After reading a bunch of reviews, I just purchased a Fuji f810 and the Ikelite housing. I am extremely excited for my trip to the Bahamas in October to take my first underwater photos.
My question is can I get by this time just using the internal flash or is an external strobe a necessity? I'd rather not spend the money until I know what I am doing but I am looking for your advice.
Also, are there any good books/tutorials on underwater digital photography? I enjoy reading the posts here but I'm only catching the meaning of about 50% of the terms b/c I'm not a seasoned photographer (although I'm hoping this will be the first step ).
Thanks for the help!
John
Jack and Sue Drafahl have a lot of books published on digital U/W photography. They do have a new book that was just published that I saw at Beneath the Sea this past March.. Amazon sells a lot of their books but Im not sure if I saw their latest publication....check Google...
I would recommend the strobe!
M.
Thanks for recommendation Starbuck. I did find their book "Master Guide for Underwater Digital Photography" on Amazon for $23. It looks like it will be very helpful.
Thanks!
As Starbuck I would recommend the strobe but you can do it later when you know your gear better.
For u/w photography tutorial I can recommend the Dave Read's site, its not completes but it very helpful.
Like you I'm a total amateur I have an external strobe but as yet i take better photos with the internal. Maybe you could try both and find which suits you until you get more experience.
A external strobe will give you much better results but when you decide to go with the Internal first (wich is perfectly ok) you should follow the following rules:
1) Never set your strobe to auto! Allways decide by your self if you whant to use the internal flash or not.
2) If you use the flash get close! Closer! No your not close enough yet ;-)
3) When you shoot wideangle turn of the flash.
4) When your Camera supports shooting RAW do it and correct tzhe WB in the computer later. This will increase the quality of your pictures.
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