Underwater Photography Notes

[driftwood]

Some on the board are tangling with underwater photography--after all, Belize is supposed to be the premiere snorkeling/diving venue of the Western Hemisphere, and there is no doubt a reason for that. So I would like to share a few observations:

 

1.) Caribbean water is beautiful and deceptively clear. You will generally get results as good as they can be got between 10 AM and 2 PM if you do not have a flash on your underwater camera. As light falls off the deeper you go, you may expect your pictures to become bluer and bluer for every inch deeper you are swimming or diving. Obviously before 10 AM and after 2 PM, the sunlight will come into the water at increasing angles, and the effect will be the same as diving deeper.

 

2.) Unless you are a professional with extremely powerful electronic flash equipment, your flash is not going to impress any sea creatures, and the range of your flash will PROBABLY not exceed five feet underwater. But it WILL "stop" some of the more rapidly-moving subjects, it WILL improve the colors of the more colorful subjects, and it WILL help your camera to give you an optimal image.

 

3.) Kodak and Fuji do make flashless underwater disposable cameras which are cheap and exceptionally easy to use. They use ASA 800 color film to try to compensate for the poor lighting conditions under the surface. There is no way to avoid "graininess" in a high-speed color film. The results can be satisfactory to those who are satisfied with the novelty of taking any photograph underwater, but they will never come up to most photographers' standard for "snapshots." You get what you pay for, but as always, any camera is better than no camera in an alien environment. When you have the film developed [by Kodak, anyway] you can order a Photo CD which you can put into your computer and manipulate the results to some degree.

 

4.) There are a number of digital waterproof cameras with electronic flash now on the market. These are designated "WP." I have seen very good results from a Pentax Optio WP, and I have read very mixed reviews of Olympus WPs. I do not yet own any WP camera, but I anticipate buying one before our next trip to Belize. Right now they vary from being waterproof to about five feet deep to being waterproof to about 25 feet deep, depending upon what the manufacturer has designed them for. All of these should be satisfactory for the snorkeler. Generally they have relatively large LCD displays (over 2 inches), as viewfinders are virtually worthless underwater, and generally you can "force" the flash--make it fire with every picture, whether the camera thinks it has enough light or not. There are reasons you want to force the flash which I will go into if anyone wants to know. These cameras are PROBABLY not so good for SCUBA diving, as you might well travel below the camera's depth limit without thinking about it until it is too late.

 

5.) Olympus in particular makes dedicated underwater housings for many of its "C" cameras. These housings are very good but they are not cheap. Almost all of the features of the camera are accessible via large controls on the outside of the underwater housing, and of course the camera can go quite deep without being injured. But generally the LCD display is smaller than it would be on a dedicated WP camera, and it has been my experience that to get photographs the lens has to be at extreme wide-angle, as most subject matter is in motion and will travel outside the frame before the shutter releases. It is very hard to judge where your subject matter is on an LCD screen underwater even when the subject is not in motion.

 

My experience underwater is comparatively very little, but I have been a photographer for most of my life; although thank heaven I have never had to do it for a living, I have done it professionally and have taught photography courses at the college level. So if anyone has any questions, ask away!

[Randy & Kathy]

Some on the board are tangling with underwater photography--after all, Belize is supposed to be the premiere snorkeling/diving venue of the Western Hemisphere, and there is no doubt a reason for that. So I would like to share a few observations:

 

1.) Caribbean water is beautiful and deceptively clear. You will generally get results as good as they can be got between 10 AM and 2 PM if you do not have a flash on your underwater camera. As light falls off the deeper you go, you may expect your pictures to become bluer and bluer for every inch deeper you are swimming or diving. Obviously before 10 AM and after 2 PM, the sunlight will come into the water at increasing angles, and the effect will be the same as diving deeper.

 

2.) Unless you are a professional with extremely powerful electronic flash equipment, your flash is not going to impress any sea creatures, and the range of your flash will PROBABLY not exceed five feet underwater. But it WILL "stop" some of the more rapidly-moving subjects, it WILL improve the colors of the more colorful subjects, and it WILL help your camera to give you an optimal image.

