Hello everyone

I just got back from a trip to Raja Ampat where I tried several times to take split shots of reefs while snorkeling.

To make it easier, I used an 8.5" acrylic dome, put swimming armbands on my strobes arms, and also placed my housing on a swimming board.

Despite all this, I found it particularly difficult.

What are your techniques for easily taking split shots while snorkeling?

Thanks

Snorkelling or diving is pretty much the same for splits. You need the camera slightly submerged.

I thought the swimming bands on the strobe arms a super idea. I did wonder though whether putting the housing on a swimming board would make it difficult to submerge.

Sitting on the inside of a partially inflated BCD (so sitting on the BCD's back rest) was the method I'd found reasonably effective. You can play around a little to start with increasing the air in the BCD until you get the right level of buoyancy. You can also sort of rest on the BCD and push it down or angle it with your arms.

Sorry to diverge but I‘d like to add an issue that I have with splits - viewfinder? I have more or less a compact setup so only the lcd on the back. It is not only too dim but also „split level“ with half of it above &below the surface.I can‘t even see where the waterline is in the real frame.

Any solutions for that other than spray and pray?

Hi JB ;)

I'm adding my own contribution: I once had great success in a dive by reverting my 45º viewfinder to point downwards, meaning I was fully underwater, able to look into the viewfinder while still my head fully underwater.

I don't know if that's clear, but the advantage is that my own weight was fully supported by my own buoyancy / BCD, the floating arms were stretched downwards to have some light underneath - and some additional flotation, and I was able to keep my housing at split level by using my own lungs / BCD mechanism in those wavy conditions

Here is the result

I took a few minutes to draw 2 schematics to explain my previous post, hope it makes it clearer.

I already tried this technique once (cf. above), but I think I'll try it again.

I think my suggestion applies to split-shots done with scuba-diving equipments on (at the beginning or end of a dive), and NOT to the snorkeling use-case you're talking about JB, but I wanted to add my 2 cents :)

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Mathieu Cornillon