sabbath999
Contributor
I am no great underwater photographer, or no great scuba diver for that matter... but I have taken a few pictures that have been well received.
But here's the thing about underwater photography that I would like people to understand...
If I see an outstanding underwater photo or video, I realize that it is outstanding not because the photographer or videographer is great but rather because the subject... our underwater world... is great.
Yes, you do have to have the photographic technical skills to take underwater pictures and videos and have them come out looking like what we, as divers, are seeing with our own peepers. Even more importantly, you have to have the critical core diving skills like buoyancy and the ability to maintain your position in surge...
But really, when it comes down to it, that stuff isn't very hard get decent at with practice. The technical part of photography is actually quite simple (which, by the way, does not mean it is inexpensive).
Underwater photography and videography is technically a bit challenging because of the main thing you need for imaging is light... and water messes with light in different ways.
But it really isn't about imaging... it is about helping people SEE what we SEE.
What we SEE when we are diving is a world that is absolutely amazing, and you just can't see that stuff anywhere else.
A successful underwater picture is really nothing more than the photographer eliminating the technical problems to show the viewer what the underwater world looks like.
I am a land photographer, and frankly I can take a lot of REALLY boring pictures of stuff all day long when I am wearing my land-fins. I find it almost impossible to take boring underwater pictures, because the underwater world is so INTERESTING. Don't get me wrong, I can tall all kinds of BAD underwater pictures because I screw up the technical stuff or miss my shot of a moving subject... but I don't tend to take pictures that BORE people who don't spend time underwater.
In underwater photography, the subject is really all that matters... just like in recreational diving without a camera, what the world around you looks like is all that matters.
When I look at some of the amazing underwater pictures that I see, I realize that what the photographer is doing is eliminating the obstacles placed between the camera and the underwater world...
When I work on my photography (and I DO work on improving my skills in the same systematic way that I work on any other part of my dive training) I concentrate on figuring out what technical issues are getting in the way of me showing the viewers what I am seeing with my own eyes, and fixing them.
I could have posted this in the photography section, but I didn't because I think most people here end up taking underwater photos from time to time and so this affects us all. I hear a lot of people say "I just can't take a good picture" and I get frustrated by that... because I know it is just like anything else, if you find a mentor, read, study and practice enough ANYBODY who is a good diver can get really good at taking underwater pictures even with very modest equipment.
Just my .02 PSI.
What say you?
But here's the thing about underwater photography that I would like people to understand...
If I see an outstanding underwater photo or video, I realize that it is outstanding not because the photographer or videographer is great but rather because the subject... our underwater world... is great.
Yes, you do have to have the photographic technical skills to take underwater pictures and videos and have them come out looking like what we, as divers, are seeing with our own peepers. Even more importantly, you have to have the critical core diving skills like buoyancy and the ability to maintain your position in surge...
But really, when it comes down to it, that stuff isn't very hard get decent at with practice. The technical part of photography is actually quite simple (which, by the way, does not mean it is inexpensive).
Underwater photography and videography is technically a bit challenging because of the main thing you need for imaging is light... and water messes with light in different ways.
But it really isn't about imaging... it is about helping people SEE what we SEE.
What we SEE when we are diving is a world that is absolutely amazing, and you just can't see that stuff anywhere else.
A successful underwater picture is really nothing more than the photographer eliminating the technical problems to show the viewer what the underwater world looks like.
I am a land photographer, and frankly I can take a lot of REALLY boring pictures of stuff all day long when I am wearing my land-fins. I find it almost impossible to take boring underwater pictures, because the underwater world is so INTERESTING. Don't get me wrong, I can tall all kinds of BAD underwater pictures because I screw up the technical stuff or miss my shot of a moving subject... but I don't tend to take pictures that BORE people who don't spend time underwater.
In underwater photography, the subject is really all that matters... just like in recreational diving without a camera, what the world around you looks like is all that matters.
When I look at some of the amazing underwater pictures that I see, I realize that what the photographer is doing is eliminating the obstacles placed between the camera and the underwater world...
When I work on my photography (and I DO work on improving my skills in the same systematic way that I work on any other part of my dive training) I concentrate on figuring out what technical issues are getting in the way of me showing the viewers what I am seeing with my own eyes, and fixing them.
I could have posted this in the photography section, but I didn't because I think most people here end up taking underwater photos from time to time and so this affects us all. I hear a lot of people say "I just can't take a good picture" and I get frustrated by that... because I know it is just like anything else, if you find a mentor, read, study and practice enough ANYBODY who is a good diver can get really good at taking underwater pictures even with very modest equipment.
Just my .02 PSI.
What say you?