 

3.) Kodak and Fuji do make flashless underwater disposable cameras which are cheap and exceptionally easy to use. They use ASA 800 color film to try to compensate for the poor lighting conditions under the surface. There is no way to avoid "graininess" in a high-speed color film. The results can be satisfactory to those who are satisfied with the novelty of taking any photograph underwater, but they will never come up to most photographers' standard for "snapshots." You get what you pay for, but as always, any camera is better than no camera in an alien environment. When you have the film developed [by Kodak, anyway] you can order a Photo CD which you can put into your computer and manipulate the results to some degree.

 

4.) There are a number of digital waterproof cameras with electronic flash now on the market. These are designated "WP." I have seen very good results from a Pentax Optio WP, and I have read very mixed reviews of Olympus WPs. I do not yet own any WP camera, but I anticipate buying one before our next trip to Belize. Right now they vary from being waterproof to about five feet deep to being waterproof to about 25 feet deep, depending upon what the manufacturer has designed them for. All of these should be satisfactory for the snorkeler. Generally they have relatively large LCD displays (over 2 inches), as viewfinders are virtually worthless underwater, and generally you can "force" the flash--make it fire with every picture, whether the camera thinks it has enough light or not. There are reasons you want to force the flash which I will go into if anyone wants to know. These cameras are PROBABLY not so good for SCUBA diving, as you might well travel below the camera's depth limit without thinking about it until it is too late.

 

5.) Olympus in particular makes dedicated underwater housings for many of its "C" cameras. These housings are very good but they are not cheap. Almost all of the features of the camera are accessible via large controls on the outside of the underwater housing, and of course the camera can go quite deep without being injured. But generally the LCD display is smaller than it would be on a dedicated WP camera, and it has been my experience that to get photographs the lens has to be at extreme wide-angle, as most subject matter is in motion and will travel outside the frame before the shutter releases. It is very hard to judge where your subject matter is on an LCD screen underwater even when the subject is not in motion.

 

My experience underwater is comparatively very little, but I have been a photographer for most of my life; although thank heaven I have never had to do it for a living, I have done it professionally and have taught photography courses at the college level. So if anyone has any questions, ask away!

 

Dwood,

I came looking around for you, thanks for the effort. You did answer several questions for me. I don't expect that I am going to cause any professional photographers to go shaking in their boots, but I do want to try to eliminate mistakes or to give myself every chance of getting some good underwater shots. I am brand new to underwater anything, so I want to try to do those things right and it is helpful when you and others post your experiences here. Next time I will probably try the inexpensive underwater flash camera and then compare those pictures to the ones taken previously.

Again, thanks for the tips given here, I am sure that others will learn something that is helpful to them also.

Randy

[driftwood]

Thanks for dropping in, Randy!

 

Obviously this topic is not central to the concerns of most people on this board, but as I have learned by a sufficient number of disappointments what little I have learned, I hope others may benefit from my ignorance.

 

As with SCUBA diving, preparation before entering the water is essential to success. Basic to all photography these days is fresh batteries, or freshly-charged batteries; of course it seems obvious in the comfort of your living room, but it will be much easier to change out or charge batteries the night before your excursion than when you are rolling around the bottom of a boat. With digital cameras, EVERY function is dependent on the batteries.

 

Preset anything you can preset on your camera. Open your aperture to its widest stop--f/2 or f/4.5, for example, rather than f/8 or f/11--let the camera adjust the shutter speed [="aperture preferred" or "AP" or "A" on some cameras]. "Force" the flash--another good reason to be sure you have fresh batteries. Pull back the zoom lens to its widest angle [where everything is as small as you can make it]--you may be able to adjust it when you are under water, but more likely you will find it is too much trouble and subjects--or you--are moving too fast.

 

Everyone wants you to wear a flotation device: it is to their advantage to return you to your ship or hotel alive: the tip is bigger: from your point of view, of course, you are still alive, and perhaps trying to "swim down" in snorkeling has proved so difficult with a float that it has saved your camera from going too deep. Currents are surprising and generally unpredictable; it doesn't take long to get exhausted if you can't just float. Don't forget to look up out of the water frequently--there is a good chance (as fascinating as it is under the surface) that you have moved or been moved some distance from your boat in what seems like a short period of time. Tour operators watch out very carefully, but they may have several people in need of assistance at the same time.

