Photographing Silfra

Hey hey

I live and work in Iceland and get to dive Silfra every day, I have recently bought a new UW set up and was wondering if anyone has dived silfra and has any tips they might like to share as it's a tricky little place to get photo's that do it justice

I have at my disposal a Canon 60 D with a choice of Tokina 10-17 with 8 inch dome or Sigma 18-70mm F2.8 with dome plus two Sea and sea strobes

Any recommendations or tips appreciated

Cheers

Byron

i shot it last year with a 5D3 with the 8-15 FE at 15mm. don't really need strobes.

I was there in July - thanks to Valdi and Fraser for their tips and assistance.

If you are able to dive Silfra daily, you have a good possibility of finding the optimum conditions:

- a sunny day. Try different times of day to see when you get the most dramatic scenery that also shows distance in the clear water behind

- You might want to try shooting angles where you place yourself close to the edge of a sunlit/shadow cast area.

- Try shooting very close to the surface on a day with no wind to get either a mirrorlike or slightly rippled reflection of the scenery

- You need a model (one or two) in the scenery to give scale. Perhaps one fairly close and anotherone siloutted further away, in a nice position.

- Try to emphasize the airlike transparency of the water in Silfra, .e.g by showing empty water below the diver so that the diver seems to float in air.

- Try to utilize how the color of the rock seems to change beautifully from orange to blue. i.e. consider having some rock close to the camera. For example a scene from some shallow or narrow part towards the deeper blue views.

- You probably will not benefit much of strobes. However, the mass/inertia of the strobes and arms will help you stabilize your camera when shooting in ambient light. You could consider a tripod as well.

In addition to Silfra, I am sure you are aware of the many other water-filled cracks in Iceland...

Thank's for your replies, as far as equipment goes do you think I am best of with the Tokina 10-17?

I do not have experience with either of the lenses you are querying. But with a cropped mode camera, the 10-17mm range seems more suitable than 18-70mm for scenery work.