Underwater photography

Phil Young

Phil Young

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Hi guys and girls.

I'm going to sharm in a couple if weeks with my camera and underwater case. I have done some underwater shots but not since I knew anything about cameras...

Last time I went I didn't shut my case properly and drowned my camera :(

Just wondering what settings I should expect to have for 3m or less (I'll be snorkelling).

Any sample pictures would be great too :)
 
shoot RAW. Underwater plays havoc with AWb. Shut your housing properly too ;)
 
get on eye level or below any fish you take, use a flash if you have one, even at 3m.
Have fun
doc
 
I'm taking my olympus sp-350...old compact that can shoot RAW and will definitely be using it (even though with xd cards it takes 10 seconds to record one shot!).

So flash even if its very bright? How come, I imagine to catch the subject and foreground more?
 
Phil Young said:
So flash even if its very bright? How come, I imagine to catch the subject and foreground more?
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At snorkelling depths you'll be OK without but it will make the photos better if you use one. Same as on the surface fill flash is very useful sometimes though and you'll get shadows from the surface.

Underwater depth does filter available light very quickly
 
Try with and without the flash. Certainly at greater depths the water filters out the red light so you need a flash. An external strobe is much better than internal flash as you don't end up lighting every particle in the water.
 
Here's a few I shot before...
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Phil Young said:
Cool. Well i'm not diving, last time I did in Egypt it was a waste, you saw more snorkelling and was more fun.

Cheers.
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WHAT???? I had to jump straight to the comment bit after reading this.... are you kidding??? I have dived off sharm and if you go out on the boats there is FAR more to see, I saw sights better than the great barrier reef off sharm........

your crazy :)
 
lmgculley said:
WHAT???? I had to jump straight to the comment bit after reading this.... are you kidding??? I have dived off sharm and if you go out on the boats there is FAR more to see, I saw sights better than the great barrier reef off sharm........

your crazy :)
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Different locations then perhaps.

I didn't see anything that justifies the money and effort of the excursion when diving but saw loads when snorkelling.

The other thing is the way they handle the diving excursions in Egypt, I really really disliked it after doing it in Dominican republic. It was a whole city that goes to.a harbour and then we all get taken to the same place. Hr was a horrible experience and just preferred snorkelling.

Sorry to have offended you lol.
 
Phil Young said:
Different locations then perhaps.

I didn't see anything that justifies the money and effort of the excursion when diving but saw loads when snorkelling.

The other thing is the way they handle the diving excursions in Egypt, I really really disliked it after doing it in Dominican republic. It was a whole city that goes to.a harbour and then we all get taken to the same place. Hr was a horrible experience and just preferred snorkelling.

Sorry to have offended you lol.
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I can get what you mean about sheer numbers in sharm, but aside from the numbers the diving is fantastic
 
Phil Young said:
Must be locations then because I didn't see anything more than I did when snorkelling...
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Its worth getting out ahead of the day boats if you can, but the straights of Tiran wall dives are reckoned to be amongst the best in the world,(if they can get a little scary) and many of the dives in Ras Mohammad are out of this world. But I do agree they get very crowded.
 
If you're only going snorkelling (why! ITs like alcohol free beer or caffeine free coffee!) then ideally RAW but failing that just a manual white balance just below the surface and make sure any internal flash is off. Not much else needed really.

For diving (far far better and you see a hell of a lot more) its a bit more involved.
 
Best way to dive Egypt is from the back of a Liveaboard. Blue O2 or Scuba Travel have some great trips that get you away from the crowds by diving the popular sites early before anyone gets there.

I've got a Canon IXUS 100 in a Ikelite housing and Inon DS50 strobe that takes some great pictures down to about 20-30m and even better HD video.

Looking to see how much it might cost to take the 5d MkII in was just scary :eek:

A few pics below from a recent trip to Truk

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You can get some great images if your camera has manual white balance, but if only snorkelling you won't need to worry about that. Best advice if possible is to shoot up and get as close as possible! My first upgrade was a wide angle lens, means you can get closer reducing the amount of water between you and the subject, makes you pictures clearer.

Agree with sharm having some world class dive sites, shark and yolanda, straits of Tiran etc.

Make sure you have fun!
 
One thing I should have said, being at the surface, try and get some pictures involving the reflection on the surface!
 
Great pics of Truk , love the prop shot and the unit too looks like a Revo ?
 
These where all shot in sharme whilst on a snorkling boat trip with my daughter, I dived for three days and seen some great things.
These where all taken with a Intova IC 10, just used the flash on the camera as me being the stupid sod that I am I forgot the bracket to hold the strobe.
Camera and case are about £100 so not bad concidering, and these where about 3 to 5 meters below the surface

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Hope these help you

spike
 
SpikeK6 said:
These where all shot in sharme whilst on a snorkling boat trip with my daughter, I dived for three days and seen some great things.
These where all taken with a Intova IC 10, just used the flash on the camera as me being the stupid sod that I am I forgot the bracket to hold the strobe.
Camera and case are about £100 so not bad concidering, and these where about 3 to 5 meters below the surface

Hope these help you

spike
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Very nice spike. thanks for sharing, I am looking forward very much now :)

Phil.
 
I'm back!!!

I was very impressed with my little olympus and housing, I'll post some pics later.

Definitely didn't like using the flash, it washed out everything...perhaps having a more intelligent flash system would have been better than the cameras flash (which I couldn't adjust the power output, although does sync up to 1/2000th!).

Instead I just grabbed ambient lit shots and was very pleased with about 5% of them after some heavy RAW processing.

I'll get some up later today!
 
Depending where you are, the snorkelling is also excellent in Sharm. I love snorkelling, but on a practical level, I find photography easier with diving gear
 
Ok here we go!

Finally got round to posting some of my pictures from my holiday. I also made a video (of which there are a couple of shaky shots that need addressing but it's up for you to view now anyway...)

Pictures:

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:'( Ahh, I have recently been told I have to stop diving due to health issues. I am gutted!
I have a full Ikelite setup for a Nikon D70, along with twin Nikonos strobes, and apart from shallow depths, where I would use a MagicFilter, I used flash every time.
Watch out for the rig on the classifieds soon :'(
 
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