Need Help!!! Shallow Water Dolphin Photos

Hi!! I need HELP.......I am going to Hawaii and will be doing a Dolphin Snorkel encounter. This will be my first time shooting dolphin's while snorkeling.......

I currently have a Canon 5D MarkII, Ikelite Housing, 8" Dome, 2-DS 125 Strobes, 17-40mm WA lens and a 15mm Fisheye.

I guess I have a few questions to ask.....

1 - Which lens should I use for this shoot?

2 - Should I shoot Ambient Light or Should I use my Strobes?

- If yes to Ambient Light - this is a new technique for me and I am wondering what some good settings might be to start with?

- With Ambient Light - should I use a Magic Filter? (I have one, but I have never used it......)

3 - I normally Dive, never really done much snorkeling.....any tips or techniques for shooting pics while snorkeling would be greatly appreciated

My Dolphin encounter is a week from today....I look forward to any and all advice........a Huge Thanks in advance!!

Love Photography! Love Diving! Love that I can put them both together!! tyanea

Hi!! I need HELP.......I am going to Hawaii and will be doing a Dolphin Snorkel encounter. This will be my first time shooting dolphin's while snorkeling.......

I currently have a Canon 5D MarkII, Ikelite Housing, 8" Dome, 2-DS 125 Strobes, 17-40mm WA lens and a 15mm Fisheye.

 

I guess I have a few questions to ask.....

1 - Which lens should I use for this shoot?

2 - Should I shoot Ambient Light or Should I use my Strobes?

- If yes to Ambient Light - this is a new technique for me and I am wondering what some good settings might be to start with?

- With Ambient Light - should I use a Magic Filter? (I have one, but I have never used it......)

3 - I normally Dive, never really done much snorkeling.....any tips or techniques for shooting pics while snorkeling would be greatly appreciated

 

My Dolphin encounter is a week from today....I look forward to any and all advice........a Huge Thanks in advance!!

 

Love Photography! Love Diving! Love that I can put them both together!! tyanea

1. probably the 17-40 given the one-off? nature of your trip

2. Ambient or strobes: Strobes will slow you down, and many marine mammal swim programs around the world don't allow use of strobes any way

You need a reasonably fast shutter speed to freeze the action, and a mid-range aperture to get good corner sharpness from your lens/port combo... so one approach with a today's low-noise cameras is to set manually... say 1/180th at f8 and set the ISO to Auto.

Magic would be a help for white balancing the RAWs later, but you will probably be within the sensor's range anyway in shallow water +/- 5m. Magic will absorb some light, so will mean either a relatively longer shutter speed, larger aperture, or higher ISO.

3. spend this week in a pool with your fins, mask, snorkel and camera, doing laps underwater with the camera out in front. Up n back, up n back... also ensure you are appropriately weighted for the dolphin swim. You don't want to be floating. are they supplying wet suits, or do you take your own? don't fall for the "I'll swim in my board shorts and a rashy vest" baggy board shorts create a lot of extra drag, something you don't need.

Have fun!

I concur with Darren but also have used the 15mm fe

Cheers and enjoy

Todd

1. probably the 17-40 given the one-off? nature of your trip

2. Ambient or strobes: Strobes will slow you down, and many marine mammal swim programs around the world don't allow use of strobes any way

You need a reasonably fast shutter speed to freeze the action, and a mid-range aperture to get good corner sharpness from your lens/port combo... so one approach with a today's low-noise cameras is to set manually... say 1/180th at f8 and set the ISO to Auto.

Magic would be a help for white balancing the RAWs later, but you will probably be within the sensor's range anyway in shallow water +/- 5m. Magic will absorb some light, so will mean either a relatively longer shutter speed, larger aperture, or higher ISO.

3. spend this week in a pool with your fins, mask, snorkel and camera, doing laps underwater with the camera out in front. Up n back, up n back... also ensure you are appropriately weighted for the dolphin swim. You don't want to be floating. are they supplying wet suits, or do you take your own? don't fall for the "I'll swim in my board shorts and a rashy vest" baggy board shorts create a lot of extra drag, something you don't need.

 

Have fun!

Thanks!! That's some great advice.....and I was thinking of no wetsuit.....but you have a good point on the drag......I will wear my own wetsuit. We will be doing some diving there as well so I will have all of my stuff with me. Thanks again.....will have to post when I get back how it all goes!!

just bring out the budgie smugglers instead of the boardies and you'll be fine without the suit if the water is warm enough. Modesty is not important when pictures are at stake

just bring out the budgie smugglers instead of the boardies and you'll be fine without the suit if the water is warm enough. Modesty is not important when pictures are at stake

LOL - Modesty is ALWAYS last on the list of important things when it comes to pictures I totally agree....

