Dive photos from this weekend

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

It's a Sony DSCS60. It was a camera I had and decided to see if they made an cases for it. Luckily Ikelite did, but to this day, I haven't found anyone else that uses it to shoot under water.
The camera falls a bit short of features that most of the preferred cameras have, but I figured it would be good enough for me to find out if I would really like shooting pics under water, which I do. At some point in the near future, I'll be doing an upgrade.

Wow its hard to believe those awesome pics came from that camera :11: That is similar to my camera. It’s small snap and shoot too. It’s a cannon though. It has an underwater setting for it but I am still getting use to when to use flash and when not to use flash. I don’t have a strobe or anything, just the camera. I am hoping once I get better to invest in a decent camera but I just bought a dry suit and new fins so it might be a while

Thanks
Stacy

 

[Fastmarc]

Yep, a good strobe is on my list of things to get as well. The internal flash just isn't enough. There were so many good shots I just had to pass up.

 

[Fastmarc]

One more.

 

[rjsimp]

Very impressive Marc!

From what I remember when you first posted some shots and were asking for ideas, you definitely stepped it up several notches! I really love these shots, good color and amazing color from the internal flash. Really shows how good it can be for those really close up shots!

I am so jealous that you are able to go diving so often.. I am land locked and have to make a real trip out of going diving and shooting! I can dive through yours and others photos though!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jamdiver]

Hey Jam.
I took these in between Oracabessa and Pt. Maria.
I dived Pt Antonio once. You are right, it is very nice. Looking forward to getting back down there. Only problem with down there is that the drive is a little too long to do 2 dives and get back before dark without having to leave very early in the morning.

I hear you.... depends on how you plan the dives though, try and get a computer and cut that surface interval down to a reasonable time...
Next time you're down that side ask Benton to take you to 'Trident wall', that reef will blow your mind :14:

 

[Fastmarc]

Thanks Rich.
The advice and links to stuff online you all provided really helped a lot. Plus, being able to dive frequently helps with the practice.

 

[Fastmarc]

Next time you're down that side ask Benton to take you to 'Trident wall', that reef will blow your mind :14:

I will do that. He took us out the last time. My dive buddy is a long time member of the JSDC (and the JSAC) and apparantly they have been using him for a long time. We dove just off the point of that 'hip strip', which was nice, but I'll see if I get us down there to do that Trident dive.
I do use a computer, so getting in 2 dives isn't the problem. It's just that it would be a little longer day than normal, but what the heck, if the diving is good, who will notice.

 

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

Yep, a good strobe is on my list of things to get as well. The internal flash just isn't enough. There were so many good shots I just had to pass up.

How can you tell when you should use a flash and when not to? I found that some of my pictures would have been nicer but the flash actually washed the picture out like this but I did use photo shop to get rid of some of the white off the fish.

This one I didn’t use a flash and it turned out pretty good

Now this one I used a flash and it turned out great. Little guy playing in my buddy's bubbles.

So you can see I have no idea when to use flash and when not too. Sometimes I wouldn’t use it and the picture turned out awful, blurry or too dark and other times i used the flash and it would be washed out and loose all the bright color but yet sometimes it did work. So what's the trick in knowing when to use and not to use the flash?
Thanks for the tips
Stacy

 

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

Another question Marc: I noticed that every shot that we did close up. Trying to get those cool close shots of small stuff like you posted. All of ours turned out blurry. For some reason there is a trick to doing the close, close up pictures. Any tips for those types of shots? I have the underwater feature set on the camera but not sure what more to do.

Thanks
Stacy

 

[rjsimp]

Another question Marc: I noticed that every shot that we did close up. Trying to get those cool close shots of small stuff like you posted. All of ours turned out blurry. For some reason there is a trick to doing the close, close up pictures. Any tips for those types of shots? I have the underwater feature set on the camera but not sure what more to do.

Thanks
Stacy

The general idea is if you are doing wide angle, you can shoot a slower shutter speed, even down to 1/60 if necessary because the movement is not as noticeable. However, when you are going to shoot close up macro, the shutter speed needs to be much faster (1/160 to 1/250 or higher if your camera allows sync speeds higher). This is because any movement in macro is a huge movement, so you need to have the high shutter speed. Also with macro, you need to very small aperture setting to get the depth of field to be as much as you can. For example, if you shoot a macro shot at 1/250 and an F 2.8, there will be a very narrow range of the picture actually in focus. However, if you shoot at a 1/200 and a very high F stop (F-22 on my camera), you will get a greater DOF and more in focus as well as more detail around the subject.

Obviously with those kind of settings, macro is going to require a strobe or internal flash. I have heard of some shooting with a dive light and that is possible too, however, it will probably not allow you to go to those settings by itself.