Cameras On Sticks

[ronscuba]

One of my pet peeves is when I show someone my photos and they respond with some variation of "Those are great pictures. You must have an incredible camera." My typical response is something along the lines of "You are a very good cook. You must have an incredible stove."

Yeah, but I find it equally annoying when people say a Gopro is capable of pro level underwater video.

 

[CT-Rich]

diving for new divers is often a tunnel visions situation. New divers have trouble with situational awareness. They don't tend to see left or right of their masks. They do see the little treasure sitting on the bottom just below. Adding a camera compounds that effect. I do agree that people only remember the jerks. Every conscientious tourist is undone by the loud one that talks loudly in church and doesn't throw their trash away. All the good photographers/videographers are undone by the one with more money than brains.

 

[Bubblesong]

@MMM It is amazing how thoughtless people are with cameras in general. Trying to get a decent shot at any of the tourism events around here is frustrating to the extreme. Cameras on sticks and people using tablets as cameras seem almost impossible to avoid!

Since you mention it, out of water is no difference: I had my wedding photos taken in Boston Common, and on walking back to our wedding venue, I was besieged by Asian tourist girls who wanted their photo with me and my poofy dress. I WAS the whale shark in that example, I suppose.

 

[Hoag]

@MMM It is amazing how thoughtless people are with cameras in general. Trying to get a decent shot at any of the tourism events around here is frustrating to the extreme. Cameras on sticks and people using tablets as cameras seem almost impossible to avoid!

FWIW, I will go out of my way to not inconvenience others. Sometimes, when I want to capture a very specific image (above water) that I expect will be crowded, I will arrive hours early to ensure that I can set up in the spot I want before anybody else gets there and I have to struggle to get a good location. The best example of this is sunrise at the Mesa Arch in Canyonlands NP just outside of Moab UT. As dawn approaches, dozens, perhaps close to 100 people suddenly arrive. Meanwhile, I have figured out where I want to set up, and have been there since 3:00 am. The result is that if the conditions are "just right", I wind up with a shot like this:

As for those other people that showed up "just in time", well, I will stay where I am till I have got the shot I want. I am not being thoughtless, I am planning ahead. If, I was the one getting there at the last moment, then it would be me who is dealing with a less than ideal spot and/or waiting till the crowd clears out a bit. The same thing applies when I am diving. If somebody is there first, I wait my turn.

 

[Hoag]

Yeah, but I find it equally annoying when people say a Gopro is capable of pro level underwater video.

Absolutely, but once you get into mid range gear (I shoot a Canon 6D above water and I just got a Sony A6000 for underwater) then the skill of the photographer is a huge factor in how the shot turns out.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

FWIW, I will go out of my way to not inconvenience others. Sometimes, when I want to capture a very specific image (above water) that I expect will be crowded, I will arrive hours early to ensure that I can set up in the spot I want before anybody else gets there and I have to struggle to get a good location. The best example of this is sunrise at the Mesa Arch in Canyonlands NP just outside of Moab UT. As dawn approaches, dozens, perhaps close to 100 people suddenly arrive. Meanwhile, I have figured out where I want to set up, and have been there since 3:00 am. The result is that if the conditions are "just right", I wind up with a shot like this:
View attachment 419727

As for those other people that showed up "just in time", well, I will stay where I am till I have got the shot I want. I am not being thoughtless, I am planning ahead. If, I was the one getting there at the last moment, then it would be me who is dealing with a less than ideal spot and/or waiting till the crowd clears out a bit. The same thing applies when I am diving. If somebody is there first, I wait my turn.

What a gorgeous shot! I agree that kind of preparation earns you the right to the position for as long as you want it.

Underwater I think other things come into play. When people start lining up behind you for shots of something special I think making them wait for 10 minutes while you try for the perfect shot and or driving the critter away isn't good either. IMHO this is especially true if the dive guide was the one who found it.

That is where diving away from the group helps especially if they don't know you are a good spotter. I have a bit of a reputation as a spotter but I try to keep that to myself on dive trips otherwise I wind up fighting the crowd or feeling rude for monopolizing my finds. I do remember a trip to Tawalli where a rude lady made a big deal about insisting who she wanted in "her" group and being allowed to go first so we wouldn't mess things up for them. There were 4 of us so we said we were happier to stay as a group anyway. We took delight in making them wait for us to complete our dives. All of us very experienced with good SAC rates. After the first dive the DM was poring over his books trying to id some critters I found and commenting in amazement that I had found them. That week was fun

 

[boat sju]

Me and my buddy commonly use a GoPro in Bonaire, just to shoot some tourist type videos, mainly for ourselves or to show family and friends "what we saw". We started using a stick when we realized it was actually easier to aim and hold steady that way. Also, wildlife is significantly less bothered by the GoPro on a stick.

boat

 

[ljpm]

Thanks for coming out of the shadow. How does your selfie stick footage look? My footage using an action camera on a tray still looks like crap. If your forage is reward enough, I imagine we'll have to live with this for a while. If not, we can expect this to die down eventually.

Usually I just find stills within the video. Doing this enables me to, for the most part, just forget about the gopro on a stick. I simply go about my dive with the gopro stick in one hand. Occasionally, I'll turn the camera around and actually even take a selfie. These shots are great for facebook but not quality by any means.
https://scontent.fymy1-2.fna.fbcdn....=f557f8dcc1d04bdfec273cbffbc8a9cd&oe=5A0BD73C
https://scontent.fymy1-2.fna.fbcdn....=bbdba27dbac0e4f20783586ac5e57bc0&oe=5A02468D

I have made a couple of videos that have turned out ok. I have found that the best way to put together a video is to string together 3-8s clips. It is usually easy enough to find short segments that are both steady and interesting.Here are a couple of examples.

In the first one I had only been diving for about a year. Maybe 15 dives, including training. I also just learning editing.
The second clip is of my son's open water pool session. Filmed by holding the gopro against the side of the pool. Trying to be as non-obtrusive as possible.

 

[CT-Rich]

I try to keep my videos pretty tight. I figure three minutes for a video is getting long. Unless I have something pretty interesting, I keep it short and focused. I also use software to steady the camera beyond what my nerves of steel can manage...