First underwater photos.

Took my housing underwater for the first time today, granted it was a pool and max depth of 6 feet.

But it still counts.

I'll try to provide a narrative of what I was trying to capture and how successful or not I was... Mostly not.

Trying to get the composition right while shooting underwater is tricky, I don't know how people shoot using just the viewfinder!

First things that I remembered when I got under (exhaled), was get low, get closer..., closer.

Forgot about adjusting white balance manually, was mainly in point and shoot mode, didn't adjust the shutter speed which I had set to 1/160s and went into macro mode occasionally.

Here are the results, some interesting some not so..

Cool objects in the pool

Moi, look my mask is on my face! Lol, forgot about putting it on my forehead (MOF reference).

Thought that the size and mottled coloration of the leaves, would approximate the experience of shooting nudibranchs or other such objects.

As you can see they're out of focus with little detail

Well in conclusion, I guess practice makes perfect and i've got a lot of practice to do.

But it's a start and I am quite happy about that B) .

Tried some over/under shots but those all sucked.

hey jamdiver

i just got the same setup, too, and won't have a chance to fully test it before we leave for puerto rico in early february. any and all advice is greatly welcomed.

keep up the good work.

matt

A few quick pieces of advice:

1- Remember to check that you're in macro mode when shooting objects at close proximity

2- Ensure that the focus area selected (green square on your LCD) is locked on the object you want (e.g. leaf, not wall).

3- Except in the clearest of waters (maybe), forget about using the internal flash for anything large, as this will cause backscatter and ruin your shots (see your pictures 3 and 4).

4- If you're shooting macro with flash, you can use Auto WB. For other situations, if you don't want to invest in a strobe for now, I suggest you get a red filter. It's cheap and will help in a lot of situations.

Good luck.

Mat

Thanks Mat. I use the canon powershot A75 and have had the same problems. Since i am the newbiest newbie at photography, could you explain to me what is the auto WB and should we use the red filter on any situations or specific ones.

thanks

Eric

Hi Eric, and welcome to Wetpixel!

White Balance is the system that digital cameras use to account for different colours for the light source illuminating your shot (e.g. fluorescent tubes can be slightly blue, incandescent lights are yellowish orange, etc.).

When you set the camera to Auto WB, it observes the scene you're shooting, and attempts to determine the best way to achieve neutral colours (e.g. if the main light source is slightly orange, it will add a bluish cast to the picture so that white appears white, not orange).

This system has limitations though, and cannot compensate for the heavy blue tint you get at depth underwater. If you add a red filter (or magenta filter in temperate waters), it is possible to regain natural looking colours using a custom WB (using a white slate, for example).

Main advantages:

- Small and compact compared to strobe system

- Much cheaper than a strobe

Main limitations:

- You need to redo the custom WB for each dive, and for each major change of depth within a dive (potential loss of photo opportunities)

- Filters cut out some light, so to compensate, the camera will have to use a slower shutter speed (potential motion blurring) and/or wider aperture (smaller depth of field).

- Filters work best when you have the sun in your back, since this is generally your only source of light, so this limits the shots you can take (e.g. not possible with sunburst, in cracks or caverns, under ledges, etc.)

Cheers,

Mat

Thanks for your advices

Jam, Wardric

Ya, definitely need the macro setting. It usually looks like a flower (at least on Oly's, not sure about Canon)

Using 160 is fine if you are shooting strictly macro and small subjects where the flash is the entire illumination of the subject. However, if you are using mixed lighting(sun and strobe, ie wide angle) then is best you also use the light meter. On Olys it is a number on the top right of the screen that changes from plus to minus as you move it around in a constant light source (the sun). The way to get that down pat is to move your shutter speed up and down until that +/- is anywhere from -1 to -2, that will give you a nice blue.

Just remember...shoot manual. SHutter speed controls the ambient (sun) light and fstops control the strobe.

Fast shutter when shooting toward bright sunlight, slow when shooting away or down

High f stop (f11-f22) when strobe is close to subject, open fstop when far away (f4-f8)

M

High f stop (f11-f22) when strobe is close to subject, open fstop when far away (f4-f8)

 

M

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Good advice in general from Mike, but the aperture settings on your camera is limited to F2.8 to F8.0 at most. F8.0 is suited to most situations with a P&S camera...

Jam, Wardric

 

Ya, definitely need the macro setting.  It usually looks like a flower (at least on Oly's, not sure about Canon)

 

Using 160 is fine if you are shooting strictly macro and small subjects where the flash is the entire illumination of the subject.  However, if you are using mixed lighting(sun and strobe, ie wide angle) then is best you also use the light meter.  On Olys it is a number on the top right of the screen that changes from plus to minus as you move it around in a constant light source (the sun).  The way to get that down pat is to move your shutter speed up and down until that +/- is anywhere from -1 to -2, that will give you a nice blue.

Just remember...shoot manual.  SHutter speed controls the ambient (sun) light and fstops control the strobe. 

 

Fast shutter when shooting toward bright sunlight, slow when shooting away or down

 

High f stop (f11-f22) when strobe is close to subject, open fstop when far away (f4-f8)

 

M

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Thanks Mike,

I dont have a strobe yet and use only the internal flash for close up pictures because for long distances and large images, there is too much backscatting. The problem I see when using slow shutter speed is you gotta be real still, I mean REAL still or else, the image is blur. (at least according to my few experiences). That is why, I use the automatic "fast moving objects" mode sometimes when I'm tired of getting bad pictures. But it makes darker images. I guess this mode sets a faster S. Speed. I'd like to use manual but I think I want to understand the concepts better at first. In my Canon A75, there is a shuter mode in which you set the S speed and it sets the aperture automaticaly according to the ambiant light. but if I do that without the flash, it almost always tells me that the actual light is not sufficient for a correct setting, at least indoor. I have yet to try it outdoor and underwater. Lots of things to learn