UW-photography without strobes

[jarnhus]

Hey everybody

I am slowly getting into the UW-photography craze. One of the things, that I want to experiment with is taking the pictures without strobes. This is partly based on a few articles, that I have read, but also inspired by some of the pictures I have seen here.

The thing that really tipped the scale and made me write this post was THE Hammerhead's amazing Sardine Run photos.

The question(s), that comes to mind, is how you guys actually do it?

My own instinct would be to do an initial white balance setting at depth, take the image in RAW and then do some post-dive color and light correction.

What techniques do you use?

 

[Kim]

You can't correct what isn't there. If you shoot in RAW then any white balance setting is immaterial - the camera just records everything it can anyway - white balance is for helping the camera to select colour channels to include when shooting a compressed format, like JPEG.

Your results when using no strobe will simply depend on how deep you are, and how much colour is actually still there.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

The camera used has a lot to do with it. Whatever camera you shoot, the best advice IMHO would come from the people with similar/same gear as you that took images you really like. The techniques I use may only give similar results to other 5050 users.

My experience with 5050 ambient photography is that raw, full auto (P) yields the best final images (after PSE4). Many images are not just the camera/settings. If the camera uses spot metering, aiming the spot at the bright part of the image will result in different exposures than aiming the spot an inch away at something darker. Most of the time you should have the sun (ambient light source) behind you and aim the camera slightly up with open water somewhere in the background, but rules were meant to be broken and great images happen shooting down and into the light.

Many of the great images out there are from those lucky few who dive and shoot every day. There are thousands of bad to mediocre shots for every brilliant one (for most of us anyway).

 

[livewire]

I agree with both Kim and Halemano. The best ambient light is the brightest. Halemano benefits from a bright lens that can capture more light with his 5050, but this won't stop the reds from disappearing pretty quickly. You may notice that many of the ambient light underwater shots on the sardine run were taken in shallow water.... Shallow water = more light and more colors!

Another option when shooting ambient light is to remove the color all together and shoot silhouettes against the surface or shoot black and white. There are lots of examples of this out there, so I won't point at any specifically. Also, I've seen tons of wrecks shot in black and white with ambient light which can have interesting effects also. Best of luck!

 

[livewire]

One other tip for UW without strobes, too... Get close and use a wide-angle lens! A big bonus to using wide angle is that the lens will capture more light so this also helps you a ton. The Sardine Run photos by hammerhead are all clearly shot using WA!

 

[jarnhus]

Thank you all so much for the replies! It is of great value.

The setup I was planning to get (when I get around to robbing a bank or two) is a Canon EOS 450D with an Ikelite housing and a wideangle wet-lens.

 

[Kim]

Thank you all so much for the replies! It is of great value.

The setup I was planning to get (when I get around to robbing a bank or two) is a Canon EOS 450D with an Ikelite housing and a wideangle wet-lens.

A wet lens? For a DSLR? I've never even heard of that, (does it actually exist?). Far better a proper housed wide angle with the correct dome port.

If you buy the Ikelite housing though......

When you decide that you need the strobes after all, , if you then buy an Ikelite strobe you can hardwire it to the camera through the casing....and get full eTTL capability. To do that though you need to use one of the DS Ikelite strobes. There are three right now...the DS51, DS-125, and the DS-200.

 

[jarnhus]

Hehe... Thanks Kim

I may very well have misunderstood A LOT... After all I have never done any underwater photography and it is all a bit daunting still....


I simply read this
A full range of dome and flat ports is available to accommodate most macro, wide-angle and zoom lenses. Port attachment is quick and easy with a simple locking system and clear view of the port o-ring seal. Lens port not included. A large zoom control knob can be comfortably reached without removing your hand from the handle.

from the Ikelite homepage

 

[Kim]

Hehe... Thanks Kim

I may very well have misunderstood A LOT... After all I have never done any underwater photography and it is all a bit daunting still....


I simply read this
A full range of dome and flat ports is available to accommodate most macro, wide-angle and zoom lenses. Port attachment is quick and easy with a simple locking system and clear view of the port o-ring seal. Lens port not included. A large zoom control knob can be comfortably reached without removing your hand from the handle.

from the Ikelite homepage

Ah......

No - you have slightly misunderstood what is going on.

A normal P&S digital camera is a single lens camera. However - it normally has a zoom as well which gives you a range of focal distances. Housings built for them are made to accomodate the maximum extension of the lens barrel - and therefore work at ALL lengths. To get "outside" of the camera lens itself..i.e. more macro, or more wide angle...wet lenses exist that can attach to the outside of housings that support them. Because they attach externally on the housing itself you can attach or detach them underwater, and therefore change lenses.

DSLRs are different. Here you buy actual different lenses that attach directly to the body of your camera - there is no native permanent lens on a DSLR. Now - lens are obviously all different sizes soooooo...... you need different "ports" to attach to the front of your housing, to accomodate the lens you want to use. You can't change this underwater. You have to choose before the dive which lens you wish to use (although it might also be a zoom lens with a range of focal lengths allowing wide angle to moderate zoom, including close focus macro capability....such as the Sigma 17-70mm). Different ports accomodate different lens - you can find a chart on the Ikelite site with listings of which lenses can be used with which port.

BTW - the lens I just mentioned...the Sigma... is a VERY useful lens for the 450D. I actually own this setup and use it as my primary walkabout lens topside. I haven't taken this rig U/W yet, as my Oly C5050 has been fine for the amount of chance I get to dive and use it.

FWIW - if you are just beginning with this, then I would really think about it. You might very well be better served with something like the Canon G9 and housing. That will cost you about the same as the price of the 450D body on it's own! And you can do an awful lot with it!!!

I will probably get that myself soon, as the amount of diving I do that I can really use a camera doesn't really justify the expense of housing my DSLR. I take a lot of stuff topside, and I'd actually prefer to upgrade to the 5D sometime, rather than buy expensive casings that frankly probably wouldn't get me much better pictures than I can get with a good P&S with full manul controls, and RAW, such as the CanonG9.

YMMV. I'm not that rich!

 

[jarnhus]

Ah! And thus it dawns on me. In the clear light of knowledge, I display my full embarrassments.

Thank you so much for clearing it up Kim! My initial reason for getting a 450D was to get a good topside camera. I just thought, that as I was getting that anyway, I might as well take it below with me.

But I think you are right with having a P&S UW-camera..

Thank you once again