White Balance for shallow water

Hi all,

I guess this is related to the topic on wideangle ambient light, but I'm due to be going to the Seychelles later this year shooting whalesharks. That will be my first trip with my D200 underwater and am trying to decide what white balance would be best to use. I'll be shooting raw with a Tokina 10-17 and am ideally looking for the deep blue backgrounds I'm used to with Provia. From what I read, magic filters will be of limited value on or just below the surface and although I can tweak WB post shooting, would like to get as close as possible to a good WB at the time.

ANy tips and techniques appreciated though I would rather concentrate on composition and reduce the task loading of continual WB adjustments.

Cheers,

Andy

Hi Andy

Sounds like a great trip. I would suggest setting the WB to Auto. You can always see after the first few pics (at a pinch) or certainly after the first dive if that is the right setting and tweak accordingly. Its easy enough to vary the setting if you shoot RAW, as you are doing, once you have the images on to your computer - although I appreciate you are trying to avoid that.

Or maybe do a quick initial shore dive in roughly the same depth to see what works best?

i would try cloudy WB if you want dark blues on the back of the camera. But yes, can always tweak in PS, just be sure to shoot in RAW and your WB won't be an issue

Have fun!

The guys are right and you can adjust in PS if you shoot RAW. But to try and get a good balance shot without the need for editing.I use different techniques. I mostly use a white slate in front of the lens and do it manually, or on the sandy bottom, on your hand or into the sun.

All of these of course depend on the conditions, water quality, ambient light levels, depth, shooting up or down.

If you get a chance do a check dive to test it out before the big event.

Good hunting and I hope your WShark dives are as anjoyable as all of mine

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'm really looking forward to it, especially after testing my new housing - the results have far exceeded my expectations. Fortunately we have six days of diving (snorkelling) with the sharks and a spotter plane so plenty of opportunities to perfect a technique.

ANdy