 

As with surface photography, watch your frame: what you see is what you will get--or not get. If that last fish shot past you, wait for the next--no point in taking empty water. There will be plenty of shots of sand as it is. Often there are attractive coral formations, or sea fans, or even live seashells. Friendly reef squid may line up to watch you--they are very attractive, but difficult to photograph when they are on the move. There have been times when I was sure a fish was intentionally torturing me--the more I wanted his picture, the more cleverly elusive he became. Opportunity is the secret--you WILL have opportunities. Just be very patient and still. You begin to notice things after a while--bottom-feeders such as cowfish, for example, that have remained motionless until they were satisfied you were not a predator. Take your time.

 

And plan to have fun, because you will--and with luck, you will have some impressive pictures as well!

[Randy & Kathy]

Driftwood,

Thanks for the additional tips, now I just have to try to remember all of these. The ones regarding deep water photography will not really apply to me. I have a couple of issues that I have had to deal with.

1) I have no problem standing in the water as long as the water does not get any higher than......oh......., say maybe my upper lip, therefore I will be the one wearing the flotation vest. Then I discovered this stuff called snorkeling equipment. OMG, I found that I could put the mask on and that I then could actually force myself to open my eyes while under water, and if I allow myself to get deep enough so that the water is up to my forehead...............wow, that I can actually breath through this tube. Whodathunk it?

2) Due to my having several ear aches when I was a kid I now have scar tissue on my eardrums. When I was younger the tissue was more pliable and not a problem, but the older that I get the more rigid that tissue is and I now can't fly in an airplane and I can't dive under the water more than about 1 foot deep due to the pressure problems that become severe pain. I guess that I will leave the deep underwater pictures to the professional photographers and I will just paddle around on the surface and do what I can from there.

I'm sure that there will be others here that will read your suggestions and be able to make use of the information too. Thanks again for all that you have supplied to us here.

Randy

[driftwood]

Hi Randy!

 

As usual I seem to have killed off questions before they were asked--perhaps my "reminders" were more to myself after all! One quickly discovers the difference between professional photographers using professional equipment underwater, and pictures one can take with the equipment the rest of us have or are likely to have. While I have envied the SCUBA divers their freedom of movement in the water (as well for the most part as their wealth and youth), I have enjoyed snorkeling immensely, to the point of obtaining roaring sunburns when I have carelessly and ignorantly neglected to slather on enough sunblocker. SCUBA divers have an enormous amount of information--and equipment--they have to keep track of just to ensure their health and safety, and adding a camera to the mix calls for a pretty good multitasker! The rest of us will always benefit from looking around for some good postcards. And a useful book I have found is Reef Fishes, Corals and Invertebrates of the Caribbean: A Diver's Guide, by Elizabeth and Lawson Wood. The pictures are good (and professional), the layout is good, and it will give you more information on each creature than you will need . . . . I bought my copy in St. Maarten, I think, but if you want it your local bookstore can get it for you. Published by Passport Books.

 

But staying at or near the surface as a snorkeler has a lot of advantage for those of us who are intrinsically against drowning or getting the "bends," or with ear problems or energy problems which keep us from deeper diving. It does force us to think of other things--seeking subject matter LARGE enough to show up in our picture, for example, or trying to compose SCENIC views underwater--what angle shall I attempt with that school of fish? Will my picture of the brain coral look better with or without the inclusion of the staghorn or sea fan to its left? The good news is that the nearer the surface, of course, the more light is available to supplement our weakened flash equipment, and even our eyes benefit from more light; and the less likely it is that we will accidentally exceed the depth our camera is designed for and spring a leak or implode.

 

I recommend every snorkeler put on one of those floats, but unless your tour captain requires it, do not inflate it at all unless you find yourself in a "driftaway" situation, as even a small amount of air will keep you bobbing on the surface and having more trouble holding the camera steady than you might want. You WILL naturally float; the flotation device is meant to protect you if you get into a situation where you need to use more energy and time to get back to a safe place. When you enter the water all this seems rather silly, but who would have imagined the governor of New Jersey would not have buckled his seat belt? So I mention the flotation device to all snorkelers as another good idea whose time has come. No regrets!

 

If anyone has a particular question, he or she may write me at dreynolds@aol.com anytime. I don't really want to use up the board as I have--I just thought some of this would be useful to someone! :rolleyes: