Help me get started with UW photo/video (TG6)

[steinbil]

I just pulled the trigger on a used TG-6 with housing, tray and a wide lens (listing here). I have a little bit of experience with land photography/videography and post-production, but I know next to nothing about UW photo/video. Help me get started!

Use case
I have two primary goals for this camera:
1. I want to learn and experiment - macro, wide, photos, videos
2. I want to document - videos/photos of anything from training dives/drills to local shipwrecks, to nudibranches and small critters/fish

I'm not expecting award-winning footage, but I want something for my archive, something to show family and dive buddies, and something to learn and improve with.

Local diving conditions
It's dark, green, often murky, cold water diving around these parts. Limited ambient light. No schools of fish and colorful coral reefs. But there are some cool nudies and other medium-to-small sized fish and critters, and good amount of shipwrecks.

Lighting
I have a modest budget, since I saving up for tech and cave training, and since I want to do both video and photo, I'm guessing I should start with some video lights, and keep strobes on the list of things to buy as I progress. I like the idea of buying gear I can grow with (buy once, cry once), but I realize that with my budget and the going rates for high quality underwater lighting I might have to settle for something less optimal. Maybe a cheaper light would still be useful down the road as a focus light, if nothing else?

Am I correct in thinking I would need dual video lights for wide angle shots? Any recommendations for video lights that would fit my use case and the camera? Both US and EU sources are of interest.

Arms/flotation
What kind of arms and flotation do I need to make this rig nice and practical in use?

Books/learning resources
I love learning by reading books, articles, guides. What are the best books I can read for learning UW photography and videography? Preferably in e-book format. Other good resources?

Other tips/tricks?
What do I need to know, as I get started with this? What do you wish you had known when you started? I'm pretty comfortable with my diving ability, and I'm very careful never to disturb/touch the bottom, or any vegetation or life - but other than that I'm open to hearing any good tips you can give me.

 

[tursiops]

I just pulled the trigger on a used TG-6 with housing, tray and a wide lens (listing here). I have a little bit of experience with land photography/videography and post-production, but I know next to nothing about UW photo/video. Help me get started!

Land photography is VERY different from U/W, so minimal prior experience is not a huge disadvantage.

Use case
I have two primary goals for this camera:
1. I want to learn and experiment - macro, wide, photos, videos

Start with macro and close; lighting is easier.

2. I want to document - videos/photos of anything from training dives/drills to local shipwrecks, to nudibranches and small critters/fish

Keep it simple. Don't try and do everything all at once.

I'm not expecting award-winning footage, but I want something for my archive, something to show family and dive buddies, and something to learn and improve with.

People HATE to see long jiggly sequences with the camera moving wildly about. Hold the camera as steady as possible, even put it on a tripod. Move the aimking point very slowly, if at all. Avoid zooming during the filming except for very slow, and definitely not back and forth.

Local diving conditions
It's dark, green, often murky, cold water diving around these parts. Limited ambient light. No schools of fish and colorful coral reefs. But there are some cool nudies and other medium-to-small sized fish and critters, and good amount of shipwrecks.

Save the ship wrecks, go for the nudies, then the fish. (You can't highjump 2m the first time you try.)

Lighting
I have a modest budget, since I saving up for tech and cave training, and since I want to do both video and photo, I'm guessing I should start with some video lights, and keep strobes on the list of things to buy as I progress. I like the idea of buying gear I can grow with (buy once, cry once), but I realize that with my budget and the going rates for high quality underwater lighting I might have to settle for something less optimal. Maybe a cheaper light would still be useful down the road as a focus light, if nothing else?

Am I correct in thinking I would need dual video lights for wide angle shots? Any recommendations for video lights that would fit my use case and the camera? Both US and EU sources are of interest.

Wide-angle shots are tough if you need to supply the light. Really bright video lights are really expensive. Stick with ambient light for your shipwrecks, use the wide-angle lens (a 90-deg lens?) to get close enough to something (1-2m) so that avido light might illuminate it, avoid trying to balance artificial and ambient light (this is HARD). One or two video lights of 4000-6000 lumens can do a lot for fish and nudies.

Arms/flotation
What kind of arms and flotation do I need to make this rig nice and practical in use?

Get the lights out away from he camera to mitigate backscatter...so wide (i.e. loing) arms.
When you've got something assembled, use a luggage scale and weight it in water to determine flotation needed. STIX floats (or equivalent) are the cheapest, and are modular. Aim for being slightly negative unless you've got a tripod to use, then more negative is helpful.

