Best way to take Lake Pictures?

[wetman]

What kind of filters make underwater lake shots look good? I've seen lots of great ocean shots with blue water and fantasticly colored sea life. I haven't seen many good lake shots (although i have seen a few). Given the incredible clarity of the great lakes now, i think there are probably some decent opportunities that haven't arrisen in the past. I fully realize that the colors just aren't there from the life etc, but I still think there is potential for some decently moody shots. Given that i'm new to cameras, what can you guys suggest here? Any decent web sites with good lakes examples? Theres one picture of the Katy Eccles in lake ontario that i remember seeing that was great (as i recall, it was looking up at the bow from the lake bottom), but i cant remmeber the site for it.

thanks for any help

steve

 

[wetman]

Heres that Katie Eccles pic i was talking about:

http://www.scubaq.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?http://www.scubaq.ca/ontarioscubadiving/eccles-bow.jpg


Thats one of the best lake bassed shots i've seen.

steve

 

[Dee]

We're lucky if we have 10-12ft of visibility and even then the particulates in the water would never get us that clear a picture. so I'm limited to close up amd macro shots in our local lake.

As for your question, if the picture you posted is a true example of the vis you have, you don't need any special filters. I don't know of any still photographer who uses filters. They are used with video because of the different types of lighting that are used.

You'll need a good strobe for proper lighting. The Eccles photo looks to have been taken with a wide angle lens. Too bad the blurred diver is in the upper left corner.

Wrecks are great subjects for black and white photography. I took the same photo and converted it to black and white and took out the diver....a quick sloppy job just to show you the difference.

 

[kavka]

We have visibility about 10 metres in Bled lake. There are not many colors, so I also prefer black and white Dia (Agfa Scala).

 

[wetman]

That B&W does look good. Our vis sometimes gets better than 100 feet up here, especially in the st. lawrence. We were out 3 weeks ago and it was very clear when looking up from about 80 feet so i think it was well over 100 that day. You know, i never even noticed the diver in that shot - i think it must have appears to be more rigging to me!

steve

 

[Marvintpa]

The Eccles shot was indeed taken with a wide angle, a 15 mm actually. Using anything but a wide angle lens in the Great Lakes will be extremely limiting for wreck photography. Reducing the amount of water between you and your subject is mandatory (that's where the wide angle comes in).

For Great Lakes shots, where the light level drops off rapidly, get the fastest wide angle lens you can (the Nikonos 15mm F2.8 is superb) and you'll never regret it. It's ectremely difficult to use a filter with this kind of lens, however, but if you really want to change the colours you can do it at the photolab or digitally enhance it. Another recommendation is to shoot when it's overcast and the light is very soft, which avoids the hard shadows when you shoot a larger portion of a wreck - like the attached shot from the St. Lawrence

We have the best wrecks in the world here, it's a pity more people aren't making photos of them.

 

[wetman]

I love that shot. Thats the kind of pic i'm talking about. Beautiful. That overcast thing is a good point and i'll be buying a wide angle now too.

Thanks.

Steve

 

[Grumpydiver1]

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

 

[wb416]

Dee once bubbled...

Wrecks are great subjects for black and white photography. I took the same photo and converted it to black and white and took out the diver....a quick sloppy job just to show you the difference.

I think I'm going to try that more... black-n-white for murky environ.

Thanks for the idea...

wb

 

[Dee]

cwb once bubbled...
I think I'm going to try that more... black-n-white for murky environ.

Thanks for the idea...wb

I think one reason B&W works for photo that have structures, wrecks, rigs, etc. is that these are frequently found in water that isn't clear blue...sometimes cloudy green!

If you remove the distracting color, the structure really stand out. And if there's a 'foggy' look from low vis, it just lends itself to the mystique!