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I've been speaking to a friend lately about HDR Imaging and it's once again sparked my photography interests(and at a time in which I am more capable to financially support photography).
I've had an itch to get into underwater photography for the past few years. This, coupled with the HDR discussions, have caused me to want to invest in a camera that would allow me to experiment with HDR and take photos underwater.
This leads me to a few questions:
1) What is everyone's favorite camera/housing?
2) Can I alter the exposure of my shots?
3) Is there some type of mount that I could use to make sure that I took 5 shots of the same image?
4) Have you had success altering the exposure by adjusting a RAW image?
I'd love to hear anything that anyone thinks would be relevant to my desires, and I'd especially love to hear of anyone working with HDR underwater.
I've recently got into photography and have been playing with both UW photography and HDR on the surface. I heven't tried UW HDR, but I have given it a good bit of thought. I don't see HDR of being that much use in UW photography since UW tends not to be as high in contrast as the types of shots that really benefit from HDR. But I may be wrong, anything's worth trying and, after all, with digital "film" is cheap.
I've been using a coolpix P3. It has the exposure bracketing, but like most digicams, it will only bracket +/- 1 stop (bracketing resulting in 3 shots as opposed to the 5-7 you'd want for HDR) and it only shoots jpg's (as opposed to raw). For HDR, as you point out, you'll want something that can do more bracketing (5-7 images and hopefully more than just a stop difference between them) and shoot raw. Bracketing seems to work better than manually adjusting the camera between shots since pressing the buttons will cause the camera to more somewhat.
So I gues to answer your questions in order,
1. Based almost soley on the raw part, your choices in camera are reduced greatly to either a DSLR or one of a handful of prosumer type digicams. Going with a DSLR you can expect to spend as much on a housing as you spend on the camera, or more depending on the camera, then you have to add ports for the lenses. If you want a digicam, I think one of your best options right now would be the Powershot G9 (it shoots raw & has complete manual contols, but I'm not sure how the bracketing works on this camera). Housings are available for it from canon and Ikelite (the Ike gives you a sync cable connection for a stobe and is ready to accept add on lenses, whereas with the canon you'd need an optically triggered strobe and adapters for add on lenses are more difficult to find since it has an oval shaped lens port).
2. Again depends on the camera. Many digicams have more shooting modes beyond just auto (Ap Sp, P, M), as do all DSLR's. If it has these then yes you should be able to adjust the exposure. The G9 does.
3. There are underwater tripods avialable. Most housings also have the standard tripod mounting screw on the bottom of them, so even if you don't want to buy an UW tripod, you should be able to rig something.
4. Myself, no, since my camera doesn't shoot raw (my next one will though). But many here have and prefer shooting raw UW for the flexibility it gives (unprocessed images w/ greater color resolution) to make adjustments.
I don't see HDR of being that much use in UW photography since UW tends not to be as high in contrast as the types of shots that really benefit from HDR.
What about those shooting up toward sunballs? I would tend to think about it as a perfect candidate, isn't it?
I think you'd need a tripod/monopod wouldn't you? and a spot to place such a tripod/monopod?
I think ultimately, when it comes down to it, if you're looking for an image with a high dynamic range, you're better off shooting film underwater for that purpose. One would also have to take into account the medium in which you'd like to present the image. What kind of paper/printer/ink/dye are we talking about? Are we leaving this image on the computer? If we are, why not tinker with the RAW file?
What about those shooting up toward sunballs? I would tend to think about it as a perfect candidate, isn't it?
Sure, you could make an arguement for those shots, but that's one of (IMHO) very few situations. On the other hand, to be perfectly honest, I'm having a hard time envisioning how a HDR Sunball would look. Isn't it the "overexposure" in them that makes the sunball effect?
Plus as rbolander mentioned, for the best results you'd need some sort of tripod or means of holding the camera perfectly still (not to mention getting your subject to hold perfectly still) while you capture the 3-7 shots that are identical in almost every way, just with different exposures.
All I said is that (IMHO) it would be of that much use, not of no use at all. I'd love to be proven wrong and see some great UW HDR shots.
Plus I'm a UWP newb so please don't read my opinion as coming from someone that really knows what he's talking about. I'm still learning myself.
It took me a few hours to fix the little alignment problems caused by taking this shot hand-held. (it was worth it though.) It would have been impossible with how unsteady you are under water.
I prefer available light/wide angle photos, which are obviously a pain under water... So I'd like to try a UW tripod.
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There's no sensation to compare with this / Suspended animation, a state of bliss (Pink Floyd, Learning to Fly) Seattle Scuba Gallery
For all of those that doubt the efficacy of HDR for underwater shots:
I would like to shoot mainly landscapes and wrecks.
I am still creating a usable mount. A tripod would not work in a current, but if I had some type of vise mount I believe that there would be areas that I could steady a shot.
Lighting will most likely not be too much of a problem. While a flash typically ruins attempts at HDR I could bring a few lights down with me.
And, I'll most likely be in fairly shallow, semi-tropical areas.
I love the results that people are getting with HDR and think it would be great to bring that underwater.
The "old" darkroom way was to do multiple exposures with complex masking, dodging and burning techniques. Just ask Ansel...
Its nice to see support for HDR in photo editing programs (CS2, CS3, Bridge). When I want to shoot a shot that has a (HDR) "High Dynamic Range", I set my camera to auto-bracket 3 shots. 1st-shot: -1.5, 2nd shot: overall exporsure, 3rd shot: 1.5+. Then I blend the shots together (PS has a few blending techniques to help you get what you want). There is a PS action ($8.50) available to help automate this task (compatible with Photoshop versions 5 through 7). Dynamic Range Increase (DRI)
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