Please helllllllllp - portrait sessions underwater

I am so thoroughly ocnfused. I'm hoping you can help me. I am a portrait photographer and am going to start doing some portrait sessions underwater. I currently have a 5d mk II. For lenses I have the 24-70, 70-200, 16-25, 50 mm, 85 mm all L except for the 50 an d85.

I am debating between a few different things. I honestly have no clue which way I should go here. I love my mkII and the quality I get from it, I think if I could get by in an outdoor swimming pool iwth natural light this might make sense. However the ease of a point and shoot (size and money) seems more comfortable. I'm praying someone can clear this up for me.

Housing for my mkII

G11 and housing

Olympus Pen and housing (I was told this is a p&s that would allow me to print 24x30 photos)

I am so thoroughly ocnfused. I'm hoping you can help me. I am a portrait photographer and am going to start doing some portrait sessions underwater. I currently have a 5d mk II. For lenses I have the 24-70, 70-200, 16-25, 50 mm, 85 mm all L except for the 50 an d85.

 

I am debating between a few different things. I honestly have no clue which way I should go here. I love my mkII and the quality I get from it, I think if I could get by in an outdoor swimming pool iwth natural light this might make sense. However the ease of a point and shoot (size and money) seems more comfortable. I'm praying someone can clear this up for me.

 

Housing for my mkII

G11 and housing

Olympus Pen and housing (I was told this is a p&s that would allow me to print 24x30 photos)

You need to decide what you want. The size and cost of P&S, together with some real nice quality you can get from P&S, may be more than what you need in terms of results for UW use. If you do not dive often, are only looking for photos of trips and prints it may be enough (I even blew up a 3 Megapixel print to 16 x 20 when the photo was exposed properly, and it was fine, though not "pro")

A housed dSLR, all other things being equal, will give better results, yet a P&S can be perfectly fine also.

If you are doing serious portrait work (selling things, getting assignments, etc.) then the dSLR (with appropriate lighting, no just natural light) is where you are going to want to be. Loftus, Cal, James and others do alot of great underwater model imaging and I am sure they can add more.

Note I also edited the title of the post to get some attention for you - Please Help is kind of vague and people may miss it

Yes I am a professional photographer and have intentions to learn and market this type of product! I don't/won't dive so it's just for a pool

I recently gave a workshop for Danny Clark - a Houston portrait photographer who wants to get into underwater portraits. You're pretty close to Houston right?

Anyhow, you already have the camera and lenses you need (16-35 and 24-70) so you just need an underwater housing and port. You can also get a "cheap" older flash and shoot it for some fill and to bring out colors as the natural light diminishes.

Let me know if you have any specific questions. You can see my underwater portraits here:

http://www.modelmayhem.com/12610

Cheers

James

Nice work James! I am actually not in Texas at all. I'm in Virginia, my last name is Austin

So what's up with the Ikelite housing? I can really only afford that but would rather have the Aquatica. I just keep hearing that the Ikelites crack and flood. Is this true?

I recently gave a workshop for Danny Clark - a Houston portrait photographer who wants to get into underwater portraits. You're pretty close to Houston right?

 

Anyhow, you already have the camera and lenses you need (16-35 and 24-70) so you just need an underwater housing and port. You can also get a "cheap" older flash and shoot it for some fill and to bring out colors as the natural light diminishes.

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions. You can see my underwater portraits here:

 

http://www.modelmayhem.com/12610

 

Cheers

James

No that's certainly not true Christi, the Ikelite housings are reliable and functional. The main difference and something that is important for you to consider is that you may not be able to fit the Canon 24-70 and perhaps not the 16-35 in the Ikelite housing ports. You should ask your Ikelite dealer or Dave Haas about that.

HTH

James

I am so thoroughly ocnfused. I'm hoping you can help me. I am a portrait photographer and am going to start doing some portrait sessions underwater. I currently have a 5d mk II. For lenses I have the 24-70, 70-200, 16-25, 50 mm, 85 mm all L except for the 50 an d85.

 

I am debating between a few different things. I honestly have no clue which way I should go here. I love my mkII and the quality I get from it, I think if I could get by in an outdoor swimming pool iwth natural light this might make sense. However the ease of a point and shoot (size and money) seems more comfortable. I'm praying someone can clear this up for me.

 

Housing for my mkII

G11 and housing

Olympus Pen and housing (I was told this is a p&s that would allow me to print 24x30 photos)

What type of portraits are you planning to shoot? Straight up facial cropped portraits or are you planning to vary things from full body to facial only? Are you planning sophisticated portrait lighting setups or just simple pool shots with natural light? This will make a difference in your choice of housings and cameras. For example if you are planning simple close in portraits with natural lighting and your 85mm lens, a simple Ewa-Marine bag will work. On the other hand if you are planning to mix it up, incorporate lighting etc, then a DSLR and housing is the way forward. I suspect you could start with an Ewa-Marine bag, and even use continuous lighting sources if you are so inclined, to get started.

waterworldimages.com

I'm going to mix it up, close up and full length. Starting with stuff in the pool and natural light to begin with due to finances.

I'm going to mix it up, close up and full length. Starting with stuff in the pool and natural light to begin with due to finances.

Then I recommend you go with your 5DMkII starting with 16-35 as James recommends.

You can also shoot some darned good video w/ the 5DmkII underwater - if that's something you want to try. I shot some at night in the pool a few weeks ago and it turned out to be very cool.

Cheers

James

Yes I am planning on doing a senior session doing fusion, have you heard of fusion? It's still and video mixed.