Tips to improve buoyancy.

During my last trip to Bali I brought a camera to make some photos of my sitings under water. After the first dive I realized that I did barely have a single sharp photo, talked to the guide and he told me to be more calm and slow and keep much more focus on my buoyancy. During the first dive I just tried to swim down/up or to whatever thing I wanted to photo and force myself to stay there resulting in that I was not laying still and the pictures was not very sharp. I also scared a lot of my objects away with my movements and stirred up a lot of silt.

During the next coming dives I focused much more on being neutrally buoyant and to approach my targets much slower and more calm resulting in some really good pictures and best of all a much better buoyancy control both when taking photos but also in general with and without the camera all thanks to me wanting to take sharp pictures.

This is a really good way specially for divers like me that cannot go out for practice at any time but need to improve my skills during expensive dive vacations where I do not want to lay at the bottom practicing this kind of skills but rather swim around looking at things using my short vacation time to the most!

So bring a camera and improve your buoyancy and have fun at the same time !

Just like you said, the best way to improve buoyancy is practise.
And the second best way is practise.

Keep on shooting (pictures of course)

martinskarin:

During my last trip to Bali I brought a camera to make some photos of my sitings under water. After the first dive I realized that I did barely have a single sharp photo, talked to the guide and he told me to be more calm and slow and keep much more focus on my buoyancy. During the first dive I just tried to swim down/up or to whatever thing I wanted to photo and force myself to stay there resulting in that I was not laying still and the pictures was not very sharp. I also scared a lot of my objects away with my movements and stirred up a lot of silt.

During the next coming dives I focused much more on being neutrally buoyant and to approach my targets much slower and more calm resulting in some really good pictures and best of all a much better buoyancy control both when taking photos but also in general with and without the camera all thanks to me wanting to take sharp pictures.

This is a really good way specially for divers like me that cannot go out for practice at any time but need to improve my skills during expensive dive vacations where I do not want to lay at the bottom practicing this kind of skills but rather swim around looking at things using my short vacation time to the most!

So bring a camera and improve your buoyancy and have fun at the same time !

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The only difference between you and the nightmare newbie that many of us dread diving with is that you are self-aware enough to realize what you're doing. Good for you. Now stop doing it; leave the camera at home.

I understand your reluctance to devote dive time to practice--may I suggest some pool time, if possible? A pool is a great place to sort out your buoyancy--it has a nice flat bottom, the water is shallow (making buoyancy more of a challenge and less of a risk), and it's a lot cheaper than a coral reef. See if you can hover effortlessly 30 cm off the bottom and parallel to it.

You can enjoy your vacation dives without your camera. In fact, the best dive I have had recently was one where my camera battery died--on that same reef in Tulamben. I spent most of the dive closely watching an octopus hunt by engulfing a coral head with its body, grabbing some food, and then moving on to the next one. I probably would have missed it if I'd had my head in a macro shot.

Many new divers are in such a hurry to have some photos to show off that they jump in with no dive skills and no photography skills, with predictable results. Leave your camera at home for a while, and concentrate on your buoyancy and just enjoying your dives. You'll probably find that you see more of the reef without the distraction of a camera. And you'll be a better photographer and diver when you finally do bring the camera.

Just to reinforce what the others have said- I would leave the camera behind and get more practice so that neutral buoyancy and good air consumption become second nature. I don't know if you can do this in Shanghai- but I am also landlocked but some people in the area practice thir skills in flooded quarries nearby. Are you already an accomplished photographer on land?

As a newbie as well, calming down and waiting for the right shot made a world of difference for me; I also found that my experience and training in handguns helped me to steady my shots - slow, steady pressure, don't rush it, etc.
And, like everything else, practice, practice, practice!

KevinL

shmuggy:

Just to reinforce what the others have said- I would leave the camera behind and get more practice so that neutral buoyancy and good air consumption become second nature. I don't know if you can do this in Shanghai- but I am also landlocked but some people in the area practice thir skills in flooded quarries nearby. Are you already an accomplished photographer on land?

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My photography skills is probably good enough, my DSLR is usually in my hand I know how to use it. Takes many thousand pictures every year and I put a lot effort in knowing how to use the camera and what the camera needs me to do with it to make a good picture. I am lazy on uploading but here are some older pics Flickr: martin.skarin's Photostream

There is a dive shop here and they have access to a pool. I do not know if they bring people along for self practice of if they do some practice sessions other than course dives tho. Will ask next time I´m there, never thought of asking them actually.

The only difference between you and the nightmare newbie that many of us dread diving with is that you are self-aware enough to realize what you're doing.

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I am definatly no nightmare newbie, despite only having 21 logged dives I feel quite good in the water and got some good words from several people and was asked to dive together with some other very skilled guys diving without guide at my last trip I guess they would not bring me if it was a nightmare. I know my limits and think I got all the basic skills I got figured out pretty well, just need to fine tune them the camera makes me more observant and focused on my buyoancy and helps me with this. But yes, I do not bring it evey time (just as I do not bring my camera on land all the time), I strongly aggree with you that one see things in two very different ways having camera and not having it.

And some pool-time would definatly also help me improving faster, I will ask if the local shop can bring me. I am very eager to improve my skills and learn new skills like shooting SMB and other things that is not learn in OW nor AOW. I am also trying to figure out when I can do the Rescue course since I heard it is a appreciated course (tho maybe not so focused on the normal diving skills but more on other skills).

Practice is important, no doubt at all. But if you are not practicing the stuff that will really make you better you may not be getting what you want. If you want to get your trim and buoyancy tuned in take a cavern and intro to cave course from an instructor that actively dives what they teach when not teaching. Whether or not caves appeal to you I promise you can't get what you are looking for from the normal recreational agencies. These two courses will bring you to the next level. The structure and skills taught will tune you in and you will be where you want to be in your diving. You cannot and won't get this from the recreational avenues out there. Pull up a few you tube videos on cave diving, frog kick etc. FWIW Mark

OK the OP has less than 25 dives and is Not ready for a cave class. He sounds like he is doing just fine without advice from the SB 'Experts'. I understand how new he is, but don't tear him down or make foolish suggestions like Cave classes with less than 25 dives.....

A great place to practice your bouyancy in on your ascents and descents. You have to do it every dive anyway. Throw in a few stops on the way down and up. It will improve your skills without having to "waste" your limited vacation dives on skills practice. If you can stop at predetermined depths and stay there for 20 seconds, your bouyancy is pretty decent. And keep in mind that you see more if you move less. No need to swim around to see everything.

If I were you I'd suggest working on perfecting your buoyancy before using a camera. The reason I can suggest this is I learned the hard way. I'm a relatively new diver myself and buoyance was a huge issue. I lost my brand new, fresh out of the box, $300 camera on my first OW saltwater dive. I took a picture, lost my buoyancy and in the process of trying to regain my buoyancy I didn't realize that my camera had floated off my wrist. That was a very expensive lesson that day. I still have yet to buy another camera.