thinking of starting u/w photography
- Thread starter koeniel
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Check out the UW Photo section for ideas and ask your photo questions there.
Come back here and tell us more about yourself! When did you learn to dive, what kind of dives do you like etc - introduce yourself and you'll be swamped with hellos and advice!
Enjoy Scuba Board and welcome
Nomaster
Guest
WELCOME to ScubaBoard!!!
OOoooh you got it bad, the shutter bug and SCUBA Addiction!!
There are a bunch of us and you will find all the information you want. If not already in a thread, ask in your own thread.
Good to have you with us.
I need inspiration to revise my stock message. Maybe if I read over may last couple hundred welcoming messages. Hmm. Maybe.
This is a great place to meet people, talk about diving, and get information on just about any aspect of diving -or other subjects sometimes- that you can think of. Roaming through the forums is great help for me.
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Tom
OOoooh you got it bad, the shutter bug and SCUBA Addiction!!
There are a bunch of us and you will find all the information you want. If not already in a thread, ask in your own thread.
Good to have you with us.
I need inspiration to revise my stock message. Maybe if I read over may last couple hundred welcoming messages. Hmm. Maybe.
This is a great place to meet people, talk about diving, and get information on just about any aspect of diving -or other subjects sometimes- that you can think of. Roaming through the forums is great help for me.
Now get wet with us and dive into the forums to ask questions, answer those that you can and even chat with folks about diving dreams and nightmares. ScubaBoard is a great place to spend your required Surface Intervals.
When you post a question, be as sure as you can that it's in the right forum or you'll probably find it moved.
The folks here are passionate about their diving, some about their specialty, so the reading can get very interesting, sometimes very hot.
Don't forget, if you haven't already done it, to fill out you profile as completely as reasonable, it'll save you being asked and having to repeat the information often.
Enjoy!
Tom
Welcome to the board.
UW photography involves a lot of things that top side photography does not. As you are new to diving my I suggest that you take some time, get some diving experience in and then take up UW photograhy. It is hard to believe just how much task loading a camera adds. All of your diving skills need to be almost automatic. Take buddy awareness as an example, it is very easy to get wrapped up in your camera and totally forget your buddy. Your buoyancy control has to be dead on. Think about it, you have to have both hands on the camera, you eyes focused on the viewfinder, the camera is anywhere from a couple of feet to just inches from your subject, there is some current, you must control your buoyancy and you are trying to focus the camera all at once. This is difficult enough for an experienced diver.
On your next dive, try this. Find some small object to "photograph". Hold both of your hands out like you have a camera and get them within a foot of the item. Now see if you can hold almost still without touching anything or setteling on the bottom. Remember, you are focusing the "camera" and have to keep it still enough to keep it in focus while you press the shutter. Now that you have the picture, can you get away from your subject without touching anything or banging the camera? Do you have good enough fin and buoyancy control to back off your subject and not hit anything? I still do this drill on dives that I don't carry a camera. It's also quite useful for studing small animals when I am not carring the camera.
Dive for a while, enjoy the life around you, the pictures will still be there.
UW photography involves a lot of things that top side photography does not. As you are new to diving my I suggest that you take some time, get some diving experience in and then take up UW photograhy. It is hard to believe just how much task loading a camera adds. All of your diving skills need to be almost automatic. Take buddy awareness as an example, it is very easy to get wrapped up in your camera and totally forget your buddy. Your buoyancy control has to be dead on. Think about it, you have to have both hands on the camera, you eyes focused on the viewfinder, the camera is anywhere from a couple of feet to just inches from your subject, there is some current, you must control your buoyancy and you are trying to focus the camera all at once. This is difficult enough for an experienced diver.
On your next dive, try this. Find some small object to "photograph". Hold both of your hands out like you have a camera and get them within a foot of the item. Now see if you can hold almost still without touching anything or setteling on the bottom. Remember, you are focusing the "camera" and have to keep it still enough to keep it in focus while you press the shutter. Now that you have the picture, can you get away from your subject without touching anything or banging the camera? Do you have good enough fin and buoyancy control to back off your subject and not hit anything? I still do this drill on dives that I don't carry a camera. It's also quite useful for studing small animals when I am not carring the camera.
Dive for a while, enjoy the life around you, the pictures will still be there.
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Very good advice, Herman!! He can learn about backscatter later. :lol2: For now, check out Alcina's top notch work!
And Howdy!
Welcome to SB - the biggest, the best, the fastest growing, and the friendliest! If you'll click ScubaBoard.com above, you'll be taken to our long list of forums, a wealth of information and resources. At the bottom, be sure to notice the Local & Singles Dive Club forums.
It would help in future diving discussions if you'd complete your Profile with location - and separately - your Dive Info. You can use the Quick Links for such changes. And sizing a photo for your profile or Avatar can be a challenge; I'm a fumbling amateur, but I get the job done, if you'd like any help?
PM me if I can help you learn your way around; that is - click my username to the upper left, then follow the prompts to send me a "Personal Message."
don
And Howdy!
Welcome to SB - the biggest, the best, the fastest growing, and
the friendliest! If you'll click ScubaBoard.com above, you'll be taken to our long list of forums, a wealth of information and resources. At the bottom, be sure to notice the Local & Singles Dive Club forums.It would help in future diving discussions if you'd complete your Profile with location - and separately - your Dive Info. You can use the Quick Links for such changes. And sizing a photo for your profile or Avatar can be a challenge; I'm a fumbling amateur, but I get the job done, if you'd like any help?
PM me if I can help you learn your way around; that is - click my username to the upper left, then follow the prompts to send me a "Personal Message."
don 
Matt the Aquaman
Contributor
Hey there koeniel, welcome to Scuba Board! :butnhome:
Click here to greet a new member! :happywave
No experience needed and it feels great!
Click here to greet a new member! :happywave
No experience needed and it feels great!
Scott Riemer
Contributor
Hi koeniel and welcome to Scubaboard! It's a great community and I'm sure you'll be able to learn alot, enjoy!
Welcome to ScubaBoard! :happywave
I'm sure that you will find plenty of info in our Underwater Photography forum to get you started! People on the board are very friendly and willing to help if you have questions.
Don't forget to fill out your profile and dive info, so that we can add context to your future posts. Also, once we know where you are geographically from your profile, you may find that you'll have a whole bunch of new dive buddies to choose from locally.
Dive safe!
Christian
P.S. Due to the high volume of new posts in the Introductions and Greets forum, it's not always possible to keep up with all the new posts here. So, please help me out and send me a PM if you post anything you want me to read or respond to in this forum.
almtree: :sunny
I'm sure that you will find plenty of info in our Underwater Photography forum to get you started! People on the board are very friendly and willing to help if you have questions.
Don't forget to fill out your profile and dive info, so that we can add context to your future posts. Also, once we know where you are geographically from your profile, you may find that you'll have a whole bunch of new dive buddies to choose from locally.
Dive safe!
Christian
P.S. Due to the high volume of new posts in the Introductions and Greets forum, it's not always possible to keep up with all the new posts here. So, please help me out and send me a PM if you post anything you want me to read or respond to in this forum.
almtree: :sunny
Hank49
Contributor
koeniel:
I told my ex father in law that I was thinking the same thing a few years back. He's a renowned ichthyologist and photographs fish for his books, and he told me these words. "If you're serious, go to the bank, withdraw about half your money, go to the top of a high building and let the money fly in the wind. Get used to that feeling and you can do it".
But then I did try video and kind of figured out what he meant. Just shooting for fun isn't so bad. But for him, he was always looking for the perfect shot of a certain fish he needed for a book so it took time and a lot of discarded slides to get the right one. Hank
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