Modesty is not important when pictures are at stake

Hmmmm, too many lines to respond with and so little space to type in. With that being said, a certain amount of modesty may be appropriate depending on whether you are in view of law enforcement

and don't get too free n easy... we all know how "friendly" dolphins can get...

and don't get too free n easy... we all know how "friendly" dolphins can get...

yeah....I'll keep it "PG" no worries there ..... don't wanna scare the Dolphin's away .... friendly or not, I don't think I'm really their "type"

friendly or not, I don't think I'm really their "type"

Unfortunately, thats entirely up to the dolphins

Have a great time,

Steve

Don't forget a nice high shutter speed too, My one experience with dolphins, I set TV at 1/250 and let the camera do the rest.

Don't forget a nice high shutter speed too, My one experience with dolphins, I set TV at 1/250 and let the camera do the rest.

Thanks for the tip! I can't wait for Monday!

These were taken whilst snorkelling in Egypt. Not the best examples but give you an idea. No PP done except resizing if i remember correctly.

All of these were taken with the kit lens 18-55mm which isnt a very good lens to be honest and natural light. Unfortunately for me it was an overcast day and the iso had to be bumped up to 400 which isnt the best thing to do to a 350D. shutter speeds were around 200 250

Stew

These were taken whilst snorkelling in Egypt. Not the best examples but give you an idea. No PP done except resizing if i remember correctly.

All of these were taken with the kit lens 18-55mm which isnt a very good lens to be honest and natural light. Unfortunately for me it was an overcast day and the iso had to be bumped up to 400 which isnt the best thing to do to a 350D. shutter speeds were around 200 250

 

Stew

 

 

Thanks for sharing....those are great pics! Unfortunately I was not able to get any shots.....we did see some Pilot Whales and a couple Pods of Spinner Dolphins, but the company we did the excrusion with wasn't the best at getting us near the action. Thus leading to lost opportunities for any good shots. Still had a good time though....I always love seeing any wildlife in the sea!

What island where you on? Here in oahu, there is a an area that is known for dolphins in the morning, but once the tour boat comes they tend to leave. Dolphins are in control of when they want to be seen and are pretty fickle here.

...Unfortunately I was not able to get any shots.....we did see some Pilot Whales and a couple Pods of Spinner Dolphins, but the company we did the excrusion with wasn't the best at getting us near the action. Thus leading to lost opportunities for any good shots. Still had a good time though....I always love seeing any wildlife in the sea!

Shame, I guess it's brave to do just one trip on the water with marine mammals... you can get lucky... but it's often "you should have been here yesterday"

So my approach is always to try and do at least 2 trips, prefer more if you can run to it. You invest a lot in getting to these places, so take the opportunity to make the most of them!

The WhaleSwim photo trips with the humpbacks in Tonga each year are 8 days on the water, it's amazing what you get to see over that time!

open water encounters are always hit and miss. you gotta find the animals, but then they have to be curious about you to get an in-water encounter. two very iffy variables. it takes a lot of time and patience. one trip is nothing.

my setup is similar to yours. I would do the following:

1. use the 17-40mm lens unless you are planning on doing come creative stuff that need the fisheye

2. you say the water is shallow. if the clarity is good and there is enough ambient light (sunny day), I would go ambient for sure. dolphins in middle of the water column usually don't present a lot of bright or warm colors that need strobes to show up, mostly greys and blues. make sure to shoot sideways or up and don't shoot down. If you are shooting up, measure light (set your exposure) against the dolphins and not the water column. you might get some overexposure if the sun glow is in your shot, if so adjust your exposure to compensate. If you want true silhouettes then measure against the bright water column

3. Given that the dolphins would usually be moving relatively fast, I would shoot Shutter Priority or Manual. You need a relatively fast shutter to freeze motion and avoid blur nothing slower than 1/125. I would use auto ISO as long as the camera doesn't set it to anything over 400, otherwise set manually to 100 to avoid noise.

Also is you decide not use strobes, set White Balance to "Cloudy". This will give your more natural tones.

Good Luck.

Shame, I guess it's brave to do just one trip on the water with marine mammals... you can get lucky... but it's often "you should have been here yesterday"

 

So my approach is always to try and do at least 2 trips, prefer more if you can run to it. You invest a lot in getting to these places, so take the opportunity to make the most of them!

 

The WhaleSwim photo trips with the humpbacks in Tonga each year are 8 days on the water, it's amazing what you get to see over that time!

I totally agree....this trip was more of a business trip so I had limited days to actually have fun. Tried to make do as best I could with the time I had. Otherwise I would have loved to do more than one trip to get more attempts at getting the shot...

I totally agree....this trip was more of a business trip so I had limited days to actually have fun. Tried to make do as best I could with the time I had. Otherwise I would have loved to do more than one trip to get more attempts at getting the shot...

well if it's on business... great you could make the most of it!

cheers