First Underwater pictures

[WetImage]

My settings for the shot were Manual mode, ISO 50, F5.6, 1/500, internal flash, daylight mode. If I shouldn't use this what do you recommend I use insteaad?

ISO 50 is going to give you good color saturation but at the expense of what? In underwater Photography lighting is your biggest challenge and its best to stick to higher ISO settings (in digital /ISO= film speed in film photo) unless you are going to bringh a lot of artifical lighting with you in the form of strobes and arms/extensions.

at the consumer/entry level for underwater photography its best to start out with what you see is what you get.... try this:
Turn your Camera's ISO up as high as it will go. With Film cameras buy some ISO 800.
If your camera has "aperature priority" auto program mode use it. Set the aperature to wide open (the lowest number)
Turn off the In-camera strobe completely - unless the water is incredibly clear you will just get backscatter from an in camera flash.

These settings can result in very slow shutter speeds and that can result in blurry shots due to shaky hands or a moving subject (generally below 1/60 sec) but as long as you recognize that the shutter speed is slow you can hold still and snap the fish when its not moving.

go ahead and shoot away....
SSRA was right about you being too far away but that comes with experience..a quick solution with digital cameras is to take a backup picture after you have already got your shot...just shoot it again - closer this time

 

[alcina]

My two cents for the Canon A series.

Leave your camera at ISO 50 for clearish blue waters. I hate using faster ISO speeds - too much noise that you don't need. ISO 100 tops.

Shoot in manual mode.

I leave my white balance on auto if I am not going to manually set it.

Start around f4.5 ish - this is pretty close to the Canon A's sweet spot for a lot of shots. I avoid wide open apertures where possible as I feel they can make the image look soft. I also like f 5.6. When I am going to shoot a close up, like a nudibranch or coral detail, I change to f8. It is a rare day I go below f 4.0.

Start at about 1/125 and work from there. 1/125 is fast enough to freeze most motion. If your photos look really light (the blues of the water etc) bump up to 1/160 or 1/200 ish. I have found that I need to go to 1/320 or so for really fast things like clownfish. As long as I shoot up, I still get a nice blue.

Remember, it is your shutter speed that sets the colour of your background water - the faster (1/500+) the darker the water will be. You can use this to create black backgrounds if you are close enough to the subject to get your internal flash on it.

Slow shutters, like 1/ 60 ish, can create blur either from the subject's motion or from your movement in the water (remember unintentional movement caused by the water). Again, for these types of waters dropping below 1/125 would be rare.

Learn where your internal flash works (close up!) and where it doesn't (far away, directly into blue waters). Then take shots with and without it to see which you like better.

The magic of digital - shoot, review, adjust, shoot, review, adjust, repeat as needed!

You're doing great - looking forward to more images!!

 

[WetImage]

Turn your Camera's ISO up as high as it will go. With Film cameras buy some ISO 800.
If your camera has "aperature priority" auto program mode use it. Set the aperature to wide open (the lowest number)
Turn off the In-camera strobe completely

Post script: Just checked the Canon's SPECs it will go to ISO400 and Aperature-Priority at f2.8