I am looking to get a bit into digital photography (and video) and am hoping eventually to be able to shoot cold-water wrecks. I live in Boston, MA and while we go get good visibility in the water, its obviously not what anyone would call "great". If I am planning to shoot wide-angle (something like these, which are pictures of local wrecks), what are the primary factors that I need to consider?
In other words, is more light the key? Are longer arms the key? I really am a beginner and am looking for all help.
Thanks as always. You have a great crew here.
I can think of at least 2 things that will help:
1) The widest possible lens with a short focusing distance. This help minimise the water between you and your subject.
2) A camera with low noise at high ISO. Using high ISO will help keep camera settings within reason, and also cut down on strobe power (i.e. potential backscatter).
You can check out the photos I took last weekend on a wreck (end of 1st page to beginning of 3rd page):
Definitely not cold water (28ºC ), but strong current and low viz (<5m). The fisheye and low strobe power really helped here.
Hi Mathieu
What sort of power settings did you use? And which camera settings?
The wreck was at 35m to 40m, and it was late in the day. This plus the bad visibility meant little light, available, so most of the shots were taken at around 1/60s (I've successfully gone down as low as 1/15s) and F4.0. I focused on the nearest object and the 10.5mm kept everything behind in focus. Strobe power (2x Inon D2000W) was close to the minimum thanks to the large aperture.
), but strong current and low viz (<5m). The fisheye and low strobe power really helped here..jpg.857dbbfbdc4d79d9c6ebf7b4ba96ed1b.jpg)
