Raja ampat tg5 - feedback welcome

Hi,

At the end of last year I went to Raja Ampat and ever since I can stop thinking of it. I borrowed a tg5 back then and now have my own gear. Everything is shot while snorkeling / freediving, most of it just within 50 meters off the beach.

https://youtu.be/7PCJRhowV0Y

I thought I could share it here to get ideas on how I could improve my underwater footage. I haven't post-processed the video other than putting it all together.

Thanks!

106 views and no feedback

Nice turtle action. I would say a couple of quick pointers to improve your footage:

1) try to shoot up instead of down. . If you manage to get under your subject at a 45 degree angle you will get a bit of a better background (usually) and isolate your subject.

2) try to focus on one subject and stick to it. I know this can de difficult when there is a holy crap SHARK! moment... but there will always be another one

3) don be afraid to let your subject swim out of shot. It keeps your footage steady

4) dont bother chasing sharks.you will never catch them and they arent coming back to pose

5) red filters for the win

106 views and no feedback

 

Nice turtle action. I would say a couple of quick pointers to improve your footage:

 

1) try to shoot up instead of down. . If you manage to get under your subject at a 45 degree angle you will get a bit of a better background (usually) and isolate your subject.

2) try to focus on one subject and stick to it. I know this can de difficult when there is a holy crap SHARK! moment... but there will always be another one

3) don be afraid to let your subject swim out of shot. It keeps your footage steady

4) dont bother chasing sharks.you will never catch them and they arent coming back to pose

5) red filters for the win

Thanks for your feedback, I definitely appreciate it.

1) makes perfect sense, recently read about it in a book as well

2 and 4) fair

3) I think this specific point will impact me the most. It's obvious but I haven't thought about it and one of the things that annoys me the most is my shaky videos... That should help, thanks!

5) bought some lighting for my new gear, hopefully this will solve the issue partially and I agree with what you

doesn't this camera shoot 4k?

Footage looks good.

Indeed it does - my bad when rendering the video in the end (my old camera shoots 1080p so I actually must have chosen the wrong resolution in the end out of habit. That being said I still have the raw files )

also withe the shaky vid, a tray will help a lot if you don't have one already. make sure you get a 'v' shaped one that is wide enough to accommodate flip filters that can be flipper to the left fully without being obstructed by the left arm of the tray.

For this trip I only had the camera, not even a housing.

The camera a just bought is extremely buyoent so I'll need to add some weight... So prolly need a tray for the new one one way or another - thanks, good recommendation

what did you just buy?

A7r ii with a cheap meikon housing (can't switch between video and pics because of the housing unless I figure out a solution that can hold a button down)

28mm + 0.75 converter + fisheye dome

Got the set cheap from somebody from work so had to go for it

I took it out only once yet but had only ambient light - it's an insane camera but I make my fair amount of mistakes

Since I cannot switch modes for now, I usually only take pics (my preference)

Actually here are my first pics - would appreciate feedback as well (chumpon Thailand, nothing much to see but missed whalesharks by 5 minutes)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/grXRNHZ1wZYZzuxP8

Probably used too fast shutter speed which lead to high iso and a lot of noise but was worried about blurry pics. Probably did a bit too much of editing as well...

I dont see your problem. I take all my videos in photo mode and I ONLY do video...

get ready....this is going to get expensive for you

you would be amazed with what you can do with editing, so i would say just focus on composition in the beginning, the great thing about it is it is fun trial and error, particularly when you start to 'crack it' and with the proper research instruction you can make some pretty big leaps in a short space of time. liveaboards are 100% the place to do it as well. Macro without strobes/lights is going to be very tough, but you need to be closer and then closer and then CLOSER. Personally i think when shooting nudis that you want to be so close that you are worried that you are going to hear it squeak.

ISO is very tough as it isn't built with underwater shooting in mind. light just doesn't behave underwater. As long as you have a decent strobe (even 1) then you can set your iso to 200/400 and just mess around with your f-stops....that's the pain of 'auto' as it will jack your ISO right up and everything is ultra noisy...i would also suggest sticking with small slow moving stuff to begin with so you can take 10+ shots of the same subject at same distance across F-stops and compare them. I found that was the best way to get comfortable with 'oh. that's what happens when i'm that far away with that f-stop'

I would also say focus on liveaboards with some sort of photog component. you are usually only going to pay an extra 2/300 bucks and get a whole week of instruction and discussion/advice. The 2 mikes on the aggressor jim church are very good. mike meskelski would sit up until after midnight helping everyone edit photos and discuss compositon. What a great guy.. that cayman trip last month was my first photog instructional. i honestly didn't even know what iso and f stops were before then

i should add that i only started underwater photography in late January, (messed with gopro and tried to cut stills for a year beforehand) so i'm not an expert, but these have been my main learning points...

Anyway, here are some of my shots.. https://thefkproject.smugmug.com/Diving-EditedSigned when you click on the link it doesn;t work, so you need to cut and paste.

sorry, i don't know how to embed a link... so you will have to cut and paste the url. or check out my instagram : ministryofgiraffes

I dont see your problem. I take all my videos in photo mode and I ONLY do video...

do you have the A7R ii? by defalt it would not allow me to do so in any mode other than the video mode

[edit: found the setting I was overlooking.... thanks a lot! now the button works everywhere]

get ready....this is going to get expensive for you

 

you would be amazed with what you can do with editing, so i would say just focus on composition in the beginning, the great thing about it is it is fun trial and error, particularly when you start to 'crack it' and with the proper research instruction you can make some pretty big leaps in a short space of time. liveaboards are 100% the place to do it as well. Macro without strobes/lights is going to be very tough, but you need to be closer and then closer and then CLOSER. Personally i think when shooting nudis that you want to be so close that you are worried that you are going to hear it squeak.

 

ISO is very tough as it isn't built with underwater shooting in mind. light just doesn't behave underwater. As long as you have a decent strobe (even 1) then you can set your iso to 200/400 and just mess around with your f-stops....that's the pain of 'auto' as it will jack your ISO right up and everything is ultra noisy...i would also suggest sticking with small slow moving stuff to begin with so you can take 10+ shots of the same subject at same distance across F-stops and compare them. I found that was the best way to get comfortable with 'oh. that's what happens when i'm that far away with that f-stop'

 

I would also say focus on liveaboards with some sort of photog component. you are usually only going to pay an extra 2/300 bucks and get a whole week of instruction and discussion/advice. The 2 mikes on the aggressor jim church are very good. mike meskelski would sit up until after midnight helping everyone edit photos and discuss compositon. What a great guy.. that cayman trip last month was my first photog instructional. i honestly didn't even know what iso and f stops were before then

 

i should add that i only started underwater photography in late January, (messed with gopro and tried to cut stills for a year beforehand) so i'm not an expert, but these have been my main learning points...

 

Anyway, here are some of my shots.. https://thefkproject.smugmug.com/Diving-EditedSigned when you click on the link it doesn;t work, so you need to cut and paste.

 

sorry, i don't know how to embed a link... so you will have to cut and paste the url. or check out my instagram : ministryofgiraffes

Actually the liveaboard idea with a photographic component is a cool idea, I didn't know that this is offered on liveaboards (haven't actually joined any yet). I think I'd go for it. And yeah it doesn't matter if you are a beginner or not, your feedback and suggestions are definitely welcome

I really like your macro pics... maybe I have to buy a macro lens, looks like a lot of fun I must say