How do you plan for your shoot?

[M DeM]

new UW photographer here, with tons o’ questions.

When I go on a “land based” photo trip, I usually do my research ahead of time, have a reasonable idea of the gear I need and have a plan. However, I’ve got my lenses and filters and odiffusers at hand and I can throw them on rather quickly if need be.

So yeah- not gonna happen underwater. But aside of things like shark feeding and so on, isn’t it difficult to plan? What if you’re planning on shooting macro then all of a sudden it’s all big fish or turtles?

Also, if you bring additional lenses, do you keep them in a dry bag? Or a pelican case? Or do you just choose one lens for the day? I’m sure it’s very different for pro shooters, but for us vacation shooters on tourist boats that are already chock full of gear.

 

[dirtfarmer]

I bring both macro and wide angle on a trip adjust accordingly to the divesite, but never on a day boat unless it has a workspace so I can assure a clean changeover. My extra gear will be in my hard case.

Yes I have been on Manta dives shooting wide angle and spotted a blue ring octopus that I would have loved to have my rig kitted out for macro so I just did my best with close focus wide angle. And I've been on dives where it's been a wide angle subject and I'm shooting macro, then I just go into observation mode instead of shooting photos mode.

 

[Laurie S.]

I choose the lens I plan to use for the day, because to change would require a different port, and I don't open the underwater case on a dive boat, not even my own boat. I shoot macro most of the time, but have found that you can shoot a non-macro subject and still get a pretty darn good picture. Case in point, I was shooting my 100 mm macro lens for the first time in Cabo, looked up and saw a school of spotted eagle rays at least 60 feet away. I figured what the heck and shot away and ended up getting a first place award for one of the photos. The reverse is true, also. I can shoot close focus wide angle with my fisheye lens.

 

[KeithG]

I use a compact camera Canon G16 with a flipdown Subsee diopter and a pair of strobes. So the plan is always the same.

If I see really really small stuff then the diopter gets flipped down. For wide-ish angle I turn the strobes off and make sure the diopter is flipped up. In between stuff is handled by the camera zoom.

 

[bvanant]

I think a lot depends on how much you get to dive. We do about 250 dives/year both at home in LA, cold water (Vancouver), and in the tropical Pacific. If you do lots of dives then I think you quickly get to the point that you don't have to go running every time a dive master bangs her tank and you set up for either wide or macro at the beginning. I think the vision of a single camera/lens for all aspects of a dive is just a wish and if you want good quality shots, shooting with the right lenses makes a world of difference. Also you have to be willing to just look at the manta ray that just swam over your head while you were shooting the nudibranch. If you do only a few dives per year then shooting everything (some of it well, most of it less well) is the way you will likely operate. Before each dive; if it is in a place that I think I know what I will see, I will put together a mental shot list that allows me to focus on what shots I want to see. The big exception is black water diving, there just be ready to shoot everything you see.

Cheers

Bill

 

[ColoDale]

When travellilng I choose one lense for the day. I would talk to the dive op/DMs and ask where they will be going, depths, sea life, etc and base my choice on that. It is more difficult in some places that have divers choice of sites for every trip. If I am unsure what will happen, then I will choose a nonprime lense . So something like a zoom 24mm- 100mm (35 mm camera equivalent). That way I can get most things. My macro lens will get decent shots of things a few feet away so I can get lucky with that one.

I do not bring other lenses on the boat and do not like to open the housing unless necessary. I dive smaller boats generally (pangas, zodiacs) that have no area to work on cameras so basically it would be in my lap on a towel which I don't want to do. Even on the larger boats I am hesitant to use the covered areas as they are generally packed with other divers and their gear. Tables in the rear generally get covered in weights, masks, and misc gear so no space and I don't want to put the camera, port down, on that.

I have been stuck with a macro lens and could not take pictures of larger/further away things. Been stuck with wide angle for a macro opportunity. So I miss out. I just focus on what I am there to do.