PADI U/W Photography Specialty

[BLUESEASONBALI]

Hi Aerosynth,

For me, one of the most important performance requirements for this PADI Specialty is the 'dive aware in a responsible manner' requirement. In my eyes, after checking the camera for leaks and your descent the next main objective should be to make sure the students/students can still maintain their buoyancy whilst looking through a LCD Screen. Once you can master the positioning of your body and the gentle inhalations and exhalations to perfect your trim in the water, you will find that the composition of your photos will improve dramatically.

Remember, if you don't get the composition right then there is not much you can do with your image once you have downloaded it to your PC . However, if the composition of the photo is exactly what you were hoping to achieve but maybe some other factor such as exposure is off, there's no need to worry. With all the digital programs you can get nowadays for your PC/Mac you can convert pretty much any image to be somewhere about where you want it to be!

They say you can't polish a t*rd, but if you get the composition right, you can have have a pretty good go of it!

Buoyancy Buoyancy Buoyancy!

[

B]Blue Season Bali

Diving Bali | Dive Courses Bali

PADI Member Award 2010; Commitment to Instructor Development 2010​

Outstanding Dive Business 2010[/B]​

 

[Kingpatzer]

I'd ask about getting a package deal on 1 & 2 based on the fact that you basically don't need about 75% of the information that 1 is going to provide.

But if I were you I'd also be interested in seeing the instructor's photographs. If he knows this topic he should have a collection of high quality images that you can evaluate with a professional's eye. If what he's doing doesn't look like quality work to you, then that might be a reason to pass on the course and just get a good book on the subject.

 

[Blackwood]

Pyou will learn to set your camera's white balance manually under water

*cough* RAW *cough*



(I kid because I've read your how-to)

 

[dwhthediver]

They say you can't polish a t*rd, but if you get the composition right, you can have have a pretty good go of it!

Buoyancy Buoyancy Buoyancy!

[

B]Blue Season Bali

Diving Bali | Dive Courses Bali

PADI Member Award 2010; Commitment to Instructor Development 2010​

Outstanding Dive Business 2010[/B]​

Actually Mythbusters proved you can polish a t*rd LOL

But I have to agree about BOUYANCY being the foundation to good underwater photography

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'd ask about getting a package deal on 1 & 2 based on the fact that you basically don't need about 75% of the information that 1 is going to provide.

But if I were you I'd also be interested in seeing the instructor's photographs. If he knows this topic he should have a collection of high quality images that you can evaluate with a professional's eye. If what he's doing doesn't look like quality work to you, then that might be a reason to pass on the course and just get a good book on the subject.

Best advice so far! I do some shooting UW but it's for me and friends. I use some in my course development but those may be 1 out 200 I think are good enough if that. I do not have an UW photo course in my curriculum simply because I am not passionate enough about it to put the effort into teaching one to my standards. If someone asked me who I would refer them to there are several I know personally. All are actually professional UW photographers and have been published in national or international works. I would not even consider anyone else. The courses they teach actually go into buoyancy and trim, lighting, composition, etc. With the emphasis on excellent dive skills as part of the photographers tool box. Those are who I'd take a course with if I was serious about it. Anyone else, nah. For my interests now what I pick up on my own is fine for my purposes. And once in awhile I get what I feel are great shots.

Just for point of info unless it's changed, an Instructor could take a one day workshop and be certed to teach other divers the photo course. Think about that.

 

[Quero]

Just for point of info unless it's changed, an Instructor could take a one day workshop and be certed to teach other divers the photo course. Think about that.

Or the instructor could take a great photo course to hone his/her own skill before starting to coach others.

I felt a lot like you, Jim, before I took an intensive photo course from Tim Rock and Mike Veitch. Before taking the course I didn't believe I was qualified to teach other people anything about photo even though I was already getting some good results. As a consequence of taking the course and of my own practice in shooting, I feel competent to teach a course like the PADI DUP which covers the rudiments, but I would certainly not pretend to be able to offer a course of the caliber of the one I myself took.

The clinic I attended consisted of seven days of lectures and workshop sessions along with 24 dives. It's a completely different thing from the two-dive course for the PADI DUP cert. Of course even a 24-dive course is nothing compared to the four-year Fine Arts degree in photo my son has . But he can't teach--I've tried to get him to teach me stuff, and he just can't. He's a brilliant photographer but a crappy teacher. Mike Veitch, on the other hand, is both a talented photographer and a gifted teacher. For anybody in the market for a serious course, I can't speak highly enough of his photo clinics.

 

[TSandM]

My husband is an avid (and to my eye, quite successful) amateur photographer on land. He took the Underwater Photography class from a local PADI instructor who is an equally avid semi-pro underwater photographer, and he thought he learned a great deal from it.

I really think the quality of the class is directly related to the underwater photography experience and knowledge of the instructor.

 

[sabbath999]

*cough* RAW *cough*



(I kid because I've read your how-to)

The DC1200 the OP is buying doesn't save pictures in RAW format, unfortunately...

 

[fjpatrum]

So... I'm finally getting a dive camera. Yay! Sea Life DC1200 Kit. Nice setup.

My LDS is offering a deal... buy the camera, and I basically get the PADI U/W specialty course/certification for an extra $50.

Here's the thing. I've already had a ton of digital photography coursework in college, and worked professionally with digital photography for a number of years. I'm no professional photographer, but I'm no neophyte either. If the PADI U/W specialty is going to teach me the basics of photography, how to edit pictures in Photoshop, how to buy the equipment, generic stuff like that... it's not really going to be worth a lot to me.

But, I have no experience with underwater photography... at all. Does U/W photography have special considerations that make the class worthwhile? Anyone taken the class that regrets doing so, or felt it was worth it?

From what I understand (when I was talking to instructors about it during my OW course) it's more about how to set up shots and consider lighting etc rather than post-processing work. I'm supposed to be getting a dive camera (mine died during vacation) as a belated birthday present so I'm once again considering this course after I get my buoyancy a little more dialed-in.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Just some information that seems to be missing here;

PADI Underwater Photographer is what my Specialty Instructor card reads. There are two ways to get the card; show log book proof of 10 dives with a camera and take a class (like MSDT PREP) from a Course Director, or "claim" 20 logged dives (or more) with a camera and pay the fee (perhaps after your 25th cert?).

Recently there is a NEW Specialty, Digital Underwater Photographer.

There are also Instructors who have Distinctive Underwater Photography Specialties. I took Underwater Photo Pro from Michael Waters at Stephen Frink Photography in Key Largo. That was two mornings of theory and maintenance and two afternoon 2-tank charters, as well as evenings in the film lab. We shot and developed slide film with Nikonus V's.

Since '02 I have used digital P&S cameras. I have no pressing need to give PADI $50 for another Specialty Instructor card. If Photoshop is where you are weak a good Instructor can help there, if it is composition that is weak but you are already good with PS why teach PS?

Each student needs different instruction. Unfortunately not all PADI Specialty Instructors have a full quiver. I would have a significant interview with the student before accepting a twin strobe dSLR student; I might not have anything to offer him/her.