since I have no "baseline" in my head yet!