Books/learning resources
I love learning by reading books, articles, guides. What are the best books I can read for learning UW photography and videography? Preferably in e-book format. Other good resources?

Alex Mustard's Masterclass and Michael Aw's Masterclass are both excellent; the former is available as Kindle, the latter may be out of print. There are some TG6-specific books; I have not read them. Backscatter.com has some terrific how-to articles.

Other tips/tricks?
What do I need to know, as I get started with this? What do you wish you had known when you started? I'm pretty comfortable with my diving ability, and I'm very careful never to disturb/touch the bottom, or any vegetation or life - but other than that I'm open to hearing any good tips you can give me.

Still photography is very different from videos. Pick one to get good at and work on that.
You will do a lot of post-processing....color balancing, trimming and assembling videos. Read up on basic video story-telling: the long shot to set the scene, moving in closer, then getting right up to the nudi. At first you'll be happy to just get some pictures that are well-exposed and in focus...but then you'll begin to want to tell a story with your video.
Consider paying a pro to dive with you and help you out.

Have fun.

 

[steinbil]

Thank you for the good advice. I'll respond to a couple of things to clarify and check if I'm thinking about this the right way.

Keep it simple. Don't try and do everything all at once.

Words to live by...

Still photography is very different from videos. Pick one to get good at and work on that.

Great points. Let me rephrase and clarify my goals a little. For learning and improving a skill, focusing on one medium and style is a good idea, and something I will probably aim to do. When I say "documenting", I'm not talking about anything of artistic quality.

Let's say I focus on macro photography. Would it still be trying to do too much if I also want to:
1. video drills with my team for skill review
2. shooting a wide photo here and there to document a sighting or practice fish ID
I'm imagining that for number 1, often there will be enough ambient light in the shallows, but maybe a video light would help in some situations?

Start with macro and close; lighting is easier.

If I focus on macro photography, would I be better served by just getting a strobe to start? Is something like the backscatter mini flash worth checking out? Other recommendations?

 

[BoltSnap]

Excellent Resources:

1. Backscatter: Check on their website and their YT channel. They have very comprehensive tutorials on how to use the TG cameras and what the best settings to use U/W.

2. I'd, most likely I will, take a course with Kate Jonker. She has a new online course for basic u/w photography based on the TG cameras. Check:

https://courses.underwaterphotocompany.com/tg-underwater-photography-made-easy/learn-more/

This is her IG page: www.instagram.com/katejonkerphotography

 

[Doc Harry]

Underwater is no different than underwater. Well, not much different.

Without a video light or flash, you're limited to natural light. No big deal, you just have to manually adjust the white balance before each shot. Get yourself a white balance card around 4x6 inches and clip it to your BC. I use a WhiBal card. Follow the instructions on Backscatter and the TG-6 manual for setting white balance (and other basic camera settings):

Olympus TG-6 Best Underwater Camera Settings - Underwater Photography - Backscatter

The Olympus TG-6 has been a popular camera for divers looking for a compact and affordable way to shoot both photos and video underwater. Here’s a quick look at our favorite settings for macro photo and video, and wide-angle photo and video. If you’re just looking for quick jump settings, scroll...

www.backscatter.com

Some people adjust white balance every 10 to 30 feet in depth, but it's so fast an easy that I do it before every shot.

I recommend that you stick with video for starters. Can you remove/replace the wide angle lens underwater? If so, then jump in the water with the wide angle. Remove the wide angle lens only when you see a video shot that requires a narrower field of view. You cannot do macro video with the TG-6 unless you can lie on the bottom and really steady yourself. Otherwise there's too much camera shake.

The TG-6 does magnificent macro photography. Get yourself a Kraken ring light for macro still photography. I have tried macro photography with my video lights, but the results cannot compare to what you can get with the Kraken ring light.

The TG-6 does great wide-angle video and great macro stills. But it would difficult to do both on the same dive. The optimal gear is different. So stick with either video or still photography for starters. Learn the camera. Then switch to the other discipline.

Frankly, I've given up on macro photography. The results are cool but it's boring and very labor intensive. I just do video now.

Here are sample videos that I shot with the TG-6, mostly with the wide-angle lens and natural light. Would you rather watch a video or look at pictures?

 

[BoltSnap]

Would you rather watch a video or look at pictures?

Most definitely photos not videos!!