Best settings for sharks and mantas

[boy22ban]

I shoot with a Canon S110 in an Ikelite housing. I have 1 strobe and 1 continuous light.

I have some experience shooting macro (Nudis for example with 2 Inon UCL 165s) and general wide angle (wrecks for example with a FIX UWL28M52 in ambient light). Its a work in progress for me, but I have developed some habits and some default settings for both scenarios which allow me to get some decent shots.

The problem is, where I am from, there are rarely any larger things to take photos of.

My wife and I are scheduled for Tubbataha Reef this April, and we are anticipating sharks and turtles and mantas and a hell of a great time. I do not have experience shooting sharks or anything of the same-ish size. I tried shooting a thresher shark with the UWL28 once, and that did not turn out well at all (shot was too "far"). I would like return to land with at least 1 decent Manta portrait -- it would be my first time to see a Manta.

So where do you think I should start? I am asking this because my housing allows only knob adjustments on the front/lens ring -- to my mind, this allows me to pick only one setting to play with quickly.

Anticipating that I will be shooting only with ambient light, I was thinking of this:

1. Shoot manual. Set aperture at 5.6, shutter speed at 125 (most dives will be done with hopefully clear skies and excellent viz).
2. Set front ring to adjust ISO. Adjust accordingly.
3. Use zoom lever to adjust focal point, but start at 28 mm.

You think that would work? Can I leave the wide wet lens on the boat?

 

[Ran Mozaik]

The way I see it, either go wide, or go video. Zoom shots of these animals rarely turn out good, and chances are that you will have at least one close encounter which will allow you to light the subject with the strobe and capture a nice portrait of it up close with a wide angle.
Setting are fine, just make sure you get your exposure set for dark blue ocean background and strong enough strobe setting to light up a subject about 3-4 ft away.
Shoot RAW! That's always good practice. That way you don't have to worry about WB and minor exposure errors.
Videos will be the best souvenir you can get so try to take some of those, keep it steady and use zoom if you need as long as the animals are fairly far away. As soon as they come close, switch to stills and fire away!
Turtles won't mind you getting as close as you want. Manta Rays might come dance with you for a few moments if you're lucky. You would probably be so excited that none of your photos will be good. Don't worry about it. Enjoy the experience. It's breathtaking.
Sharks are great for videos, but probably won't get super close to you unless there is some feeding going around.

 

[BluewaterPhoto]

I'd either take video, or shoot Av mode, F5.6, ISO 200, -0.3 exposure compensation. If you plan on going to a

Be sure to read the ultimate guide to manta rays.

Please let me know how the trip goes! I've yet to meet someone who got close to a manta ray in Tubbataha Reef in recent years (they have been pretty fished out), but there is always a first The sharks will also be skittish, you'll be able to get close to the turtles. PM me if you want to know where to get great shots of Manta Rays.

Have fun!

Scott Gietler

 

[boy22ban]

Thanks for the replies! Video it is...wide video to be sure.

@scott I cannot thank you enough for managing our expectations, although this is slightly heartbreaking news to be honest. We did not know they weren't there anymore...

We will settle for a distant brave loner of a manta...a dark, unmistakable shadow [emoji15] our eyes will be open.

"May the odds be ever in our favor"

Best fishes!


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---------- Post added February 16th, 2015 at 01:16 AM ----------

And BTW, thanks for pointing me to Jeff's article. Maldives might just be an option, but Bali is more likely.


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